Chris Wellington “The Recruiting Guy”, President, The Wellington Group

This is a line we either hear every day or we ask each other jokingly here at The Wellington Group. See we get this question from various clients we are calling or those who reach out to us for help with their talent search needs. We also seem to be asking this a lot of both other recruiters and VARIOUS vendors that want us to lock into some over-priced contract to attain more “resume traffic flow.”

So, Human Resources and company Hiring Managers or Executives ask all the time now, “Do you really have candidates?” This is for good reason, in two parts. The first, they have exhausted their own candidate pool and resume flow or the flip side is happening and they are just too overwhelmed to go through all the applicants! The second part to this question involves all the countless one-time callers from various recruitment firms, staffing companies, mom and pops firms, or recruiting professionals who see their needs and are looking for new clients. Well why then would they (HR and Hiring Managers) continually ask this question if they need the help? Easy, too many recruiters who call and say, “We have the people for this job,” and a few days later…nothing, nada, zilpo, zilch. Not in their niche, did not truly have the candidates or was the sales person for the recruiting company and they are now trying to sell the recruitment team on this new client…crazy!

“Mr. Wellington, this is Jack from ABC Recruitmentpros, Inc and we have people to meet your needs…” Calls I get, or my staff does, daily from another firm or from those in our recruiting networks who seem to have people…not really. Again, what we get is either NOTHING or they send us people who have a few keywords and no true sound interview details as the recruiter/firms has not honestly read the job description off our website. “Jack, we don’t need a 30 year career Scientist for a Jr level Chemist job.” Extreme example, perhaps but nonetheless it’s true. Just looking to move some paper and not truly looking for that ideal career match for their candidate.

Finally it’s the vendors we get massive calls from, or in my consulting I hear about all the time from clients. Yes the product or service sounds great, but is it? What can they guarantee? What, no guarantees in the job board, job posting, job anything space…nope! You get a contract and service, can’t find what you need here (like I said you would in my sales pitch) then on to my next potential client while you burn up valuable time using our tool in hopes to find some, any relevant talent.

So what can you learn from this…it depends? What side of the desk or phone are you sitting on? If you are on the HR or hiring side, ask for references from current clients, search their site to see if they really have other similar candidates or current talent searches (no matter what vendor), heck even look at their LinkedIn profile for details about their recruitment expertise. But, what you should be doing is negotiating a way out, if in a short amount of time the service or tool is not performing. If in fact you are making that call into a client, good. Just ensure the database, network or tool you are trying to push is what the client needs and wants. Are you in their niche? How many similar clients has your firm / tool serviced? What is the count of those types of people in your database, tool or network? Will your recruiters truly engage and help your new client find this person?

It floors me that clients will ask many of these questions of our firm or expect us to layout why a person is an exact fit with painstaking detail but turn around and take anyone on who “may” have a solution but “has” no clue to these answers. Maybe I can just start saying, “I don’t know.” Not a chance. Do your homework and make sure your call into HR, a Hiring Manager or a fellow recruiter is advantageous and not a time waster. After all, time has become even more precious in the changing World of Work as we are all doing a lot more with a lot less.

Do you really have candidates? Great, well let’s get them to work and get this economy moving!

Chris

To hire The Recruiting Guy as a speaker or trainer visit The Recruiting Guy or contact The Wellington Group @ info@thewellington-group.com. 

Chris Wellington “The Recruiting Guy”, President, The Wellington Group

“optimistic (people) are more likely to create their own luck”

This was a great quote I read in a #BNET article yesterday, and yes it had me up all night thinking, “What if all job seekers behaved this way?” Now before you take major offense, stop and think about your attitude and approach to finding a new job. You don’t have to be a displaced worker. No, all job seekers from Executive level to college grads fall into my post. Most people I connect with, literally dozens on a daily basis, for the most part don’t allow for much work, optimism and even fun in their job search. Many people tend to put in little effort and have an unrealistic expectation that “HR” or a “Headhunter” will just pick their resume out of a sea of paper/emails/HRIS profiles and, wah-lah I am hired.

The problem with this false expectation is that people don’t realize just how many OTHER people are looking for a new job or looking to change jobs, so any great employment brand or true recruiting professional is inundated with 100’s (if not thousands) of applicants each day. To that end, those who are bitter or show less than pleasant attitudes, lazy in their application or follow-up, or allow their inner emotions to control their outer attitude to the people coordinating the effort on their behalf, well you get to see the delete key.

Yes I said it; selection is at an all time high!

So how do you navigate this challenge? First start by preparing mentally, that finding a job is real work. You have to develop and execute a strategy; the right tools, a plan for using those tools, network, network, network and follow-up to show you are different from the 300 others who sent a mass LinkedIn message or email (see my previous post on “Don’t Send Your Resume to 50 Recruiters at a Time!”).

As you work through this challenge, be overly optimistic, positive and even contagious with those whom you interact. The receptionist where you dropped off your resume or met as you went in to interview, the recruiter who you have talked with three times about the job (if they are any good), peers that you network with and all the new people you meet while you are on this journey. Put in your mind each morning that you will show a smile and have a great attitude and follow-up, even if not selected for the job. Heck, many times the first person who is selected does not take the offer…are you number two in line?

Also prepare yourself each day on the amount of time and energy you will invest on your job search. I highly caution you not to make it sporadic or from the hip. Calendar out the times each day you will look at your job search agents, alerts, job boards, the people you are following on LinkedIn or the Ladders. See what is new and relevant to your background, move on from those opportunities that are not! Have a well developed and written resume, one which you can tweak to the job you are applying for and speaks to you being a fit for this need.

OK, enough of my rant for the day. After all, I may just get you on the line 3 times as we work through your next career opportunity! But as we do, expect for me to put some work back on your plate to ensure we are making the right match. For as my grandmother would say if I took too long of a break from chopping wood in Alaska, “It’s not going to get done by itself honeyboy, you have to get off your toosh and put some effort into it.”

Good luck in your job search, but take the time to do it right!

Chris

For questions or help on this and many other ideas on how to make your career search more effective contact the staff at The Wellington Group @ info@twgrecruiters.com  or visit The Career Store.