Talent Search Partners, Inc.

TALENT SEARCH PARTNERS, INC.

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Recruitment

Dispelling The Myths

Employer Insight, Recruitment /

Hiring Manager – “We will probably post our job and see what comes through before we engage any recruitment partners. Does that work for you?” That’s great! You should be posting your jobs. There are many advantages to posting your vacancies externally. The issue that I have with this approach however is thinking that you will find exactly what you need through just posting your position. Understand that your brand has a reputation, whether good or bad, and there are people in the marketplace who have an opinion about your company and will base their decision of whether or not to apply, based on what they’ve heard. Many candidates who will see your job ad and could be interested in the position, will not apply because of what they know about your company through information circulating within their network. This information typically stems from grievances that have been aired out by disgruntled former employees. This sort of bad PR will subsequently prevent qualified candidates from applying for your position. It takes a good recruitment partner who will reach out to these prospects who are normally passive, but willing to consider a career move if the right one presents itself. A good recruiter is having these tough conversations and dispelling many myths that exist about your brand. Some of the most gratifying experiences in recruitment come when a prospect was on the fence for reasons that had nothing to do with the actual role, convincing them to form their own opinion of the company, closing the deal, and having that candidate who started at the company say 6 months in that it was the best decision they’ve made to join your client. It’s even more gratifying to see them exceling! The sad thing about this is that most organizations are oblivious to their own brand perception (or they know it, but don’t want to accept it). A Brand Ambassador – Recruitment?! A good recruiter is a brand ambassador. They are taking your company, your values, your mission, your products, your services to market and acting as the face of the brand during those interactions with candidates. It behooves organizational leaders and HR to groom that relationship with their recruitment partner to make sure they are accurately and enthusiastically conveying your message to prospective candidates. The alternative to this is bad for business.

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All She Wanted Was A Call Back (A Note To Recruiters – Part 2)

Career Insight, Career Preparation, Recruitment /

Your time away from your field or profession does not diminish your value… I’ve learned a great deal about people (and myself) over the past few years. More recently, I’ve seen my Wife selflessly sacrifice her career and what she enjoys doing to raise our Kids… Her desire to get back into the workforce has been an eye-opening and humbling experience for me to witness. I’ve seen her receive offers from those in my profession and companies that don’t come near her worth and what she can contribute to an organization. Kudos to her for not settling… A lesson to all of us…(especially recruiters and hiring officials within organizations)… Taking a career break for personal development, to prioritize your family, or for the sake of your well-being shouldn’t be penalized nor exploited… I am sorry for my years of poor judgment.

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Control vs. Faith

Inspiration, Recruitment /

Everything in business takes time to turnaround. The past 6 months have been a real test of patience… Recruitment and patience are like oil and water… …Control, Control, Control! (you naive recruiter!) True wisdom is realizing that we don’t control anything, especially people… It’s humbling to realize that you can do everything right and still not get the desired results… …keep pressing forward! Candidate & Client control are myths… Outcome control is a greater myth…(and laughable) The only controllable is your attitude (especially during perceived failure)…it’s at this intersection that you truly become patient with yourself, people, and situations (a time-tested recruiter) Don’t pay for a personality assessment to uncover who you are, just become a recruiter.

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“I Respectfully Declined The Search Assignment”

Career Insight, Recruitment /

Hiring Authorities have a responsibility to qualify their recruitment partners. The model has been fractured for years and it will only improve if both sides are willing to take an honest look at how they’ve been handling the relationship. There is a lack of trust (and with good reason) when it comes to the recruitment profession and hiring managers have failed to leverage the skills and network of a good recruitment partner. The only way to change this paradigm is by having conversations. You shouldn’t complain about the crookedness of recruiters when you’ve engaged in transactional behaviour that fosters similar actions from that recruiter. A good recruiter can be an extension of your company if they are leveraged properly. I had a conversation this week with a hiring manager who is looking to fill a vacancy for an employee who is leaving to pursue higher education. I was told that they already had 3-4 agencies on the search, but they were willing to let me run with it to see what I could come up with. I respectfully declined the search assignment. Too many recruiters work from a place of desperation and take anything that a hiring manager flings at them. They engage in these scavenger hunts against their better judgement and realize very quickly in the process that they’ve wasted their time with a search that had a low barrier to entry, and an even lower barrier to exit. The misconception is that the more eyes (i.e., recruitment agencies) you have on a given search, the greater the chances of finding that ideal candidate. This is absurdly incorrect!! This is precisely why ghosting is a thing. Our brand has been designed to change the narrative around the recruitment profession and to inject some much-needed credibility back into this industry. The secret sauce is really not a secret – return phone calls and emails and do what you said you would do! I don’t get the disconnect, but I’m working to repair the breach, one phone call at a time.

