Mastering the Art of Recruiting by Travis Michael

Author:Travis, Michael
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC-CLIO
Published: 2014-12-05T16:00:00+00:00

Of course, the examples above assume that your company recognizes its problems and sincerely wants to do something about them. If that is true, you’re offering an opportunity to turn around a function or a business, and many candidates will find that to be very attractive.

If the company is on a downward trajectory and there’s no mandate for change, your job will be a lot more difficult. You still must identify the positive attributes of the company and the job opportunity, but your message will be much weaker. You’ll have to commit yourself to a tough search and grind it out. In addition, you may need to resign yourself to the fact that the job simply is not very attractive, and you may not be able to recruit the quality of candidate you want.

Is the Opportunity Being Effectively Sold?

If candidates are not interested, it’s also possible that whomever is contacting candidates is doing a poor job selling the opportunity.

Is someone competent and credible making the introductory calls to candidates? A typical executive search requires hundreds of phone calls. Making the frontline calls is a laborious and time-consuming process that is often assigned to junior recruiters who don’t have the skill or business knowledge to make a credible presentation to candidates.

Every executive I know has a story about being contacted by a recruiter who was so transparently junior that his message was dismissed before it could be delivered. You’ve probably received many of those calls yourself. If you determine this is the problem, insist on a change in staffing to fix it.

If that’s not the issue, review the “pitch” your recruiter is using with candidates. Recruiters don’t have long to pique a candidate’s interest, so the message must be crisp and compelling. If it’s not, or if it doesn’t present the company and the job in an effective way, fix it.

Are Sights Set Too High?

There’s a third reason candidates may not be showing interest, and that’s if you’re targeting people who are just too senior to be interested in the job you’re trying to fill.

This is a fairly common problem, and it can be hard to diagnose. Most of us drink a healthy dose of our own Kool-Aid and have a highly biased view of our own company and its prospects.

I’m reminded of a friend who, years ago, worked for one of the most desirable employers in the country. Let’s call them Awesome Corporation.

My friend was building a new business intelligence organization and wanted to recruit top performers from leading consulting firms. Because the company was Awesome Corporation, it wasn’t hard to bring people to the table.

But my friend couldn’t close them. In fact, he made three offers that were rejected. The people he wanted to hire were in great demand, and the positions he had on offer were a lateral move for them. In the end, the candidates took positions at other companies where they would enjoy more responsibility.

My friend believed that Awesome Corporation was such a magnet that top performers would jump at the chance to join, even for jobs that didn’t represent an upward move.

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