StlRecruiting

Hiring A Recruiter Is Tough

I'm working with a client in the Northwest looking for a senior  recruiter, and it's a difficult search.  Recruiters are easier to find than salespeople, and gauging their track record is a lot easier, as past performance for recruiters almost guarantees future performance.  The problem?  If they're good, it's very difficult to get them to move.

Good recruiters make six figures.  There's just no getting around it.  You only need 25-40 people on contract (depending on the comp plan) to make it to 100K, and once you're there, you just need to maintain that.  1 placement a week is the goal, and once you've reached that level, you'll never go back.

That 100K is a psychological mark.  Back in the 90's, it was the holy grail, announcing that you had made it.  Inflation and time have made it less valuable, but it's still an important benchmark. The problem?  What firm wants to pay 100K in a draw?  So you're left trying to get someone to take a huge pay cut, or you're left looking for luck - someone moves (no rolodex for the city), a company shuts down (economy is bad), or the best AM left because all the contractors were laid off.  And how many times does that happen?

Not to mention, the price of a recruiting hire is 25% of the base, but the base is usually much lower than the first full year comp, which means you're working at a cut rate.  As I said, it's tough.

At least you know how to screen them. They do what you do...   

The Impact Of Social Media In Hiring Staffing Salespeople

Staffing Salespeople are an interesting breed.  We're not technically recruiters in the sense that our job is working with clients, not candidates.  We may sweep in and offer some broad advice right before an interview, or serve as the final say on candidate salaries, raises, and filtering, but that's because salespeople are normally Type A personalities who like to tell other people what to do, while recruiters are often Type B personalities who are better at forming relationships or digging up data.

So salespeople, are, well, salespeople, and they should be treated as such when they are hired.  Their goal is prospecting, negotiation, and client management, so when you look to hire one, your main thrust is often cold-calling, lead generation, and closing.

Or at least it used to be.

This whole social media phenomenon is starting to change the rules for salespeople.  It's not just in staffing, but the primary value in using a staffing firm is in their connections.  Each firm has a pool of clients and a pool of candidates the primarily draw from.  Those connections drive business, lead to referrals, and are the lifeblood of every agency.

So what happens when the best and brightest in a job market start making their own connections?  What happens when Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning, and blogs start sharing information for free that used to be the sole province of recruiters?  What happens when cold-calling no longer works, as HR and hiring managers find themselves overburdened with prospect calls, and start turning to their social networks on Twitter and Plaxo to find information on whose hiring? 

Account Manager Opening

A local staffing recruiter (to St Louis) has an account manager position to fill.  His description:

Selling staffing services can be very lucrative if you have the good fortune to be in a true performance based compensation plan. Many Account Managers work 55-60 hours a week and barely earn 60k-70k per year. This is the equivalent of earning 40k per year with overtime. Aren't you worth more than that?

In my years of staffing recruiting, I have seen the very best to the very worst of compensation plans. Working for a company with a true performance based compensation plan can be the difference between earning 70k per year or 130k per year without increasing your sales effort. If you are interested in hearing about opportunities to earn substantially more by working smarter and not harder, contact me. I would love to discuss in detail.

If interested - shoot me an e-mail or resume or LinkedIn profile, and I'll pass you along to the recruiter.

Interview With Doug Burris of Intronic Solution Group

The following is an e-mail interview Doug Burris of Intronic Solutions, a third party Recruiting firm in Kansas City.  Intronic Solutions is very forward thinking, including being current on online employment, publishing jobs as an RSS feed, and a host of other things that I can't tell you about.  They are the wave of small, independent recruiting shops throwing their weight around in local markets.  And soon they will be blogging. My interview with Doug:

1. Give me a thirty second pitch for Intronic Solution Group. What is your role at Intronic Solution Group? How long have you been there?

Intronic Solutions Group is an Overland Park, Kansas based consulting firm specializing in the areas of Information Technologies and Engineering. Intronic Solutions Group was founded in 2004, and the team we have assembled has worked together for nearly 9 years at other successful staffing companies. Our unmatched ability to understand our client’s needs and deliver has been the cornerstone of our tremendous success. We have a resounding network of both client contacts and candidates allowing us to deliver both candidates to clients and opportunities to job seekers. Personally, I have been with Intronic Solutions Group since it’s inception. My role is multi-fold. I operate as a Human Resources/Recruiting consultant for our clients both on-site and remote assisting them with best practice recruiting solutions and process improvement. In addition, I act as recruiter, account manager/consultant and assist Grant Gordon with Marketing/Advertising/Public Relations efforts in addition to web site design and blogging activities.

2. Every company says they are different in the way they recruit. We can't all be the best, so what makes you unique to the client. And for this question, you're not allowed to use marketing speak.

Our recruiting focus is based on our relationships with our long term consultants. We utilize our network first to get referral candidates, Network based tools such as LinkedIn second and the internet boards (monster, careerbuilder, dice, hotjobs, etc) last. We RARELY post our positions as we are usually seeking very specific skill sets and experiences and when we do utilize the internet resume databases, we do so as a networking tool. We recognize our competition is using the same tools we are. We put a focus on the candidate, what exactly they are seeking and who they know who may be seeking similar opportunities. We spent an inordinate amount of time with each candidate identifying their drivers for change, motivators for success and best working culture fit before we consider submitting them to a client. We feel these things are more important to the long term success of our consultant in their relationship with our client, than just the keyword skill sets.

St Louis Interview with Steven Kelly of Message Buzz

The following is an interview with Steven Kelly, the president of MessageBuzz, a mobile messaging company based in St Louis.  If you are a St Louis based technology company or a St Louis company that blogs, e-mail jdurbin@durbinmedia.com for an e-mail interview.

1).  What exactly is MessageBuzz.  Give it to me in 10 words or less. 

Mobile Marketing for small-to-medium businesses

Now tell us in a 30 second elevator pitch

MESSAGEbuzz.com, is a mobile marketing service that enables organizations access to text messaging capabilities.  Through our web based software and connectivity to all the major U.S. carriers, we are providing a large (business) structure at a small (business) expense.

2) What categories of clients do you work with?   

Media groups, conference organizers, churches in particular mega-churches, retailers, golf courses -  any business owner needing to communicate with a group people be they staff, customers or suppliers. Our service is especially attractive for clients whose target demographic is youth ages 13-27.

3) I’ve gotten text messages before from companies – normally I ignore them and get angry that they are spamming my phone without my permission.  What do you do to avoid that kind of reaction from consumers?

There are two parties spamming mobile phones: the carriers themselves and those that are sending Short Message System (SMS) over SMTP (email).  Our FAQ guide that you can download from our website, explains the difference between SMS and SMTP.  Carriers are doing their utmost to close the SMTP hole but they are 18-24 months away from their stated intention.

To eliminate spam, our application ensures our clients adhere to the strict standards of the Mobile Marketing Association.  It is in our best interest to eliminate it because if we get to where email is today, the industry is dead.  All mobile marketing is permission based, meaning there is a clear opt-in and multiple “easy” ways to opt-out.