When you are handed a lemon, make lemonade.  Clients approach us with a variety of personalities, challenging projects, and their “right” to always be right as the client.  Personally, I have found myself on multiple occasions asking:

1. Why me? Not again.
2. How can we get this project done, so we don’t have to deal with XXXXX anymore?
3. Will this project ever end?
4. I know we want the work, but to deal with XXXXX again, is it worth it?

So, how do we overcome some of these issues?  Patience, Persistence and Perseverance- I call them my “3 P’s”, and I consistently remind myself of the “3 P’s”.    Diligently, you have to overcome any obstacles and rely on your endurance to achieve success.  Allow yourself to be patient and you may become aware of underlying issues that are contributing factors to the lemon.   If we are persistent, we are refusing to give up and are willing to endure the long haul to overcome the obstacle.  With perseverance, despite impediments, we continue the same course of action and bring our lemon to success. 

You can squeeze or juice the lemon, it is your choice, but always focus on ways you can recreate it into another product that will bring success, to both your client and yourself.   Have patience with your client, and perhaps offer to go “above and beyond” if you have too.  Offer some out of the box ideas, or a database pull.   Be persistent with your client, let them know that you are there to partner for one reason only: success.  Set your mind to persevere and not allow the lemon to affect how you choose to execute the project; be as strategic as you can, devise a methodical approach, and be the moral person you are known for in your firm.  We may not always like it, but long term, the rewards of a placement will always remind us to remember our “3 P’s”. 

Look back on former projects that did not go so well, or think of a past client that was a lemon – then think how you could have applied the “3 P’s” philosophy.  Could the outcome have been different?  I look forward to some feedback, or some examples how you feel the “3 P’s” can apply to your life in research or recruitment.

It’s ALL in the Details – From a Recruiter’s perspective

What do we recruiters need to know to help find that perfect candidate for our clients?  Is more information or less information better? Is just a job description enough?  Well for me, a recruiter at a contract research recruiting firm, partnering with our clients is almost as if we work at their site.  We are actually an extension of their recruitment team and sharing the right information is key to our success. 

Sure, job descriptions are important and yes, all the technical requirements are a must have to find the right candidates, but honestly it’s not enough. Clients need to provide details such as:

-why the positions are open
-team or department structure
-details on hiring manager (his/her management style)
-expectations
-what the team lacks
-how long positions are open
- challenges as to why they have not been able to fill the position on their own to date

I can go on and on; you get my drift, right?  Details!!!  Speaking to a hiring manager is also a bonus; his/her version of the position and ideal candidate provides incredible insight.  Sharing their knowledge, what he/she really is looking for, what the must haves are for this candidate, what he/she is willing to bend on or be flexible on is very valuable.  This type of information can’t be picked up from a job description alone. So yes, hiring managers on intake calls should be a RULE.

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*Definition:
• Main Entry: com•mu•ni•ca•tion
• Pronunciation: \k?-?myü-n?-’ka-sh?n\
• Function: noun
• Date: 14th century
1 : an act or instance of transmitting
2 a : information communicated b : a verbal or written message
3 a : a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior <the function of pheromones in insect communication>; also : exchange of information b : personal rapport <a lack of communication between old and young persons>
4 plural a : a system (as of telephones) for communicating b : a system of routes for moving troops, supplies, and vehicles c : personnel engaged in communicating
5 plural but sing or plural in constr a : a technique for expressing ideas effectively (as in speech) b : the technology of the transmission of information (as by print or telecommunication)
*Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/communication

Communication… a vital part of human existence, yet an area in which we all fall short at times.  A noun by function, dating back to the 14th Century, communication has been a key role in every aspect of life, sometimes in ways we don’t even realize.

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Here’s a simple tip to help increase your ROI on Candidate Development (CD) projects, and make your recruiting efforts more proactive.

I should point out that it is still important to maintain a fairly tight focus on the criteria for the position(s) that initiated the CD project, in order to produce the kinds of people you seek to fill that opening. However, in every search we generate people/resumes/leads that are close but not quite a fit for the current opening.

In some cases people are too junior or too senior. Or they might not have all of the skills/experience that you were looking for in this specific position. Then again, we might also come across people that work in the same department, but have a totally different role. In each of these situations, these people might just be the exact person you’re looking for on another search in the future. Or perhaps they’re the perfect fit for another hiring manager in your company. And if we’re targeting specific competitors/companies where you normally find and hire good talent, then they are definitely worth capturing.

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This is my inaugural blog post.  I’m late to this game but look forward to lending some useful perspective to the online dialogue around senior level recruiting/search.  Hopefully most of what I end up writing will be worth reading and at least some of it worth contemplating after you leave this blog.

While my plan is to offer substantive insight, I’m going to allow my first post to be a ‘venting session’ about one of my pet peeves.  First, if I may let me quickly establish that I have some basis on which to offer my opinions.  I’ve invested over 20 years in this crazy business and have been blessed to have worked at levels that should qualify me as at least enough of a ‘player’ to have experiences and perspective worthy of commentary (sector leader for a top 4 global firm; completed over 75 board and/or CEO searches; 10+ searches for those ‘horrible’ examples of capitalistic excess…compensation over $10 million, dozens in the mere-7-figures and hundreds of equally critical players that make up the six-figure masses).

Now that ‘pet peeve #1’ (not necessarily the #1 pet peeve cuz I’m not sure I could choose that ‘one’).

How has the practice of ‘plugging in’ new talent continued for as long as it has without greater codification of processes that assess the ‘alignment’ of existing and new leaders sufficient to ensure that we will actually achieve improved results sufficient to warrant the change?  A mouthful, I know.  Stated another way, the effective definition and assessment of prospective candidate’s critical success factors in recruiting has remained the purview of a few ‘artists’ vs. the science on which an industry can be expected to deliver persistent value.

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