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Recruiting in the 100 Acre Wood by Scott Wintrip   As the father of a six-year old, I have lost track of how many Winnie the Pooh videos and stories I have seen and read over the past few years. I must admit that these characters were personal favorites of mine as a child, and I get to enjoy them again with my son. Like me, I am sure that many of you who are parents or grandparents have caught yourselves singing the songs from these programs after repeated viewings. "What," you may be asking, "does this have to do with recruiting?" Well, it was during one of those moments when Winnie the Pooh stories and songs were drifting in and out of my head that a seed was planted. I began to wonder what it would be like if Pooh and his friends were recruiters. Thus, the birth of this article..... Recruiting in the 100 Acre Wood

Integrity. It’s a bit like virginity. Either you have it or you don’t! By Greg Savage I have been in business a long time. And all of that time has been in the rough and tumble world of recruitment and staffing. Having worked as a recruiter, manager, and owner of recruitment businesses all over the world, I have seen my share of dubious business practices. Indeed I have, sadly, been witness to many instances of outrageously deceitful and unethical behavior. We have all seen it no doubt. In business, as in life generally, we expect to confront people who are dishonest. We know they are there, and we become better at identifying them before too much harm is done. But what really gets me is that category of person in business who preaches ethical behavior, even believes they are whiter than white, but when put to the mildest of tests, will collapse in a heap of moral compromise at best, and resort to outright duplicity at worst..... Integrity. It’s a bit like virginity. Either you have it or you don’t!

There's Always A Reason Not To Do Something In Your Career By Deborah Brown-Volkman As a career coach, people are always talking to me about their careers. We discuss their dreams, wishes, and future plans. But when I ask some of these people how they will implement their plan, their reasons for not moving forward begin to flow.   Their reasons vary. Some people tell me they are too old. Some are too young. Some have the wrong education or not enough. Some have too much experience, while others don't have as much as they'd like.   Today, the reason is the pretty consistent. The economy. How can you have a job you love when you are lucky to be working?..... There's Always A Reason Not To Do Something In Your Career

Getting past 60 seconds: tips for telephone prospecting By Ross Clennett   The golden flow of jobs that gushed through the doors of recruitment agencies for most of the 2000's, had the impact of loosening the discipline and reducing the skills of telephone prospecting for many agency recruiters.   The cost of this haphazard approach to telemarketing became very apparent when the impact of the GFC quickly turned off the tap of jobs coming in. What I have heard, and observed, with respect to recruiters' telemarketing efforts over the past 18 months has been less than inspiring..... Getting past 60 seconds: tips for telephone prospecting

Top 10 Phone Sourcing Rules by Maureen Sharib People would rather focus on phone sourcing’s sister cousin, Internet sourcing, than telephone sourcing. Phone sourcing still seems scary to most; after all, a keyboard and computer screen don’t talk back to you and stymie you in your efforts at seeking information. This reluctance is becoming today a not-so-subtle avoidance issue and hiring managers are noticing and demanding more. I hope this finds you well, surviving this market and making bags of money! Maybe the bag is somewhat smaller than before, but you are still hanging in there..... Top 10 Phone Sourcing Rules

Service leads to sales, if you know how to act and how to ask. By Jeffrey Gitomer  Every time a customer calls it’s an opportunity. The only question is: how are you taking advantage of it? Answer HELLO! Not a thank you for the call, telling me how important it is while you put me on hold for the next available agent, or to “serve me better” ask me to select from among the following eight options..... Service leads to sales, if you know how to act and how to ask.

Humongous Techniques to Boost Your Recruitment Advertising Efforts By Lou Adler I've just finished reading Dan and Chip Heath's Made to Stick - Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. This is a great book on marketing and how to influence others, and many of the ideas can be directly applied to recruiting in general and recruitment advertising in particular. When you combine this with Hire with Your Head you'll be finding more top candidates and making more placements before the week is out..... Humongous Techniques to Boost Your Recruitment Advertising Efforts

Stop Holding Yourself Back: 6 Tips for Reaching Your Potential We all have a tendency to fall back on old habits. Old habits feel safe and comfortable and familiar – a haven in a stormy economy and an uncertain job situation. “Salespeople look at what’s going on out there and don’t want to push the envelope too much,” observes Roz Usheroff, principal at The Usheroff Institute, an organization that helps frontline staff define a winning brand. “They don’t want to appear too radical. They think, ‘I want to keep my job, so I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing."..... Stop Holding Yourself Back: 6 Tips for Reaching Your Potential

What Exactly Are 'Excellent Communication Skills'? by Ross Clennett It has to be one of the most clichéd lines in job descriptions and hence, recruitment advertising - the request for 'excellent communication skills'.  It is omnipresent in today's recruitment lexicon. Alternatively, substitute your favourite synonym such as 'excellent', 'good', 'outstanding', 'exceptional', 'superior' or 'high level'. Unfortunately these phrases are of no help whatsoever to candidates, or recruiters. Why?..... What Exactly Are 'Excellent Communication Skills'?

