See Moises Lopez at the March DTC CTRN meeting

Moises Lopez, souring genius, sourcing blogger and all around great guy, will be speaking at the 19 March meeting of the Colorado Technical Recruiter’s Network (CTRN). Moises is a blog buddy, but I’ve never seen him in 3D Real Life. Join me for what promises to be a great sourcing discussion. Register here to reserve your spot.

Here’s more about Mr. Lopez from the CTRN e-mail list:

Moises Lopez, author of the distinguished www.sourcingcorner.com recruitment/ sourcing blog, is a Director of Sourcing. Besides authoring and maintaining his blog, Moises has also been a guest author on www.recruitingbloggers.com. He is a distinguished writer and trainer in Advanced Sourcing techniques. He participated at the first ever Global Sourcing Conference, “SourceCon” were he served as an expert in a panel discussion of sourcing ethics which focused on phone vs. Internet sourcing as critical recruiting functions. He is also currently serving as co-editor in the development of the first Global Sourcing newsletter, due to release January 2008.

Is Your Employee Referral Program as Good as This?

Ephraim Salaam refers Chester Pitts to the coach of the San Diego State Aztecs. Pitts attended the California Academy of Mathematics and Science, which doesn’t have a football program.

This results in Pitts getting drafted in the second round, while Salaam didn’t get drafted until the seventh. This past season they were the starting left Tackle and left Guard for the Houston Texas.

I love the interview questions:
“What do you play?”
“I play the oboe.”

Does your company’s employee referral program screen people like Pitt in or out?

For more details, see the Sports Illustrated article: Pair of Texans reminisce at filming of Super Bowl ad

Tips: 50 Free Job Posting Sites

Over on the Bootstrapper site, Christina Laun has posted a list titled Better than Monster: 50 Free Places You Can Post A Job Online and Get Top Talent. Her list includes some well-know alternative sites like Craigslist, and some other niche job locations.

Recruiters should check the list to see if you can use some of these to expand your posting circle.

Candidates should check the list for new postings not on the majors.

Unknown factor: Does the Indeed search engine go out to these sites?

Guy: How to Not Hire Someone Via Craigslist

This week, the ever-interesting Guy Kawasaki and his buddy Danny Kay take apart a job posting on New York City CraigsList for Sr. Web Designer/ Graphic Artist Position. The posting is typical – full of requirements, empty of selling the opportunity. But regardless of what the hiring manager/HR Rep/Recruiter want, nobody qualifies for the job. This might be because they’re asking for:

Proficiency with Photoshop, Illustrator, ImageReady, Dreamweaver, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, InDesign “and/or” QuarkExpress, and Flash.

Guy points out the problems with this requirement:

Only the kids of John Warnock who were suckled at the breast of Adobe could know all these applications.

Myths – Headhunters get jobs for candidates

Every few weeks I get a letter like this from a close or distant acquaintance:

I am not getting much traction in my job search. I’m wondering if it might be in my best interest to hook up with a good recruiter in the metro area who could help move things along. I’d be interested in your thoughts and if you have any recommendations.

The first time this happened to me, I was an IT Services headhunter, and the plea came from an attractive female thermal engineer. My “Rescue the Damsel in Distress” gene kicked in, and I burned some irretrievable hours trying to help. All I learned is that thermal engineering is a narrow discipline. Nobody would pay me for one.

Almost a year ago, Carl Chapman dealt with this topic in an excellent post that every job seeker should read: Recruiting Myths – Recruiters get jobs for candidates.

Today we deal with a long enduring misconception on the part of the job seeker, that recruiters are in business to get candidates jobs. THIS IS WRONG!

Carl’s article refers to 3rd party recruiters, a.k.a. headhunters, just like I was. Every candidate should read the whole article. The money ‘graph is this one:

What does this mean for the job seeker? Well, it means that you are no longer the client… you are now the product. The recruiter isn’t being paid by you, he is being paid by the company. The recruiter doesn’t earn money for finding you a job, he earns money for filling an open position with his client company. (boldface in original)

The other money quote isn’t in there, because Carl is too polite. It was Robert A. Heinlein who put this message in an acronym in “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress“: TANSTAAFL (Milton Friedman said it too): There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.

With that in mind, I’ll answer my friend’s question:

1. Yes. It is in your interest to hook up with a 3rd party recruiter a.k.a. headhunter. For best results, work with one who knows your industry and specialty.
2. You must realize that the headhunter won’t be working for you. S/he is working for the client. Set your expectations accordingly. Carl suggests remembering that “recruiters are working against your best interest, at times, because they are creating competition for you.”
3. Sorry to say, I don’t know a headhunter that specializes in your field and industry. I’m sure they are out there, but I’ve not had a chance to use them. You might find one through your personal network.
4. As Carl says, “This is a time when your mutual interests are perfectly aligned, so make sure to take advantage of that fact.” But don’t be the farm on the first call you make.

