Choosing Recruiters: Mistake #2 – We Need an Expert

Some executives believe that the only way a recruiter can be successful is to have many years of recruiting in a particular functional category (finance, marketing, human resources, manufacturing), or in a specific industry (construction, bio-technology, education, non-profit, electronics, distribution).

Using the criteria of a functional or industry expertise is a classic mistake in choosing recruiters.

The best recruiters are not industry or functional experts. Their expertise is as world-class recruiters. They know how to play detective to find the very best talent, they understand human motivation and the key elements of why candidates are open to new opportunities, and they are master interviewers capable of extracting information from candidates – information they wouldn’t share with their closest friends or spouses.

Most functional or industry focused recruiters work the same old tired lists of candidates, move the same people from one company to the next and back again, and lack an in-depth understanding of how to nurture, excite, motivate, and create passion in candidates around new opportunities. Rarely do they actually “recruit”. They have no process for identifying new candidates other than a little light networking, running advertisements, and searching their “database” of candidates.

Two decades ago (B.I. – Before Internet – who can even remember this???), the only way to be successful as a recruiter was to specialize since the data you possessed in a 3×5 card system was your inventory or earning potential. Your success as a recruiter was a function of the strength of your network. Today, within 24-48 hours, any good recruiter can identify 80-90% of the key targets on an executive search using the Internet (Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, ZoomInfo, Jigsaw, industry lists and publications, and many times – simply visiting the competitor websites). There is NO longer any need to maintain a unique database of candidates in a particular functional discipline or industry specialization.

Recruiters who still hang onto the tribal methods of recruiting from 20 years ago will claim “I know all the key players in the industry”, “I am well connected”, “I have an extensive database”, “I once held the blank title for the same job you want to hire” or “I worked for years in the blank industry”. None of these claims translate into being a great recruiter. You might have once been a great CFO or Marketing Executive, but that doesn’t mean you’re a good recruiter. Just because you have a phone and a rolodex does not mean you can recruit top talent. The recruiters who claim they have the industry contacts and databases will typically throw a bunch of resumes at you while keeping their fingers crossed that you fall in love with one of them – consequently owing a recruiting fee.

This is not recruiting – it doesn’t even remotely resemble executive search. Instead, it’s nothing more than brokerage – flinging resumes by email with the hope that something will stick. The best recruiters understand which ponds to fish in and how deeply to fish in each pond. The best recruiters EARN their fees by uncovering the very best talent – not candidates who are convenient from their database.  Brokerage (or a referral fee for flinging a resume) shouldn’t be worth more than 5-10% of the candidates first year compensation. Real search fees in the 30% range can only be justified if the recruiter does the following:

Identification of target candidates

A major campaign to convince those candidates to interview and leave their current jobs

Helping you to screen, interview, validate, and vet candidates instead of box-checking job descriptions and then “flinging resumes” (more on why most recruiters don’t see their job as helping you to interview and evaluate candidates in a future posting).

Let me share a personal example: My specialty as an executive recruiter is recruiting – and Brad and I are two of the top recruiters in the United States – how many recruiters can claim they are great recruiters as opposed to “I understand what it’s like to be a CFO or I understand the industrial fastener market”.

If you are a company executive, which would you rather have:

A recruiter who claims to understand the functional role and industry and suggests they have a great database,

OR

A recruiter who has a proven track record of ferreting out the best talent, motivating that talent to get excited about your opportunity, and helping you to validate they can deliver the results you desire.

You obviously want the recruiter who can deliver the results you desire – why then do most companies use the wrong criteria to pick recruiters.

Brad and I talk have spoken a number of times in our weekly radio show about choosing recruiters. You can download our radio shows in our FREE audio archive. We are also preparing a recruiter best practice scorecard which you can use to benchmark recruiters before choosing a firm to help you fill a critical role.

Barry Deutsch

Don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Discussion Group on Hiring and Retaining Top Talent for a more in-depth discussion on choosing recruiters.

Choosing Recruiters: Mistake #1 – No Systematic Process

CEOs and Senior Executives in our survey assumed that all retained executive recruiters must have a rigorous process to help clients hire key executives that will deliver expected results.

How many times have you crossed your fingers in the hope that the recruiter you hired will hit the bullseye? Conversely, how many times have you felt like you’ve thrown good money down a dark hole – never to see an appropriate outcome?