An 18-Minute Plan for Managing Your Day By Peter Bregman Yesterday started with the best of intentions. I walked into my office in the morning with a vague sense of what I wanted to accomplish. Then I sat down, turned on my computer, and checked my email. Two hours later, after fighting several fires, solving other people's problems, and dealing with whatever happened to be thrown at me through my computer and phone, I could hardly remember what I had set out to accomplish when I first turned on my computer. I'd been ambushed. And I know better..... An 18-Minute Plan for Managing Your Day

Learn to Adapt in the Face of Adversity by Sid Kemp When something doesn’t work, don’t run away. Move through the obstacle to achieve your goal. How do you run your business? Do you run away every time you get burned? Or do you learn a lesson and look for ways to win the next round? If you’re ready to learn and grow, you can start thriving today. You can have a great life, enjoy your business, make your dreams real and escape financial difficulty. The same is true if you’re a business owner--and even if you’re an employing looking to do a better job or simply get a new one..... Learn to Adapt in the Face of Adversity

A Relevant Strategy By Joe Calloway In the thirty years that I have been in business, I have never wavered in this belief: let me know more about the customer than my competition knows, and I will be positioned to win. As I look back on the business ideas I’ve tried that didn’t work, and there were a lot of them, the one thing that most of them have in common is a lack of relevance. I believe that more customers and sales are lost because of irrelevance than because of poor quality, high price, or bad service combined..... A Relevant Strategy

Motivating Middle Performers by Mark Murphy, CEO of Leadership IQ http://www.leadershipiq.com Most leaders assume that middle performers are already doing the best they can, and so dismiss taking any action to improve their performance. Middle performers, in turn, internalize this assumption and stop trying to be anything more than what they already are. Employees need feedback, both good and bad, in order to succeed. Middle performers typically account for 70 percent of the workforce. This translates to two-thirds of your employee base that, if you are like most leaders, by the very merit of not being told whether they are doing “good” or “bad,” are being encouraged to tread water at only average performance levels..... Motivating Middle Performers

Is it time to improve your skills again? By Kevin D. Crone Mark Twain was once asked, "Do you think it will stop raining?" He quickly responded, "Always has." He could have given the same answer to a lot of questions such as, "Do you think the world has changed? Do you think our customers' needs/motives changed? Will those who adapt well to change be the most successful?"   Answer: "Always has." Improving your skills is what causes you to see the world differently and increases your worth to your business..... Is it time to improve your skills again?

How important is Social Media to the recruitment industry? by Gary Melton Twitter, Xing, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr.......there is no escaping the continuing dominance of social media in the press. Just as you think you have got your head around it all, someone invites you to connect with them on the next big social networking platform. The question is, just how important is social media to the recruitment industry?.... How important is Social Media to the recruitment industry?

Why So Many Recruiters Fail In Our Business By Scott Love As a management consultant and trainer to the industry, I look at our industry and how it functions from a unique perspective. I consider myself more of a student of the business rather than a trainer. I want to find out why things work so that I can develop a model that average people can adopt to achieve above-average billings. It’s a unique way to teach the business and is a different style compared to all the other trainers. I know there are a lot of great trainers out there who are incredibly talented and use that talent to achieve success in the business. The problem is that most people just don’t have that same level of natural talent. Most of the people I have encountered in the search and staffing business are average people like me. So if you weren’t born with the smarts of many of the industry gurus, how can you achieve success in the business?.... Why So Many Recruiters Fail In Our Business

7 Reasons Employers Will Hire You By Jörgen Sundberg To secure that dream job, you have to think like the person making the final decision. What is going through the manager's head when they select candidates? This is a list containing the 7 most common reasons people get hired. Use it wisely now and do let me know if you have any questions on any of the reasons..... 7 Reasons Employers Will Hire You

Why Do They Always Get a Raise Right Before the Offer? By Jeff Skrentny Why is it that candidates ALWAYS seem to get a review, raise, additional responsibilities right before your client is about to make them an offer? Alright, it doesn’t ALWAYS happen. As recruiters we tend to exaggerate just a bit, but it happened again this week to not one, but to two recruiters I know and have great respect for, and it drives me mad when I hear this. This should never happen..... Why Do They Always Get a Raise Right Before the Offer?

What is success to you? By Kevin D. Crone What is it right now that when implemented would impact your future and happiness?..... What is success to you?

How's business? Here are a few thoughts and lessons from the NOW! By Jeffrey Gitomer As I walked up to the Haagen-Dazs counter at the South Park Mall in Charlotte, a 6 ft. 5 in. tall guy was counting money. After the count, he put on plastic gloves, smiled, said he was the manager, and asked me for our order. We exchanged pleasantries, then I asked for a cake cone with a single scoop of mint chocolate chip, a kid's cone with chocolate ice cream and lemon sorbet, and my delight, a waffle cone, with a single scoop of chocolate and a little bit of strawberry on top ("Just enough to where I don't have to pay for it," I said). The big man laughed out loud..... How's business? Here are a few thoughts and lessons from the NOW!

