Orthopedic Shoes Optional...

An interesting topic was brought to my attention a few days ago by one of my readers...what agencies are out there recruiting for older candidates? I had to admit that I was stumped. ARE there any agencies out there for an older demographic? I wasn't sure...and I said as much. I guess the upside of not having an answer is that it got me thinking about my approach to candidates in the "older demographic."

What is my approach, you ask? Well, my approach is that I am looking for the absolute best candidate to fill my client's open position and I don't really give two figs how old you are, what brand of shoes you prefer or how you take your coffee. What I care about is:

ARE YOU A FIT FOR THE JOB?

As a recruiter it is important to consider many things during the screening process and your skill set is only one of them. When I talk to my candidates about a job I want to know many, many things and your age...well...let me repeat: I.DON'T.CARE. And any recruiter worth the paper their business card is printed on doesn't.

OK...I'll be me and you be the candidate. I'll ask some questions and you think about the answers:

--- What are you doing in your current role?
--- What do you like about it?
--- What would you change about it if you could only pick one thing to change?
--- What do you want to get out of your next job?
--- If you could go back to school and study for any profession you wanted to then what would it be?
--- If you were in charge (assuming you aren't already) what would you change about the corporate culture specifically?

I bet I know what you're thinking..."What's with all the 'touchy-feely,' 'let's sing a song by the campfire' crap? Pony up some technical questions Ms. Technical Recruiter." I do actually ask questions about the skills you bring to the table, but in my not-quite-as-humble-as-I-probably-should-be opinion, your technical skills are secondary once I get past the resume review part.

What good are your skills if you hate the work environment my client offers? No good at all I tell you. No.Good.At.All. You won't be successful if you prefer a board shorts and flip flops environment and I put you into a boardroom and suit environment. You'd probably rather hang yourself with that tie. Right?

Where does age come into all this you may possibly be wondering right about now...well, it goes hand-in-hand with the environment you prefer. If I know my client has, for whatever reason, a team that is all "down with the man" and you ARE "the man" then you may possibly be heading into a lion's den. If you are someone who has never worn a suit - much less actually knows how totie a tie - well, it is very possible your co-workers could end up hanging you with the tie.

I guess what I am saying is that age is irrelevant to me. I only care that you are going to absolutely love the culture I am hoping to put you into and that you can do the job I am hoping to put you into. My advice to any job seeker is to find a recruiter that feels the same way I do.

I encourage you to identify a recruiter that both specializes in your career field and who you build a positive rapport with. That recruiter is going to see your value and they are going to work hard for you. Ask the recruiter this: "Are you looking to fill your open position with A person or THE person."

When the recruiter talks to you about a job you need to pay attention. Do they ask you about the kind of culture you like? Do they tell you anything about the company with the job opening or just the job itself? Do they ask you what you want to be doing or just what you are doing?

Those distinctions matter...A LOT. So, in answer to my reader's question about whether or not there is an agency out there specializing in an older demographic...well, I still don't know the answer to that one. What I do know is there are a lot of really good recruiters out there specializing in making the best match between their clients and their candidates and those recruiters make age irrelevant.

Do I have to control everything around here?

Candidate control.

Sounds like a painful thing to acheive, huh? In all actuality it is more painful to live without it. I am not talking about "fetch me a latte" kind of candidate control - I am talking about control disguised as setting expectations. It is the best way to foresee potential problems and close deals.

In the recruiting world it can be very difficult to manage all the moving parts of a placement. You have the recruiter (you), management (yours AND your clients), the specific hiring manager you are working with, the candidate and if you are a really unlucky recruiter then you have to deal with your client's HR department to boot. At any point the deal can get blown out of the water. Setting expectations along the way can help you get your placement more easily. What?! An easier path to revenue? Whee!

You have to set expectations for each and every person through each and every step. No small feat. I know. You don't have to tell me twice. But trust me...it makes a difference. You just have to commit to adding the steps into your recruiting process. It can be time-consuming on the front-end of your deal - again, I get that, but put the work in at the beginning and get an easier, faster close on the back-end.

From the very beginning it is critical that your candidates understand exactly what you will be doing for them and what you expect them to do for you. You have to, absolutely have to, make sure your candidates are on board every step of the way. Ever try to close a deal when your candidate has gone MIA on offer day and you never get them to return your call again? I have and THAT is a party and a half! Whee!

I have found that interviewing in stages is one way to get candidate buy-in along the way and ensure their commitment to the process. I conduct a short phone conversation to pre-qualify the candidate and then schedule a longer phone interview - or an in-person if the candidate is local to me - for later in the same day or the next. I can't tell you how many times the candidate who looked great on paper was the candidate who bailed on the phone interview and therefore, saved me A LOT of time and energy.

After the phone/in-person interview is complete I will either submit my candidate to the client or have the candidate provide me with additional information through written responses to questions pertaining to the job. Those responses are a great tool to get the hiring manager excited about your candidate. It many cases it has allowed me to skip my candidates past a client phone interview and straight to an in-person interview. See! Faster! Hee!

You have to set your candidate's expectations on salary and as the interviews progress you have to make sure your client is on the same playing field. There is nothing more frustrating - or more detrimental to your reputation - than getting to the offer stage and being blindsided by an offer that is never going to lead to a close. I vividly remember working my tail off on one of my first big deals and finally, through blood, sweat and tears, I got the offer. An offer that was about $10,000 less than what my candidate needed before he would even consider taking the job. We spent a few days trying to meet in the middle, but it was an utter disaster. My candidate lost faith in me, my client lost faith in me, I lost the deal and I learned a very valuable lesson.

