Recruiting (r)Evolution

Recessions are good times for navel staring. That’s true of any profession (well, maybe not firefighters – I think they’re generally Zen, considering they’re willing to walk into fire on a regular basis), but especially true of recruiting.  After the dot-comb bubble hootenanny, I remember a lot of us reassessing all the talk we’d been talking about recruiting automation, how RPO’s (recruitment process outsourcing) were going to change everything about the industry, etc.  Then, those that were still standing went back to basics and made enough money to survive.   They kept some of the best pieces that came out of the internet boom (little things like, oh, e-mail [yes, I remember faxing in resumes], tools like ZoomInfo, having a web site candidates could apply through, ERE, an ATS… you get the picture).      But overall, they hit the phones and maintained their relationships with key clients.

And they navel stared.  Here’s the thing: prior to the tightest job market in the history of the universe (that’d be the late 90’s – kids, trust me on this: it was nuts), recruiting wasn’t the most well-known of professions.  To the lay person, it either implied a misfit member of the corporate HR team (if HR even had a specialist for this area), or some random guy/ girl who called them at work at the worst possible time with a totally inappropriate job.   That’s a generalization, of course, and way off from reality, but that was the general perception.

Enter the dragon – err, tight job market.  Suddenly, there were recruiters and recruiting agencies every-freaking-where.  Anybody with a phone & a fax (late to become that new-fangled e-mail thingy) thought they could make big money – and, sadly, for awhile they could.  35-40% fees weren’t unheard of, and firms were offering huge salary jumps just to get talent – the saying became “if they hold a mirror up, and it fogs over, they can get an offer at XYZ company”.

(It’s just weird that those firms didn’t make it…. who would have thought burning through 10 million dollars in 6 months and hiring people who were, well to be kind, “slightly less than qualified” for every opening you have would be a bad business plan?)

Then it all stopped.  A lot of the people who’d jumped into the recruiting industry immediately jumped out, and into the mortgage & real estate industries.  Those that were left were in love with the industry, and had a great deal of professional pride in it.  Which was a great, good thing.   It still is.  Granted when the real estate bubble started tickling the economy a few years back, recruiting took off again, and some hacks made their way in, but nothing like the late 90’s.  I think this was because of a couple of factors: the profession had become, and stayed, visible thanks to the dot-com bubble, and viewed as a viable career path by some great fresh grads; management in these agencies remembered the mistakes of the past, and hired better; recruitment training, technology, thought leadership etc had become much better thanks to the downturn – people had time to think, plan, and share ideas again.  The feeding frenzy of a bubble is a very reactive time – you’re supposed to be on the phone, making your money.

What we have now in the profession is the next step in our evolution.   Corporations are starting to hire successful agency recruiters to work internally,  keeping them separate from HR and more closely aligned with marketing and MarComm – a smart move.  Agencies have become much more strategic – moving into management consulting, focusing on helping sell their clients’ employment brands, advising on salary, etc.  We’re hiring smarter and more creative people – entrepreneurs, rebels, and change agents.  There are tools coming out – next generation job boards like Vitruva and MyPerfectGig will disrupt the way traditional agencies operate, and likely shutter the ones who haven’t already begun to function as strategic client partners.  New thought leaders, like Rob Humphrey at Veer Orange, the gang at Fistful of Talent, Starr-Tincup, etc are emerging, who are thoughtfully, and successfully, challenging the status quo.

It’s an interesting time, in an incredibly interesting profession.

Don’t Be a Stalker

Seriously.  There’s a line between getting noticed, and getting blocked.  If you’re right for the job, and you do the right things to get your resume/ blog/ whatever in front of the right person, they’ll call you.  If you know they’ve seen your information, and you don’t get the call – well, all the repetitive e-mailing/ insisting on “networking over coffee”/ yada-yada isn’t going to change the fact that you’re not right for the job.

What it will do is burn you into the memory of the people you’ve harassed – in a bad way.  If/ when a job comes up that you’d actually be a fit for, you won’t get called.  You might get slapped with a restraining order, but you won’t get called….

Right now, there are a lot of people – understandably desperate and scared, and I feel for them – who are going overboard.  They’re spamming every opening they can find, applying & reapplying for the same jobs, calling and insisting they’re a direct fit, etc.   This is a true story from a friend of mine, that I’ve modified: “I’m perfect for this job!” (despite the fact that it’s in Miami, and the dude lives in Duluth, and requires an in-depth knowledge of selling social networking tools) “But, I use Twitter, that qualifies me!”.  Then, he called my friend the next week.  And the next.  And… you get the picture.

Here’s a secret: recruiters talk.  A lot.  Mostly to each other.  Don’t get known as a stalker.  That said: if you’re good, but not a fit, we talk. A lot. To each other.  If we know of someone good we can’t hire, and hear that one of our buddies is looking for someone like that, we’ll pass that person’s name along.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

How Do You Say No to a Recruiter?