Top Tips for Achieving Motivation by Fiona Lander With the rise in motivation training across the UK coupled with survey results that place attitude and motivation as the top personal development need, it seems that there are many people out there who could do with a boost of morale and encouragement, in what has been a long and tough recession. Recruitment is an industry that has definitely felt the effects, with consultants working twice as hard for business, just to survive. So how can you make sure that your team remains motivated, efficient and eager to work, even when times are hard? We asked some of our specialist trainers for their top tips..... Top Tips for Achieving Motivation

On Your Mark…. By Francis Cole Jones Recently my friend’s son, aged five, said to me, “Your car’s an Audi, right?” “Yes. How did you know?” “From the rings on the front.” Mercy. Stop the madness. I’m guessing many of you have similar stories of your own, have heard similar stories on the news, or have read books proclaiming how all-pervasive branding is and how consequently critical that we all brand our products and ourselves. I’m here to point out the flaw in this process-and how to address it..... On Your Mark….

Getting to the Top By Justin Gittelman Accessing the ‘real’ decision maker in any organization is what separates average sales performers from true sales professionals. Similar to climbing to the peak of any mountain top - getting to the decision maker’s office requires that you are equipped with the right plan, a map of how to get there, the right information, and necessary tools to make your journey concise and effective.   How many of you have climbed to the top of a mountain? I have and let me tell you something, it wasn’t easy. It requires a level of discipline and focused desire to achieve the result you’re looking for. Getting to the decision maker in any company requires these exact same techniques..... Getting to the Top

10 Things Recruiters Should Know About Every Candidate They Interview By Howard Adamsky   Interviewing candidates and gauging their fit for a culture and position is one of the most indispensable tasks a recruiter performs. The more a recruiter knows about a candidate, the better equipped they are to add value to the hiring process. That's why getting to know the candidate and understand what they are looking for, along with overall qualifications, is so critical.   But there is more about candidates you should uncover if you want to do the best possible job of providing information (read: value) to hiring managers. Below are ten points in key areas that all recruiters should investigate for each candidate they interview -- before they present the candidate to the hiring manager..... 10 Things Recruiters Should Know About Every Candidate They Interview

Candidate – Recruiter Relationships: Overrated? By Glen Cathey What is the ultimate value you provide to candidates as a recruiter? I want you to really think about that question before proceeding. In this post, there will be more questions raised than answers provided. Please take a moment to ensure that you have your thinking cap on and that your mind is open..... Candidate – Recruiter Relationships: Overrated?

14 New Ideas to Attract and Retain Top Talent By Mike Nacke A recent study conducted by the Gallup Organization revealed that 59 percent of managers name their biggest problem to be the challenge of finding and training enough good employees to fill present and future needs. While lower unemployment rates certainly make attracting talent a daunting task, it’s no excuse for weak recruiting. In order to succeed in this competitive market, you must leverage your most important intellectual asset, your creativity. Here are 14 innovative ideas for attracting and retaining top talent by separating yourself from your competitors in the minds of prospective employees..... 14 New Ideas to Attract and Retain Top Talent

Coach Your Own Career By Deborah Brown-Volkman When we struggle in our career, we usually look outward. Maybe there is a book, TV show, or colleague who can tell us what to do. The truth is the answers you seek come from within. You can tap into outside sources for information or validation, but the true next steps usually come from you. It takes courage to have a career you are passionate about; a career you enjoy that makes a difference in the world. Seem like a lonely goal? The good news is you do not have to pursue this goal alone. You have a coach within that can assist you; a friend that gets you, listens to you, and wants to help you..... Coach Your Own Career

Career Resolutions - Dreaming a Bigger Future By Jeremy Miller We were all asked as children, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" It's a great question. It lets you take off the shackles of reality and simply dream. As you enter 2010, ask yourself again, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Dreaming was easy and natural when we were children. When I was a kid I never settled on one dream. I was constantly picking new and different futures. After taking a class trip to the local fire hall, I proudly declared I was going to be a fireman when I grew up. Another time my teacher gave me an A for a short story I wrote, and I decided I was going to be an author. I even considered being an architect based on my amazing Lego building skills. Each time I made one of these little declarations, I pictured a new future. It was very liberating..... Career Resolutions - Dreaming a Bigger Future

Don’t Get Flustered, Get Factual By Francis Cole Jones There appears to be an epidemic of inappropriateness pervading the job interview world these days. Several people I know have gotten questions that left them, literally, speechless-and one wasn’t so much disconcerted by a question as by the manner in which it was asked. Following, a few suggestions I made for how each of them might have responded. If any of you have additional ideas, I’d love to hear them. (Alternatively, if you’ve been asked anything, or experienced anything, that left you confounded, I’d love to hear those stories, too.).... Don’t Get Flustered, Get Factual

Is a Customer Annoying You? Here's Why Are you losing sales because you aren't selling the way your customers buy? Here's one way to find out: Think about the types of customers with whom you find it hard to communicate, and make a list of all the things they do that drive you nuts. Maybe they want to sit and tell you their life story when you just want to get down to business. Or maybe it's the opposite – they just want the facts, in a certain format, while you want to spend some time getting to know them. Whatever it is, you’ll find the customer behaviors that irk you "are usually just the opposite of your own selling style," observes Michael Wilkinson, CEO of Leadership Strategies Inc. (www.leadstrat.com). "When your customer's buying style differs from your natural selling style, the result can be disastrous."..... Is a Customer Annoying You? Here's Why