After all, if you visit the recruiter’s website, doesn’t it always identify that the recruiter has a “process” to do search. This assumption represents the number one mistake that is made in working with recruiters. Falling victim to this mistake results in searches that do not get filled in a timely manner, do not get filled with a top caliber candidate, or do not get filled at all.

Industry statistics show that less than 65% of all executive searches are completed by the search firm. The Success Factor Methodology is a process which overcomes the #1 mistake when it is used both by the recruiter and by the company.The vast majority of recruiters have no process. If you go to their website, they claim they have a process – but there is no real process. There is no application of best practices in sourcing, interviewing, assessing, and recruiting top talent.

It’s random, willy-nilly, and seat of the pants. Most recruiters approach is superficial and lacking in substance.

The next time you interview recruiters to select one to help you fill an important position – ask what their process is? Probe for their specific methodology on sourcing or interviewing. Ask what specific questions they use, the research it’s based upon, and what the uncover through those questions. Discover how they build sourcing plans, where they fish, the precise techniques they use to fish in deep waters for the best candidates.

Most of the time, you’ll hear fluff instead of substance. Having a phone and asking interview questions does not make for a great recruiter. Understanding the best practices in sourcing, assessing, recruiting, and interviewing – then applying these on a consistent basis – does make for a great recruiter.

Like the failure behind hiring in many companies, the vast majority of recruiters fail because they have no process.

For over two decades we’ve been using a highly structured process in our Retained Executive Search Practice called the Success Factor Methodology. Using this process has resulted in a success track record over 95% of helping clients hire key executives. We’ve taken this process, and modified it so that you too can implement a rigorous hiring process to find, interview, and select Top Talent. A few years ago we wrote a book, “You’re NOT the Person I Hired”, detailing the steps to implement the Success Factor Methodology in your company. We’ve built an ecommerce site around video, audio, templates, and tools to help you implement the process. Finally, our website contains a wealth of free products, downloads, audio archives, and examples to reinforce improving your hiring process.

STOP relying on recruiters who have no systematic and rigorous process to help you hire top talent. Take back your searches by implementing a simple and effective process field-tested in thousands of companies.

Barry Deutsch

The Top Ten Mistakes Executives Make in Choosing Recruiters

How do you pick the right recruiter?

How do avoid making a mistake in selecting such an important trusted advisor?

In a survey project conducted over 3 years with 425 CEOs and Senior Executives we identified the Top Ten Mistakes that are made in choosing executive recruiters. We took on this survey project after hearing over 25 years horror story after horror story from companies who had retained recruiters to help fill critical positions.

We began to wonder why so many CEOs and Senior Executives were frustrated by the process of choosing and working with executive recruiters.

In my following ten blog postings I’ll identify the Top Ten Mistakes of Choosing Recruiters. You’ll probably want to LOLROFL as my daughter is fond of texting – you’ll first want to Laugh Out Loud while Rolling on the Floor when you read the Top Ten Mistakes. Then laughter will give way to anger and frustration as you realize how your company has made multiple mistakes in choosing and working with recruiters over the years – the bad hires, the painful experiences, and searches not completed – all the result  of mistakes in choosing recruiters – and which could have been easily avoided.

Do you have a pet peeve about choosing or working with recruiters?

What’s your horror story that you could share with our blog readers?

If there was one mistake you’ve made in the past in choosing a recruiter, how would you avoid making that same mistake in the future?

Listen to our recent Radio Show Broadcast in our FREE Audio Library on this subject of the classic mistakes companies make in choosing recruiters.

Join us in our LinkedIn Discussion Group on Hiring Top Talent for a conversation about choosing and working with recruiters.

Barry Deutsch

10 Mistakes Companies Make Working With Recruiters – Radio Show

Many CEOs and Executives are disappointed by the performance of the executive recruiters they have chosen. Through extensive surveys, IMPACT Hiring Solutions has identified The Top Ten Mistakes and False Assumptions companies make in selecting executive recruiters. Don’t fall victim to one of these mistakes. Your next hire is too important to make false assumptions, errors, and mistakes on selecting the recruiter who will help you bring top talent to your company. Discover mistakes ranging from assuming the recruiter must have industry/functional knowledge of the position to false assumptions about the interviewing process used by most recruiters to recommend candidates. After listening to this audio program, you’ll never again fall victim to the top ten mistakes companies make in selecting executive recruiters.

The cost of a bad calculator is available to download for free and a cultural assessment worksheet on our website www.impacthiringsolutions.com