My snippets can’t do justice to Carl’s work. Check out the whole article.

Why should someone choose you over your competiton?

Patrick Lefler at the Intrepid ideas…and other musings blog writes about some research into why some banks have problems in a post titled: Why should someone choose you over your competition?:

He revealed that his researchers always ask bank employees a simple question: “Why should I choose your bank over the competition?” Two-thirds of front-line employees have no answer – they simply make something up on the fly.

Patrick is writing about getting customers, but we recruiters should look at this as advice about getting candidates. “Why should I work for your company over the competition?” is a question recruiters and hiring managers must address.

I’ve not met Patrick, but he looks like a good guy – a mountaineer, not a golfer. I’m going to read more of his work. Check out his thoughts and sources.

Thanks to the Recruiting Fly!

Today’s “Tip of the old NotJobs Fez” goes to C.M Russell for the link on his Recruiting Fly blog. Thanks!

Recruiting is to HR as Sales is to Accounting

Over on ERE, Ken Forrester has an interesting article on “What Your Kids’ Basketball Coach Knows“. After dissecting some of the challenges that we face, Ken makes some suggestions of what to do:

Move recruiting from HR to sales and marketing. Prior to the Internet, recruiting and HR folks were never on the same page philosophically; one was focused on results and the other on procedures. Like sales and marketing, recruiting is one of the most challenging professions; it requires a certain type of individual with a competitive risk-taking mentality, strong self-discipline, and interpersonal skills to be successful. The typical HR personalities tend to be more cost driven, bureaucratic, and administrative. Having recruiting report to HR is certainly not a good marriage and will only guarantee mediocre recruiting performers.

This disconnect between the HR gatekeepers and the “go-go” recruiting staff will always be a source of tension in a company.

The best way to put this is the analogy I proposed to CTRN back in the day:

Recruiting is to Human Resources as
Sales is to Accounting

But just try to convince your VP of HR about that.

Introduction To Recruiting

Over on The Recruiting Animal Blog, Michael Kelemen has an interesting post as an Introduction To Recruiting. Mr. Kelemen was asked for the basics of the recruiting business, and he does a credible, but limited, job of it. I realized that what Kelemen should address is the basics of the recruiting Profession.

In the early days of the Colorado Technical Recruiters Network, we had many discussions about recruiting as a profession. Some of what Kelemen missed were items that we CTRN founding members hashed out over many adult beverages. Here’s my take on recruiting as a profession:

There are three aspects to recruiting:
1. First Party or Corporate Recruiting – you hire employees to your own payroll, they work under your managers. Most contract recruiters are working in this role.
2. Second Party or Staff Augmentation – you hire to your own payroll, employees work under client management. Also called labor vendors, labor brokers or contract services. Most temp agencies use this model.
3. Third Party or Headhunting (a.k.a. Executive Search) – clients hire your candidates for their own payroll.

There are four kinds of Headhunting firms:
1. Contingency – paid when the client hires (I did this)
2. Retained Search – Paid a flat rate to find one or two of the best candidates.
3. Hybrid – I’ve heard these firms called fee plus, “retigency” and combination fee. Creative recruiters and sales reps can work many kinds of deals. One typical arrangement is an up-front retainer, plus a per hire bonus.
4. Source only – a newer model where the client pays a flat fee to receive a limited number of pre-qualified candidates. The client contacts the candidates and moves on from there.

Referring to contingency headhunting firms, The Recruiting Animal says:

If you work for a firm it works a lot like the real estate business. The firm takes half of the fee. The person who brought in the order takes 25% and the person who supplied the candidate takes 25%.

My experience is that different firms have different business models. The percentages vary between the house and the staff, and between the person owning the candidate and owning the order. The firm I worked for took more, for “overhead”. Obviously, it is better to fill your own orders.

So – thanks to Mr. Keleman for a great start to the conversation. He’s given me ideas for a few more monographs.

The Small Confluence of the CEA and REA

An interesting note from this week’s review of the Recruiting Excellence Awards (for corporate recruiting) and the Creative Excellence Awards (for advertising/branding agencies) is the lack of crossover. I expected to see some of the same names of the top REA winners on the top CEA client lists. It didn’t happen.

It looks like only five companies show up on both lists:

Fair Isaac (NAS)
FedEx (Hodes)
Microsoft (JWT)
Sodexho (TMP)
Starbucks (NAS)

Granted, the CEA listed 60 companies, and REA only listed 18. Also, the military recruiters in the CEA list are not in the same class as the corporate warriors in the REA. However, it is interesting to note the differences between the two lists.