The Simple Brilliance of John Lewis: The Candidate does the Closing by Bob Marshall John Lewis was a recruiter, trainer and manager. He excelled at everything he tried in the recruitment business-a business that is so oriented toward people with sales experience and/or sales aptitude. John had those sales instincts. And he had a very dry wit-and he was really, really funny. I am using words like "had" and "was" because John just passed away. One of the great advantages of being an on-the-road trainer is that you get a chance to meet top recruiters 'up close and personal'. And (if you keep your mouth shut and your ears open) you can learn an awful lot about how to maximize your results and do this business correctly. John and I both took the time to learn from the best..... The Candidate does the Closing

Seven Interview Mistakes We all make mistakes, but if we learn from them, we're better for it. However, making a mistake during the interview process can be a costly one, especially if it leads to the wrong hire. Take some tips from sales management expert William "Skip" Miller as he categorizes these mistakes and offers helpful advice in his new book, More Proactive Sales Management: Avoid the Mistakes Even Great Sales Managers Make – And Get Extraordinary Results (AMACOM, March 2009)..... Seven Interview Mistakes

Top Tips on bouncing back, again and again and again… by Heather Townsend It's a tough old world out there - everyone knows that rejection is part and parcel of everyday life as a recruiter. How do you find the resilience to keep bouncing back? Are you born with it? Can you blame your parents if you don't have it? Or is it something you develop as time goes on? Here are my top tips on how to strengthen your resilience..... Top Tips on bouncing back, again and again and again....

Consistency Is Far Greater Than Rare Moments of Greatness by Scott Ginsberg The Nametag Guy You just never know. When you answer a phone call from an unknown number. When you engage in a conversation with a guest at your office. When you greet a potential customer who walks into your store. When you make small talk with a stranger you’ve just been introduced to. When you respond to a random email from a friend of a friend of a friend. You just never know..... Consistency Is Far Greater Than Rare Moments of Greatness

A New Perspective on Sourcing Top Talent - Eight New Ideas You Need to Consider By Lou Adler Consumer marketing ideas have overtaken traditional sourcing approaches faster than anyone could have imagined. Job boards are dead; talent hubs are alive. Skills-based postings will soon follow the dodo bird into extinction, and will be replaced with ads focused on the future, not the past. They will be crafted with the latest search engine marketing concepts in mind. If you want your fair share of tomorrow's talent, you'd better start changing how you source them today. Here's what I see as the fundamental ground rules for sourcing top talent, circa 2010. Implementing them now will give you a reasonable head start..... A New Perspective on Sourcing Top Talent - Eight New Ideas You Need to Consider

Building Motivation to Get on the Phone by Scott T Love Do you find it difficult to create the energy to start making your round of phone calls in the morning? If so, then you are not alone. Even veteran big billers admit to me that sometimes it takes them as long as four hours to get the nerve to pick up the phone and make the first call.  Why is this? We know at the end of every day that the phone calling doesn't hurt us. There are no bruises, cuts, or scrapes that we get from being on the phone. We have call reluctance, call aversion, fear of the phone, and plain old procrastination that keep us from reaching our fullest potential each morning..... Building Motivation to Get on the Phone

Five Steps to Creating A Winning Career Plan by Deborah Brown-Volkman Having trouble deciding what to do with your career? Are there too many choices or not enough? Are you looking for direction or a word from above that will show you the way? There are times in our career when we are at a crossroads. Some of us actively seek our next step, while others wait for the next step to come to them. If you believe you can have a career that will bring you excitement and fulfillment, then you will have that. If you believe that work is work, and it's all about making it to the weekend, then "working for the weekend" will be your reality. So, How Can Do You Find A Career That Will Bring You Joy and Satisfaction? Follow These Five Steps..... Five Steps to Creating A Winning Career Plan

Have You Got What it Takes to be a Recruiter? Very few kids dream of one day being on the phone all day pitching jobs to strangers. Yet a great deal of people have tried their hand at recruitment at some stage in their career. Most have actually stumbled upon recruitment by accident and were tempted by the gold and glory.   The good news is that it’s relatively easy to be given a chance in recruitment, firms experience a big churn of recruitment hopefuls every year and most rookies do not make it beyond the first year. This is one of the reasons recruiters sometimes have a less than great reputation, a lot of juniors fighting for the same business will inevitably lead to dodgy tactics..... Have You Got What it Takes to be a Recruiter?

The 3 Basic Keys to LinkedIn by Sean Nelson   It’s been a fun two weeks but not necessarily a productive period in terms of the blog. Two weeks ago I started moving the blog from the Linked Intuition site to the Social Media Sonar site. Instead of writing new posts I was finding all of the little things that needed to be updated or corrected. I think all is in place to kick off the new blog and move forward. This week I’m preparing to speak at Norvax University in Orlando which is an educational road show event hosted by Norvax for health insurance agents. There will be 300 brokers from 22 states so it’s a great opportunity to gain some personal and blog exposure.   In preparing for the show I’ve been writing my presentations and creating some new LinkedIn guides. From this writing developed the 3 Basic Keys to Getting Started on LinkedIn..... The 3 Basic Keys to LinkedIn

Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 7 By Lou Adler When someone says "no" to your offer, your goal is not to convince him to say "yes." Your goal is to get him to say "maybe." Recruiting and hiring top people who have multiple offers or who are passive candidates is not easy. They won't put up with weak recruiters, weak hiring managers, or an unprofessional hiring process. The purpose of this series on "Becoming a Great Recruiter" is to provide recruiters with the tools and techniques they need to deal with the challenges of hiring the best. Handling objections, overcoming concerns, dealing with counteroffers, and candidates saying "no" is part of the daily grind of every top recruiter. Expect it. In fact, be concerned when these problems don't come up..... Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 7

Phone Techniques for Business Success by Bret Pyle Most thoughtful and intelligent recruiters will tell you that in order to be a good recruiter, you have to be good at sales, to be willing to takes chances, and to have the ability to build networks through referrals. All of these are true. However, one thing often overlooked in this day and age of the Web, virtual worlds, chat, IM, and email is relationships. There is an absence of one-on-one exchanges of information and true conversations. As a recruiter, you can become too dependent on email and technology, which is a dangerous course to take. You should not underestimate the power of a one-on-one conversation. Candidates can't truly determine your level of confidence over email, and you can't properly portray your tone or easily reassure someone that you've "got what it takes" to find them a new career..... Phone Techniques for Business Success

Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 6 By Lou Adler If one of your client groups has ever incorrectly eliminated a good candidate because someone on the hiring team was a weak interviewer, this article is written for you.   But some background first. We're now into the final stages of this series on becoming a great recruiter. If you've participated fully, you're now much better at taking the assignment and finding more top active and passive candidates and closing more assignments more quickly. If you haven't participated, you're sending out too many candidates to be interviewed, you're not seeing as many strong active and passive candidates as you could be, and if you haven't tried out the techniques presented last week, there's no doubt that you're losing candidates who drop out due to compensation differences, or you're overpaying for the candidates you are hiring..... Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 6

Cold calling is a waste of time. by Jeffrey Gitomer You’re calling on people you don’t know, interrupting their day, manipulating your way in, and IF you get through to an actual decision maker, odds are you’ll say the wrong thing anyway. “If I could just have a few minutes of your time, I can save you some money.” Pathetic. First of all, real leaders don’t want to save money, they want to make a profit. Second of all, rejection 98 out of 100 times is depressing, demoralizing, degrading, and not to mention giving you a bad rap as a rep..... Cold calling is a waste of time

How To Ace An Interview - The Checklist By Deborah Brown-Volkman   A job interview is a screening tool. For you, it's an opportunity to assess whether or not you want to work for a company. For the employer, it's an opportunity to decide whether or not they want to hire you. Both sides are looking for a match. You can ace an interview and win the job you want even in this economy; even with the competition that wants the same job as you. You will have to work hard, but it can be done. Know that the work you do upfront and afterwards will make the "during" (while you are interviewing) much easier for you. Here's a checklist to help you..... How To Ace An Interview - The Checklist

Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 5 By Lou Adler If you've followed the advice provided in the previous four articles, you're now finding more top active and passive candidates. Finding top people is actually easier than hiring them.   Here's why: First, they won't accept offers unless they're for bigger jobs with better long-term prospects than their current jobs or competing offers. That's why taking the assignment and preparing performance profiles are so important. You need to understand real job needs to present a convincing case that the job you're representing offers a true career opportunity.   Second, top people who are in demand generally want a nice bump in compensation as an incentive to accept one offer over another. The situation is worsened because these people are generally already at the top end of their salary ranges for comparable positions. However, you can alleviate these problems if you know how to use the interview to shift the decision to accept an offer from one based on compensation to one based on opportunity. This is what we'll cover in this article..... Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 5

Cold Calling Is Dead - There are better ways to generate leads By Jeremy Miller Cold calling used to be a sales person's most effective lead generation tool, but today it is futile. Now I am not suggesting that making an unsolicited call on a strategic account is a cold call. Sure it is unsolicited, but it's simply the first step in a larger plan to engage a prospect, build a value proposition and work to win their business. Rather, I describe cold calling as the process of making 10, 20 or even 100 unsolicited calls a day, and touching as many companies as possible. This process of lead generation is unproductive. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack..... Cold Calling Is Dead - There are better ways to generate leads

The Antidote for Bad Interviewers Written by Kathy Barton   You've been working hard to put together a strong slate of candidates for a hard-to-fill position, and through networking and sheer force of personality have assembled three qualified individuals. They each have strengths and weaknesses, but they all have been successful in the past achieving the types of goals and completing the types of tasks that need to be done in this job. Your biggest concern: an unpredictable hiring manager. You're never sure just who is going to hit the mark with this manager because it doesn't follow any pattern that you can see. The manager tends to take immediate likes and dislikes to certain candidates for reasons not based on their backgrounds..... The Antidote for Bad Interviewers

Practical Selling – The 2-Step Shuffle by Denise Walker I am often asked for an “easy magic formula” for building businesses and the simple answer is that there isn’t one. Having said that, magic (or success) can definitely be created from getting all key basic business aspects right – and sales is unquestionably one of them. The following is an illustration of two of the most important aspects of selling: the sales technique and customer contact management..... Practical Selling – The 2-Step Shuffle

Don't take "No"for an answer: 25 Tips and Suggestions to Maximize your Revenue This isn't an article about sales technique or client negotiations. It's about overcoming the biggest problem you're likely to face in the expanding economy. No doubt, you're going to be busy this year…and highly successful. The phones will ring, more job orders will come in-and then BAM, all of a sudden, it happens. Seemingly in an instant, there's no time. No time for prospecting. No time to reconnect with old clients. No time to market..... Don't take "No"for an answer: 25 Tips and Suggestions to Maximize your Revenue

Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 4 By Lou Adler We're into the fourth week of our eight-week program on becoming a top 10% recruiter. Last week, ideas were presented as to what you needed to do to find stronger, active candidates.   The key: Be different. Ads must have an engaging title and a compelling employee-value proposition. Ads that are just like everyone else's or can't be found are non-starters. If you want to hire top people, your ads must offer career opportunities, not just another job. These ads are just as important if you want to attract and hire top passive candidates. These top people will read your online posting to see if the job you're offering is worth evaluating. So, if it isn't anything special, the great recruiting and sourcing techniques described below will prove valueless. Let's get real..... Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 4

Now is the time to rise up, be counted, and kick butt! By Jeffrey Gitomer   For years big corporations ruled the world, and the business world – not any more. Most of them are hurting – wounded – dying – or dead. Big banks, big homebuilders, big auto makers, big newspapers, big stock brokerages, and other “big” companies are under water or treading fast. The only thing sinking faster is the price of their stock. Business is so bad at big hotels that in Las Vegas, hotel people are actually becoming friendly. Before President Obama put the hex on Las Vegas, I traveled there once a month doing corporate events and seminars. During the past ten years I can report that Las Vegas did not have the worst service in America – they had the worst service in the WORLD. Times have changed. Drastically. Have you heard?..... Now is the time to rise up, be counted, and kick butt!

Beyond Cold Calling: 10 Ways to Make Hot Contacts 15 to 20 contacts a day. That's the goal many companies are setting for their account managers. Challenging, but achievable. But what happens when all your competitors have this goal? Multiply those 15 to 20 contacts by the number of competitors in your market. That's how many sales calls are being made each and every day. If you then divide that total by the number of prospects in town, do you know what you get? Prospects who are sick and tired of being cold called! ..... Beyond Cold Calling: 10 Ways to Make Hot Contacts

Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 3 By Lou Adler We're into the third week of our eight-week program on becoming a top 10% recruiter. Now you're ready to find some top candidates. The recruiting and hiring process can be divided into three basic categories: attraction, assessment, and acceptance. These are the three big A’s. What some people fail to recognize is that you must be good at all three to have great hiring results. Being great at one or two and weak in the third will result in failure..... Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 3

Being Inspired is Your Answer By Deborah Brown-Volkman   Many people I speak with are looking for that magic formula, the recipe that will transform their careers. The truth is they will never find what they are looking for. The reason is they are looking outward, when the answer is within. I've seen many individuals create amazing careers. Even in this job market, when they are told there are no jobs, they are still securing positions that they love. How are they doing it? They are inspired..... Being Inspired is Your Answer

Call or Email or Use Social Media? by Irina Shamaeva Many aspects of a recruiter’s job remain the same as in the past, before the arrival of social media. We all review resumes, assess the matches, interview on the phone, and meet prospects in person. Social media has added and keeps adding new options on how to get there. To remain competitive and productive we must figure out and start using social media in recruiting. I’d like to highlight some aspect of how it can work for us. Let’s talk about the very interesting phenomena of communicating with potential candidates in ways that have not been there before. For years, we have been discussing whether to call first or email first. Some gurus suggest that you first send a detailed email, then leave a phone message, and then send a short email mentioning that you had called. Fine, but here are your other options today..... Call or Email or Use Social Media?

What's Important to Generation Y Candidates? By Allison Boyce  I am Generation X, one of the "slackers" who started out professionally frustrated, cynical, and as an underachiever. I read all about it throughout the 90’s. I did not choose to be a part of this group; I simply was born into that time. Somehow beating all expectations to the contrary, I got a real job. I pause here and explain this so you may decide right away how offended you may get by the gross oversimplification of people, time, and society that I am about to describe. In my mind, quite simply, there is nothing I can say about Generation Y that hasn't already been said about X. Flash forward to 2007 and my career as a recruiter. Now, I am looking for candidates for a top management consulting firm who were born after Ronald Reagan was first elected. The conversation goes something like this..... What's Important to Generation Y Candidates?

Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 2 By Lou Adler Managers have a hard time assessing competency and motivation, even though many have gone through some type of formal interviewing training. It turns out the real problem is not the questions being asked; it's not knowing the job they're evaluating the candidate against. Not knowing real job needs turns out to be the root cause of the most common hiring mistakes: hiring people who are partially competent, or hiring people who are competent but not motivated to do the work required. If you've taken the recruiter diagnostic assessment, you know that knowing the job and knowing your market are prerequisites to being a great recruiter. Here's a short reading list to get you started here. The books listed below are essential reading for all top managers and recruiters, and the articles will give you instant credibility when you suggest using a different approach as you take your next search assignment..... Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 2

What’s Your Game Plan? By Deborah Brown-Volkman Are you going through the motions in your career? Lost your get up and go? Do you want it back? It’s hard to get excited about our careers sometimes. Especially when bad news surrounds us. Between high unemployment, low morale, and reduced compensation, who can blame us for not wanting to jump out of bed energized and ready to start each day? As a result, maybe you’ve decided to hold back a little. That will show them. Unfortunately, the one you hurt the most by holding back is you. Sure your employer does not get 100%, but the damage to your spirits and energy level is much worse. When you hold back, momentum stops, and you stop too. One day you were excited about the possibilities in your career, and now you look forward to the end of the day. Not very empowering..... What’s Your Game Plan?

