Great People Great Opportunities

If your not doing these 5 things your behind in the game

I have compiled a list of things all recruiters / companies need to be participating in, in addition to the typical recruiter responsibilities.
1. LinkedIn: Form an alumni group, network heavily
2. Facebook: Form a group page and attract talent there, use it to source passive candidates
3. Twitter: Connect with your target audience directly
4. Blogs: Promote yourself and your company through personal blogging
5. Video Recruiting: Establish a brand and demonstrate what potential candidates what career experience would be like

Boiler Room / Wall Street approach as a recruiter…. only friendlier

These are two of my favorite movies. I have also read, "The wolf of Wall Street" by Jordan Balford, who the main character of Boiler Room is based after. He lives an amazingly incredible life on his rise to the top, and experiences a monumental freefall to loose it all. Wall Street teaches some brutal life lessons when it comes to high stakes sales, and business negotiations. Charlie Sheen's character also experience a swift rise followed by a terrible fall. The lesson here; you can be a Recruiter who is focused on selling, as long as you keep your integrity you can avoid the fall from grace.

The main hat I wear is as a recruiter, but I often find myself being more of a salesman when I really think about it. Working for a smaller consulting company my initial phone call always consists of selling my expertise and my companies reputation and brand. I am basically selling the candidate on my company first and the opportunity second. I use many techniques I have picked up regarding the art of selling i.e. learn the candidates expectations, obstacles, rate and hot buttons very early on and use them in my pitch later in the process. That is what sets my opportunity apart from any other recruiter calling with an opportunity, is the experience a candidate gets for working with myself and my company.

Another area I find myself acting the part of salesman more than recruiter is in the networking department. One specific example being reference checks. I ask all my candidates to provide 3 references of people they either reported to directly or their manager's manager. I call every single reference and use it as an opportunity to develop business. I begin my reference checks explaining why I am calling, and what company I work for. I spend a few minutes explaining our reputation and some of the high profile projects we have and are currently working on. Then I usually ask "are you happy with your current vendors? Does my company sound like an improvement in what you currently work with?" The answer is almost always positive and leads down the path of making arrangements for a formal sales meeting down the road. Sometimes the sales opportunity might not be for months down the line or even a year or two. This is where being a friendly and good person comes in hand. The Boiler Room and Wall Street approach will not work here in developing long term relationships.

As a recruiter it is important to understand the entire scope of your companies business and how you can help it grow in all aspects; its core competencies, stretch capabilities and its goal. Us recruiters talk to a lot of people on the phone and online, each interaction is an opportunity to generate; 1. a good candidate 2. a quality referral or 3. new business opportunities. Keep your mind focused that you should always be selling, but do not make the same mistake as in Boiler Room and Wall Street, be a good person as you sell and you will be more valuable to your company than just a recruiter, you will be a multi-talented indispensable asset.

How to send mass messages on LinkedIn

I have over 1,300 people in my network on LinkedIn. I can't spread the word regarding a hot job or the next big thing sending 1,300 messages. What I can do is forward these messages in bulk and I will tell you how.

Have a trusted friend or colleague write the message you want to send i.e.: Come check out my hot new job of "xyz", they send the message to you. The next step is you take that message and forward it by clicking "forward" in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Identify who you want to send the message to, you can do large groups of individuals. In the subject line remove the part that says "FW" so it does not appear to be a forwarded message. Alter the body of the message to make sure it does not reflect it is a forwarded message. There is also a box you can click to make sure your contacts do not see each other on the email line, I prefer to click that. I want this message to look as individually crafted as possible. Then click send

There you have it, now you can leverage your LinkedIn contacts and spread the word regarding job openings to large amount of target contacts with out spamming.

Tips for working with Hiring Managers:

It is crucial recruiting and the hiring authority work as a team, I have compiled a list of a few helpful tips.


1. When working with a HM for the first time, sit down with them and dig deep into what type of employees they like working with them (personality traits, favorite colleges, technologies etc.)

2. Learn the managers schedule and peak time to communicate. Programs such as 'Xobni' can help track your outlook usage and communication with specific people

3. Train them to respond and make sure your needs are met. It is important they understand you need to be given all the resources possible to succeed to provide the quality they want

4. Be persistent and hunt them down. If your HM is non responsive be persistent when reaching them try their cell, send instant messages and text messages.

5. After a stressful hiring loop sit down and evaluate what worked and what didn’t. Clear the air regarding any tensions that could have built up and work towards correcting them going forward


These are a few quick tips that have helped me maintain a good relationship with some extremely busy hiring managers and solidify quality candidates were hired in a timely manner.

Rent not Buy

What a roller coaster its been for the economy. Americans are uneasy, scared and frustrated. Many of us who are in the tech industry had previously thought we were immune from a recession. We might be better off than most industries but that doesn't mean companies aren’t making adjustments. Yahoo and Microsoft have put into place plans to essentially freeze from hiring FTE's.

What does this mean for you as a consultant or recruiter for a consulting company? In times like this companies are more prone to "rent" consultants rather than "buy" full time employees. I had someone ask me just the other day how the crisis was affecting our business, and I said it wasn't. Consulting is a very lucky niche that is still in high demand. With Covestic's deep relationships and extremely senior offerings business is great and we are in need of more talent.

I encourage you to come stop by the site at your leisure and view our newest hot jobs.http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15366183507Tell me about how this down economy has impacted your in our discussion board question titled "The credit crunch and consulting"

I am including an interesting article in the 'Wall Street Journal' this morning regarding the effect the crisis has had on our industry.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122359422742921079.html

Know your competition

In the recruiting industry it is important to really know what others are up to. If you are in a small to medium sized market it is safe to say the talent pool is rather small and competition is fierce. Get to know what other firms are offering in terms of pay, benefits, culture and interview experience. Try and learn what projects they are working on and how you can sell your projects as more interesting.

Any leg up you can get counts as the search for top talent becomes more and more difficult. Follow the niche blogs and web sites where people might spill out information, casually talk to your candidate regarding what their experience was like with the other firms they spoke with. Network and get to know your recruiting competition directly.

Don't shy away from them as the enemy but embrace them as a resource that can help you put a brand stamp on what you offer. As wise teacher told me, recruiting is an educated sell. The more you know about your competition the better you can service your candidate and client.