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

“ABC Recruiters company has just added Dr. James E Worthing Jr. as Managing Director of the company’s X niche recruitment focus…Dr Worthing has spent the last 35 years of his career in senior management with a number of well-known companies…”

Being so involved in all aspects of the recruitment or executive search business, I see headlines, email blasts (spam), self made PR pieces, tweets, etc all with a very similar theme. Someone with a great career in another industry making the jump now into recruiting based solely on the credentials they have on their own resume. I am not saying this is good or bad as I myself have focused 7-8 years of education on the FDA regulated product development niche. What I will attempt to do in this blog segment is help educate you the consumer (hiring company or job seeker) on what to look for when you see this information or someone selling their past career and not their current results.

Let’s start with the obvious. How can someone who knows NOTHING about the recruiting, executive search, or the staffing industry all the sudden be an ideal “Managing Partner, Principal, or General Manager of XYZ division?” That is like saying, “we have a new Partner in our law firm with a chemicals background, he never went to law school but he has managed a chemicals plant.” What? Can this new figure-head, who has never gone through the training nor put in the time to become a professional recruiter, suddenly lead a team of people through a true talent search process?

At this point I am going to get, “Chris, they have been a senior manager before and have hired people.” That is great, it means they have been handed pre-screened resumes or the application of someone who works in another area of the company and went through a predetermined interview process, WITH ALL THE RESOURCES OR WORK DONE FOR THEM. What they lack is the 2-6 months of training before being put on your most critical staff need or taking and helping to structure your resume and bio to represent you at their client. You see, just being a manager and having to hire in the past does not anoint them as a true, professional headhunter. It goes to the old belief that if we hire a PhD in Chemistry every Chemical Company will want to work with us, ignoring the fact that we may not have a database, network nor the experience as a firm in that niche.

I have had a lot of experience in my career dealing with this very same challenge in adding staff or growing a company. Do you hire experienced recruiters to meet either your internal needs or as headhunters to meet the need of your clients? Or, do you hire someone from their industry and hope they can pick-up the recruitment piece? 9 out of 10 times the second scenario does not work out in the long run. Short term it seems great. They have a lot of connections, make a number of calls, etc, etc, etc. But, that call list grows short very quickly, more so when the past companies they have worked for are large fortune or global in nature. Take IBM for instance. Hiring an ex-IBM executive was a major trend a number of years ago with both the Manpower’s and Korn Ferry’s of the industry. The trend we thought, was if the individual has been there in the past they can call back in and WHAM we have business or we’ll have an immediate candidate base. Well, that was not the case. People, more so Sr Management, worked in very specific groups, had limited networks and employee access, and did not want to start at the bottom and work their way back into a new career (which is truly what this situation is). The same goes for ex/current legislators, judges and even HR Directors.

Here are a few questions to ask when a firm is trying to sell you on the non-recruiting credentials of this new figure-head:

1. What training have you had on the latest recruiting technologies and techniques
2. What is your firms on-boarding and training program
3. How many similar clients and staff searches do you have under your belt
4. Name some of the tools and resources you might use to fill our need
5. Do you have an HR or Recruiting Certification (to ensure they don’t get you into a hot mess by asking illegal questions on your behalf)
6. Who is on your team doing the actual research, sourcing and headhunting work
7. What is your recruitment process

At the end of the day, the headhunter or recruitment firm is representing you, your company or your brand. Be cautious on who you select with this invaluable possession – for it is not enough to have the working knowledge of your industry – the person or firm must also have the training, technology and recruitment process expertise to make them a true extension of your recruitment resources.

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

I love this time of the year, for the past 72 hours I have been receiving New Years cheer from around the world. From vibrantly colored greeting cards to texts, tweets and Facebook messages, everyone wishing to express their joy and excitement for the coming year. Well, its 1-4-10 and time to put those well wishes and excitement for the New Year into motion.

Most people have a New Year’s resolution (or two or three…) yet few if any of us truly see these resolutions through to the end of the year. In fact, at this point just three days into the 2010, you are probably already justifying why you will not take that step(s) toward your resolution(s) today. Whether it is joining a gym, making more money, securing a new job or landing a major new client, we quickly start to slip back into old habits and then justify why we did not sacrifice that extra tinny-tiny 15 minutes today, of which would have given us hours of personal satisfaction and emotional uplift.

You see I have been around a lot of people in both the corporate World of Work and as an entrepreneur who have set and achieved some very high goals. Watching these people achieve the one or two items in their lives which they put on paper and they committed to is 2000x more rewarding than giving them a goal as a manager, business owner or Master Mind peer. Achieving their goals invigorated them to a new status of thinking, acting and living. As a result they naturally had to move forward in their lives, continuing to achieve more of what they set out to do.

My quick advice to anyone looking to set and achieve change in their lives this year is not a laundry list of “resolutions” but some solid, self-committed goals that will truly inspire and empower you to do more in your life and achieve your dreams for 2010 and beyond.

Top 4 Helpful Ideas to Focus on Your Goal(s):

1. Develop a larger, more encompassing goal – Rather than making a list of all the things you want to physically manifest this year, take that list and discover what is the one most holistic and encompassing goal that would cover all you smaller goals. A great example might be a new job paying 50% more. This would allow you to take the extra income goal and also deliver to yourself your investments, vacations and giving goals into one.

2. Careful who you share your goal with – People get very excited and want to run out and tell the world, “hey, it’s the New Year and here is what I plan to accomplish.” This is great and we expect our friends and family to support us 100% in this New Years endeavor. Guess what, they don’t and in many cases can’t. You see they are also looking to change in the New Year, if not then they are terribly jealous of those who are sacrificing to do so. It’s hard to be negative and positive at the same time and you don’t want other’s negative thoughts to influence your drive for success in 2010!

3. Get involved with like minded people – If you are being cautious on running and telling everyone you know about your new goal then you do need to seek out help and support to take your life to that next level this year. A great way to help keep your mind focused and positive is as simple as surrounding yourself with like minded people. This could be a Master Minds group of other professionals or business owners, a professional business association, goal setters networking group, a group of positive minded people in your church / temple or other such examples and even combinations of people that can help support you while you are supporting them back.

4. Do something every day to put you closer to your goal – Here is a tough one, don’t let your mind and activities stop until you have reached or exceeded your goal, period. Be as persistent to making that change or achieving that desired result as the sun it to rise each day and the hours of the clock continue to move. As time and the World are not waiting for you to decide to take action today or keep you mind focused, you must commit to doing this for yourself. Find items that can enforce your thoughts and beliefs like a book on your niche or better yet a calendar you can write in and plan each day.

I thank everyone for their support, kind works and friendship in 2009. It has truly been my pleasure to be of service to people around the world and I am excited about doing even more in 2010.

Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Chris

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