Wanna make more sales? Think WHY? Not how to! By Jeffrey Gitomer Think about the last time you bought something. How attuned was the salesperson to your “why?” Most salespeople make the fatal mistake of “selling” or “pitching” their product or service rather than discovering the prospective customer’s motive, reason, or desire to buy. And that motive is usually a level or two beneath the first stated motive..... Wanna make more sales? Think WHY? Not how to!

The 3 Dimensions to Recruiting Top Performers by Neil Lockhart Recruiting the best candidates starts with a few basics. The most important aspect is to understand who you are targeting. I’m not talking about recognizing the technical skills or requirements you want to see in the candidate. Temporarily, throw the job description out the window. Then conduct an early reference check. This is a performance check you can cash. If the results confirm a prized candidate, think of him or her as a pearl. The Encarta Dictionary defines a pearl as “somebody or something highly esteemed or valued.” The gems themselves take years to develop and the art of pearl cultivation is a long and delicate process. As it relates to candidates, we all recognize the best as valuable. But we often overlook what it took for them to become who they are and therefore do not treat them accordingly. In many cases, we are talking about years of dedication and hard work to perfect their craft. Those who rise to the top of their profession are a select bunch. They are select but not scarce and are very much open to being recruited. But unlike any other, it takes a dedicated, specific plan to successfully recruit them..... The 3 Dimensions to Recruiting Top Performers

Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 1 By Lou Adler Over the next eight weeks, you have a chance to learn what it takes to become one of the top recruiters in the country. This means you'll be able to make at least $150,000-$175,000 per year; you'll be seen as a true career consultant by your candidates and a true partner by your clients. Bottom line: What this means is that you'll make more placements with better people more quickly while negotiating on opportunity, not compensation. However, to get to be a high-earning, well-respected recruiter, you'll need to try out the techniques presented in this article. Most likely, many of them will run counter to your current approach. It's in these areas that you'll have to work harder to overcome your beliefs and still try out the ideas. This is how you grow, and getting through these rough spots is the key to personal change management. So, put some extra effort in here. But enough of the talk. Let's get started on getting better..... Becoming a Great Recruiter – Part 1

How to Avoid Unethical Practices by Kevin Wheeler When people are stressed and economic pressures rise, both candidates and recruiters are tempted to act in ways that may not be ethical. While I have never met a recruiter who thought of themselves as dishonest or unethical, many candidates feel that they have been told less than the truth and have been disrespected. We all get so caught up in our own success and survival that we forget to act in the best interests of the candidates, ourselves, and our organization. Almost everyone involved with talent acquisition is squirming under pressure from hiring managers to find qualified candidates and, therefore, are quick to grasp at any solution that offers hope of giving them access to better people. Hence the rapid rise of referral and networking tools and great interest in Internet search, as well as in “poaching” candidates..... How to Avoid Unethical Practices

Job Seekers’ Tips for Recruiters In this industry, you will see a lot of articles from recruiters, employers and career experts providing job seekers with advice on how to improve their job search and/or on how to present themselves better as candidates; however, you don’t often see as many articles from job seekers and career experts providing tips and advice for recruiters and employers on how to improve the recruitment, interview and hiring process. I have asked job seekers and career search experts from across the web for what they consider to be the top tips for recruiters and employers today’s job market. While I could not include every tip from all of the contributors, I have selected and compiled the best and most unique ones in this list to share with you today..... Job Seekers’ Tips for Recruiters

How to Make a Good First Impression. Why it’s so important to make sure all your candidate interactions are awesome... By Dr. Michael Kannisto This is a true story. Years ago, I interviewed for a job with a well-known, multi-billion-dollar global company. I was flown in the night before, and interviewed with the hiring manager, the hiring manager's boss, and the hiring manager's HR partner. The interviews ended at noon, so around 1 p.m., the agency managing the search called me to ask how it went. "How did it go?" I answered. "I honestly have no idea!" The interview with the hiring manager had gone well, and she even suggested that we get together at the end of the day for an unscheduled debrief, so I was feeling good about the job. At the end of the last interview, though, the HR manager abruptly walked me to the elevator without asking me if I had any questions. I was sent on my way without so much as a "thanks for visiting." I probably looked ridiculous standing there on the sidewalk in my suit, staring back at the building with my little file folder of extra resumes in my hand! As I recovered, I realized that no one had discussed next steps with me, let alone given me a timeline. I hadn't even received a company brochure! Mama mia, what had I done wrong?..... How to Make a Good First Impression. Why it’s so important to make sure all your candidate interactions are awesome...