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All She Wanted Was A Call Back (A Note To Recruiters)

Inspiration, Recruitment /

My Wife had a personal breakthrough today… After taking 5 years off to raise our 2 kids, she decided to jump back into the workforce. It’s been a few weeks since her search started, and it has been an emotional rollercoaster to say the least. But today was different… After many applications, rejections, & attempts to reach recruiters via phone and email, she finally received a call back from one of them today. All she wanted was a call back! The fact that the recruiter couldn’t do anything for her in that moment is secondary… All she wanted was a call back! That call back to acknowledge her resume provided the hope that she needed to keep going… The value that recruiters can bring to people’s lives is immeasurable… The simple act of returning an applicant’s phone call could be the difference between them giving up or pressing on… Let’s strive to be remembered for more than just the money we made.

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HIRING MANAGER! Ask That Recruiter These 5 Questions Before Proceeding

Employer Insight, Recruitment /

A few months back I wrote a blog article about the questions candidates should ask recruiters every time they are approached about a new career opportunity. As I was driving back from my local farmers market this morning, it dawned on me that hiring managers have an equal responsibility to properly screen their recruitment partners and to go beyond the surface questions like, “what is your fee and what is your candidate guarantee period?” These are important, but I’d encourage you to dig deeper to unearth the quality and motivation of that recruiter. The reason why ghosting exists is because the proper steps towards due diligence are not being considered. Both sides are unfortunately engaging in transactional, “show me what you got now” type of behaviour, and they’ve forgotten that the best relationships are based on communication and trust. That first intake call between a recruiter and the hiring manager/human resources should set the tone for the future relationship and establish credibility from both sides. These are some of the questions that I believe every HR representative or hiring authority within an organization should ask during that next call: 1. Do you have client & candidate references who can vouch for what you’ve just described to me? 2. Tell me about your value-add beyond just supplying resumes? 3. We have a valued partner at the moment that we’ve had reasonable success with, and they haven’t given us a reason to look elsewhere. Why should we work with you? 4. What has been your longest search to date? (If the answer is more than 6 months, the next question should be, what compelled you to stick with one search for that length of time?) 5. Your fee works for us, but it’s incredibly low. Why is that the case? The key is to be informed and to ask the right questions. I’ve heard countless remarks about the poor quality of recruiters and how bad we are to deal with, but what are you as an organization doing to make sure that you partner with the right recruiter. You are willing to vet every other 3rd party organization that you work with, why not do the same with your recruitment partner? Hiring Managers – reach out to me if you’d like to set up a 30-minute consultation around this topic.

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Good Habits – A Memoir To Future Recruitment Professionals

Career Insight, Inspiration, Recruitment /

Budding RECRUITERS – Congratulations on choosing recruitment as your career path. You are in for a rollercoaster ride like you’ve never experienced before. It’s a demanding career but has no ceiling to financial gains. It will test you in ways you’ve never been tested before, but you will learn something new everyday. Your backbone & character will benefit from the losses, and you will remain humble during the wins. Your days will be long, but you will sleep well at night knowing that you did things the right way. My advice to anyone who is thinking about a long-term career path in recruitment: 1️⃣ Sit under a veteran in the industry who has tried & tested experience, who will teach you proper habits and help develop your character.2️⃣ Learn from your failures, but don’t cling to them. Celebrate wins and move on quickly.3️⃣ Don’t be in a rush to start your own recruitment agency. The barrier to entry is low in recruitment, but the turnover is endless.4️⃣ Devote as much time as you can to this profession. Take calls after regular hours and on weekends, and keep developing your skills.5️⃣ Return phone calls from candidates you can’t place.6️⃣ Meet with as many people as possible.7️⃣ Find a niche and build your knowledge in that area.8️⃣ Treat people with respect and they will bless you. The financial gains will come if you do everything I’ve listed. All the best to you as you grow in your career!

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