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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I am sure we have all heard variations of this story, legend, chain emails -  call it what you like. The author is unknown and Snopes makes several references to this story from its association with Royals to our fair neighbor Canada. It is a great tale of heart warming anticipation where you hold on to your fork because pie/dessert is coming next and therefore the best is yet to come.

Nice story and all and some may wipe a tear but what the heck does this have to do with you and me, all the unemployed people who have been despairing over the past months and the entire staffing/recruiting/HR bandwagon that has been hurtling downhill all year? You see, I’m the eternal optimist when it comes to new ways of doing things – Web 2.0, automation, spider technology,  semantic, Boolean, 3G, 4G, Artificial Intelligence  – better, smarter, faster, interactive, more intuitive, streamlined, and the fact that mankind is always improving on things.

Don’t get me wrong, there are days/times when I am down. But in spite of the fact that Nearly 16M People Can’t Find Jobs Amid Claims Recession Is Over  or the fact that U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits 10.2%, Highest in 26 Years I have eternal hope.

I and all my tribe are cheering for a quick end to the bad times. OK so shoot me,<gobble, gobble> but if we all don’t think that the only way out of this is up, we’re all toast, man. It is just a question of time.  Because in the midst of the doom & gloom all we need is more good news like Bay Area Tech Company Needs to Hire 200 Recruiters & Sourcers, One Year Contract .

A past Executive Admin once said to me, “The Universe, my dear, has a way of balancing it all out” as I pulled my hair out on a frightfully annoying, ongoing, “client kept changing the specs” search.  A lot of truth in that as I eventually found out.  So let’s celebrate Thanksgiving (I sure hope the more fortunate, still employed among us will invite at least one unemployed family to share the meal) and be “THANKFUL” for what has been and for what we have enjoyed (granted it’s been a while when the unemployment paycheck has been coming for months). 

The next time you reach down for your fork, let it remind you ever so gently, that the best is yet to come. Count your blessings and here’s to better times for all.  

Happy Thanksgiving y’all!

*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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