The Money Question – it always comes up in interviews by Eric Raynard The money question always comes up in job interviews. If you are a candidate looking at a new position, you can safely assume the person on the other side of the desk will ask some form of the money question. Your answer is difference between moving forward and being eliminated. In an interview, the employer has four basic questions in mind. However they dress them up, whatever creative spin they put on them, employers really want to know four things..... The Money Question – it always comes up in interviews

Take Control of Your Success: Making Sure You're in the Right Business By Paul Zane Pilzer Remember when you were young and adults asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The idea was that you were going to “be” one thing and “be” that for the rest of your life. How many people do you know who have done the same thing since they graduated from school? Anyone? You can no longer just pick a job and keep it for the rest of your life. All of these established patterns have been swept away by the advance of technology. And you certainly can’t sit back and expect customers to beat a path to your door. If you want your business to be a viable fi t in the marketplace, you have to stay current with your personal technology. You need three different types of skills..... Take Control of Your Success: Making Sure You're in the Right Business

10 Rules for Dating and Recruiting by Amy Kimmes   Dating and recruiting have a lot in common. Learn how to improve your recruiting efforts by applying the most common dating rules..... 10 Rules for Dating and Recruiting

8 Cool Ways to Engage Your Hiring Managers and Hire More "A-level" Talent by Lou Adler    If it wasn't for hiring managers, recruiting would be so easy. But, alas, this is not to be. Instead, we can either confront them head on, or put our heads down in despair, and find still other perfectly qualified candidates they still won't like. Unfortunately, too many recruiters fall into this endless productivity-draining black hole, and wonder why the latest new sourcing wonder drug quickly loses its effectiveness. If you're like me, you don't like doing searches over again..... 8 Cool Ways to Engage Your Hiring Managers and Hire More "A-level" Talent

What Is All This Business About Passives vs. Active Candidates, Anyway? by Maureen Sharib There’s a huge controversy that raises itself now and then here in the Recruitosphere and that’s the idea that one type of candidate (passive) is better than the other (active). The thinking goes along the lines of “If they’re looking, there must be a reason they’re looking!” There’s probably something wrong with the guy. On the other end of the spectrum glistens the shiny new: that person popularly known as the “passive” candidate. The accompanying reasoning goes something like: “If he’s out there and nobody’s talked to him before, I’ll be the first one at the table to get the best (and biggest) portion.” In reality, both lines of thought are problematic..... What Is All This Business About Passives vs. Active Candidates, Anyway?

Time To Stump Your Candidates with Trick Questions- But Here’s WHY!!! By Neil Lebovits To stump or not to stump? Should you throw “curve-balls” at your candidates during the interview process? Frankly, it is critical for a recruiter or staffing specialist to wear two hats when asking these types of questions. The first hat, of course, is to assess the candidate. The 2nd hat, though, is of salesperson. NEVER forget that how they answer these questions for you will also likely be how they answer them for your clients (when you create a send out with them). Therefore, I always make sure to ask the SAME question perhaps 4 or 5 ways. Ironically, I often either get very different answers each time OR I get new information each time. Since we try to glean their selling points in an interview, it is key that you have methods to pull out ALL of them. I hate to ask generic “strength and weaknesses”, but do like to ask..... Time To Stump Your Candidates with Trick Questions- But Here’s WHY!!!

How to discount when you HAVE to discount! by Neil Lebovits Let me make this perfectly clear. I am NOT a fan of discounting your fees or markups ever, in the hopes that it will bring in more business. That said, it isn’t reasonable to assume that prices wont drop during a recession (or anytime when supply exceeds demand) or that there aren’t times when it simply does make sense to lower a fee. I often hear from people who are concerned about the long term impact of lowering their fees with their existing clients. For example, “Neil. I have always done business with this one client at 30%. Now, they are doing poorly and the president really won’t approve any deal that goes above 20%. They are hurting and truthfully, I am also. BUT, if I lower my fee now to 20%, do you think that I will then always be stuck at 20% and will have a hard time getting it back up to 30%?”..... How to discount when you HAVE to discount!

Nine Reasons to Call Instead of Sending Email By Mark Whitby  As you read this article, take a moment and tune into the sounds of your workplace. Do you hear the hubbub of lively conversation, with everyone talking at once? Or do you hear the clickety-clack of keyboards?   If your sales bullpen sounds more like a “typing pool” than a “trading floor,” it might indicate an over-reliance on email. I’ve noticed that many recruiters prefer to email instead of actually speaking to their clients and candidates. Here are nine reasons why that's a bad idea.....E-Mail MyResume@PrecisionRecruiting.ca for the rest of this article.

R-e-s-p-e-c-t…find out what it means to the candidate 10 Things Candidates Hate and 10 Things They Love by Allison Boyce In an earlier article, I made a case for cultivating a more civil attitude during the interview process as actually a means of growing a long-term referral base and to stem negative reverberation from bad candidate experiences. In this article, I want to highlight some of the actions that drive candidates crazy so we can try to avoid them at all costs..... R-e-s-p-e-c-t…find out what it means to the candidate

Five obsessions of a passionate employee by Mike Nacke A recent report titled, "How Google Grows ... and Grows ... and Grows," stated that the 650 people who work at Google are the most passionate bunch of geeks in the high tech industry. Google also was recently called the fastest-growing company in history. To mimic its growth and success, passion must be injected into every level of your organization. The quickest and easiest way to do this is to hire passionate people. Passion is an easy thing to spot once you know where to look. By understanding the following characteristics, you can develop an eye for passion and begin surrounding yourself with it..... Five obsessions of a passionate employee