One of my buddies (name removed…) just shot me this question:

What’s the best way of saying “thanks, but no thanks” to a recruiter who contacts you about a gig?

Here’s my answer:

Depends – if you think they’re an ass, just be polite and say “thanks, but I’m happy” (you ass)

If you like them: Let them know that either A: you’re really happy right now, and want to focus on what you’re doing, but would like to stay in touch with them every 6 months since you never know; or B: you may be open to hearing about roles, but the one they called on isn’t of interest – then, let them know what would interest you.

Choose A if you’re happy. B if you’re not.

If they seem like they’re a good recruiter (i.e., not a used car-salesperson), help them out – it can pay dividends. Offer to be a source for candidates. Ask them not to call you constantly for referrals, since your time is tight. Let them know the types of people you tend to be aware of. If they have a search that fits those parameters, ask them to shoot you a quick email and you’ll get back to them if you have anybody.

If you liked how they approached you, assume they’ll approach other candidates the same way, which is a good thing if they’re on your side. See if they want to do some work on our company’s behalf if you’re using agencies – they’ll _love_ you for that, and that will also prevent them from poaching out of your company. If they’re a corporate recruiter, let them know that you liked their approach, and turn the tables (in a nice way) – ask them if they’d ever be open to hearing about recruiting opportunities with your company if any come up. They’ll be flattered, and you may have a way to make some quick employee referral money down the road.

If you’re somebody who’s earned some favors by providing them referrals, they’re going to work extra-hard on your behalf if/ when you’re looking for your next gig. You’ll be on their radar for extra-juicy assignments.

Bottom-line: be nice to recruiters when they call. You’re going to be looking for a job again, and having a few career agents working on your behalf at the right time can make all the difference.

 

Shameless, Shameless Plug…

…for votes   For whatever reason, Good to Know  is up for best recruiting blog of the year.  I’m pretty sure it’s not because my employer is paying for the grand prize (seriously – what I suspect is that Jason Davis, the guy who runs RecruitingBlogs.com, the organizer of the whole contest, is just ridiculously nice and felt bad at how poorly I did at poker last time we hung out).

While I’m under zero illusion I’ll win, I wouldn’t mind not coming in dead last.  Seriously.  Soooo…. if you’re so inclined, I’d appreciate it if you clicked here and exercised your right to vote.  Primarily in categories #1& #6 – well, feel free to vote in the rest, too – in fact, I’d recommend checking out all of the nominated blogs – there’s a lot of really great guidance out there, from a gang of remarkable minds.

The Rumours of My Death…

…are just wishful thinking.  Spiteful, spiteful wishfull thinking.  And, were likely caused by my dropping off of the grid for a bit.  Sorry.   Been a little – wait, no, been really busy lately.  Fortunately, I have the flu, which gives me an excuse to lie down (this rest is mitigated by the fact that my 5 month old has started to try and be like his daddy in terms of not being very good at sleeping, but still…)

So, why the hell am I feverishly blogging?  Why did I just use that horrificially trite pun on you?  3 reasons.

The first is selfish – I’m up for an award for best corporate recruiting blog, and when I got the notice, I realized I’d been remiss about posting for, oh, say, 3 weeks.  That’s apparently a lifetime in blogdom (and, in mayflydom it’s like eons).

The second one is more altruistic.  I’ve been thinking a bit about the fact that while I’m desperate to hire great people, I constantly hear people talking about how hard it is to find a job.  Something’s broken.  I know this blog gets read by a decent number of folks, subscribers as well as casual readers.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.  I’ll be putting my own up in the near future.

The third is only selfish in the sense that I’m proud of where I work – and I wanted to share this quote on one of several new things that ZoomInfo’s doing right now (in this case, a Bizographic ad platform.  I’ll serve you up a slice, and you can read the rest at Xconomy.

In the world of Web advertising, targeted audiences are gold. If you publish a website that attracts the type of people who drink green tea, then click-through rates for green-tea ads are probably going to be higher than average, and companies like Snapple and AriZona Beverages will happily pay you a higher rate. Likewise, if you know that a lot of CIOs or office managers read your site, you can probably use that information to attract ads from the likes of Dell or Staples.But how can you really know who’s visiting, in a way that you can prove to advertisers? A Waltham, MA, company called ZoomInfo says it has come up with a way. The company’s core asset is a collection of 40 million profiles of people in the business world, culled automatically from information scattered around the Web. (In fact, you might be surprised how much information ZoomInfo has on you—but more on that later.) When those people arrive at sites that use ZoomInfo’s advertising service, the company’s software can identify them, link up their names with their ZoomInfo profiles, and serve ads customized for people in their specific job categories.