Well mine does, sometimes!

I’ve always had a tough time being succinct. Blame it on being a detail oriented, “transparent with the client”; hate to leave out anything Ms. Perfectionist”. My boss’s boss likes to say my middle name is “one hundred percent”. (Actually I quite like that though am not sure who’s getting the last laugh here) And, on the other hand, one of my managers says I write too much aka The Gettysburg. Geez, how to please ‘em all?? I am trying hard to be succinct. Frankly it’s been a bunch of years of trying. HA. OK seriously, I get better each year like a fine wine.

Now here’s what I think about this process. There is really no right or wrong here. Common sense should prevail and of course a good command of the English language or for that matter whatever language you are presenting in. We are so “globally local” these days that you have to “Think Global, Act Local” all the time. So go with what your Hiring Manager likes, go with what your Client likes. Mirror the recipient’s style and you will likely succeed.

Here’s a little ditty I composed (think of Peas Porridge Hot, Peas Porridge Cold)

Some like it long,
Some like it short,
Some like it to the point,
As long as the story is told.

It also depends on the type of recruiting firm (Third Party Recruiter) presenting a candidate – if you are an Executive Retained Search firm (all the details, some use a standard template even), Contingency firm (a resume and few lines may work) or a Staffing firm (take the middle ground here). Moreover, the quality and quantity of details varies by the candidate’s experience, length of work history, accomplishments/accolades not mentioned on a resume (every candidate should be smart enough to list this), the level of the position within the company, the impact this position has/will have on the organization and reporting hierarchy which may lead you to have some additional information than just the usual.

You have to build your case – the story has to be told. After all YOU were the first one to talk with the candidate, weren’t you? Clients have less time and Corporate Client Hiring Managers have even less time so I make sure I include the following data points, at a minimum, in my presentation write-up, aka The Story.

1. Candidate’s full name in the introductory line. Then refer by first name or nickname or with an Honorific (Mr./Ms./Sir) if you need to be formal. This identifies The Who & sets the stage.
2. Brief intro paragraph to summarize what you think this candidate can bring to the table and how his skill set would fit in with the organization. This Justifies the Who.
3. Brief paragraph about candidate’s current job situation and why they may be looking. This is like the main plot.
4. More brief paragraphs about prior work history, reasons for leaving each position. Here you introduce the “Other Characters”.
5. Details on candidate current/most recent compensation. Some history or comp range on previous positions. These are details you don’t want to make obvious but you can’t afford not to share!
6. If the position requires relocation, make sure you discuss this with your candidate (& he/she with the family) and let the client know the candidate is able to and provide soft details if the candidate has family in that area. Otherwise, this can be quite the anticlimactic show stopper in your story!
7. Sum up with a few personal details if gathered on your screening call and wrap it up, re-iterating what great fit the candidate would be. The End.
8. Always ask for the client’s/ hiring manager’s feedback and next steps on the candidate. Action Items.

Don’t ramble, stick to the facts, and interject some opinions.

As for that Gettysburg Address reference – well guess what – the client thanked us for the details and thought it very informative. Lucked out on that one!

We all have our styles and checklists. So how do you write yours? What do you include? What do you stay away from?

I am the world’s most organized person. Well, it doesn’t hurt to think that way at least. Not until I’ve filed and catalogued so much I don’t know where the heck it all is anymore. Like a pre-schooler who does not like one food group to touch another, I diligently bookmark into categories all worldly pertinent info that catches my eye. Pertinent and important in my world of sourcing that is. Of course I bet you I have stuff filed from 5 years ago and the URL no longer even exists. Yep time for some cyber spring cleaning…..ah the sweet scent of springtime!

The sourcing masters from SourceCon have shown us so much. I bow to the great ones. I don’t do half of it I admit (though I’d like to be set up like ‘em all “slick and click” but I haven’t got to the “just do it” part yet) but like they say, “set-up and use what you are comfortable with”, and therein lies the golden key.

So I do my own home grown version with a little tweaking. I have my links grouped in a few main areas as a quick go to and would like to share.

1. Search Engines (includes the custom ones & some spider automation type tools)
2. Professional & Social Networking (boy is this group going crazy!
3. Locator Tools (all those yellow and white page types –Pipl, Whoozy, 123)
4. Job Boards & Resume Databases (paid and free)
5. Subscription sites (what we pay for other than job boards)
6. Sources – Biz Related (like Layoff Trackers and those snazzy Visual Mapping sites)
7. Salary & Compensation
8. Knowledgebase (for all the stuff I subscribe to enhance my self learning)
9. Find – my catchall category for various Glossaries, Patent search sites, campaign donor sites (yeah, can you get some names off there & I don’t care a hoot for political affiliations!) and any off the cuff really interesting stuff I come across.

So what’s the big deal?
Now I go one step further in my fairly simplistic common sense approach home grown methodology. Within a group I re-name the site urls. For example within the Search Engine Group I have several links that specifically search Twitter and yes, for the most part they have those names that start with the proverbial “TW-this” or “TW-that” but I re-name them so the file name becomes something like

“TWITTER – Actual Name of the Site – any other description info”

When I alpha sort my link, all my go to sources for searching on Twitter are all listed together. Power in team work!! Besides I make sure I am covering my bases

Perhaps some of you already do this (so indulge me) and some don’t (so hope this was somewhat helpful)

Some day, post all the spring cleaning, I hope to be super cyber slick clickety-click organized! For now this will do. Sorry what did you need? Oh shoot, now where in the world did I file…hmm…come out come out wherever you are!!

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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