You.Must.Set.Expectations.

The key to candidate control is to discuss each step of the process as each step is completed. At the end of your first conversation tell them the next step and let them ask questions. At the end of your interview tell them the next step and let them ask questions. What happens when you submit them to the client? What is the interview process at that point?

You have to find out what their concerns are if you want to put together a deal your candidate can't say no to. And let's face it - you want an offer they can't say no to!

See? Piece of cake!

Mmmm....cake....

I have organizational skills...you just don't get my filing system!

I am messy.

There. I said it.

I am a messy worker.

My desk is a pile of papers and folders and half empty water bottles and pens with no ink and random items buried under the piles of paper and folders.

Don't believe me? Well, take a look:

That's just one half. Here is the second half:

It isn't that I try to be messy, but in the course of an average day I have about 6 seconds that can be devoted to cleaning up the chaos. I tend to use that time to go to the bathroom. Sue me.

Anyway, even thought I am not the neatest person on the planet I do want to point out for all the other recruiters out there that this is not the optimal desk situation. For one thing, if I get hit by a bus, it is unlikely anyone else will be able to decipher my unique filing method. Secondly, it can sometimes make for awkward pauses when a caller asks me a question and I am digging for the piece of paper I scribbled the answer on.

"Ummm...hang on a second...(nervous giggle)...I know it's here somewhere...(tick tock tick tock)...so...how's the weather? (dig dig shuffle shuffle)"

Not always the professional, sharp, prepared, ready-for-anything image most recruiters (me included) like to present to candidates and clients. As an example of a desk that is likely to produce needed documents quickly I present you with Exhibit A:

In my own defense I have to point out that all employee files and other documentation I am responsible for as the HR Director is very carefully filed in a legally compliant manner so all the auditors out there just back slowly away from your "ticket books."

The problem for me is the stacks of things I need to read, edit, review, call about, give to someone else, etc...those items tend to get stacked and stacked and stacked.

Last week my admin actually drove me from my desk and closed my door. When she let me back in my desk was spotless. It was beautiful and shiny and I think I actually heard angels weep. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a dang thing and in the 6 seconds I would normally use to go to the bathroom I managed to return it to the original, "threw up on itself" state it is normally in.

Not the most effective or efficient manner for me to operate and I strongly encourage all recruiters to develop a filing system, in/out system that works for them and try and keep their work space as clutter free as possible. I promise to try and practice what I preach.

I am sure my admin will thank me.

You want me to manage TIME, too?

Recruiting is a challenging job because there is always something changing. A new requisition, a new client, a new technology or skill, a new candidate, a new problem to solve…it seems the “new” never ends. When I first started out I remember being horribly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stuff that would fly in from left field throughout the day and that is still an area I struggle with. The biggest challenges are never the requirements and finding candidates, it seems the toughest part is figuring out how to get everything done in the work day. Granted, the work day for a recruiter isn’t 8-5 and we generally work lots of long hours, but even then it seems impossible at times to do it all. That makes time management a critical skill to learn.

One of my early recruiting jobs I worked for a company that made us list out every single phone call and activity we were going to do the following day. It would take an hour just to write it all down and think it all through. I always felt that it was a horrible burden and a waste of what little time I had so I slowly adapted the process to fit my style. Now I spend a few minutes before I leave each day making a short to-do list. It gives me a focus when I arrive at work the next day and focus in the morning is not something that comes easily to me.

I am admittedly not a morning person. I need copious amounts coffee to function. I was a bartender all through college and then went into recruiting – two career choices that require later nights far more often than they require early mornings. Over the years I have learned to never schedule anything before 9 am unless I absolutely have to. I also never schedule interviews before noon if there is any way to avoid it. My brain just doesn’t work early in the day! Since I know that fact, I let it work for me instead of against me.

I schedule my day to allow for responding to email and voicemail first thing in the morning. I can sit with my coffee in front of my computer and not have to interact face-to-face with anyone. I am usually awake and capable of intelligent conversation by 11. After that I will spend the lunch hour making calls to candidates I wasn’t able to reach the day before. I have found that a lot of people will answer their phones during lunch and most of them have had the morning to remind them why they are looking for a new job in the first place. In the afternoon I conduct scheduled interviews and follow up with clients regarding previous submittals and with candidates regarding interviews. Those conversations take brain power and it allows me to conduct them when I am most likely to be on my game. In the late afternoon I source resumes while candidates are on their drive home and in the evening I make calls to schedule interviews for the following day. It is a system that works for me. I don’t presume for a second that it will work for everyone.

My point is that it IS possible to have some control in this crazy, reactive career we have all chosen. We are constantly ping-ponging back and forth on the whims of clients, candidates, co-workers, bosses, etc and that makes it very hard to feel like we can get our job done in a reasonable amount of time. Another trick that helps is to schedule out your work week. For example, Monday is a follow-up day and an administrative day. Since I am the HR Director and the recruiter for my company I use it as a HR day. Obviously, there are HR tasks that arise during the week that won’t wait for Monday, but I can keep the burden lighter by allocating a day to those tasks. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are recruiting days. I am sourcing and interviewing for all the open positions. I am doing submittals and chasing new business. Fridays are administrative days. I generally spend Friday making sure I have everything documented in the tracking system (I know…I should do that as I go. Shoot me.) and sending emails to all my pending candidates regarding status on their req. I send emails to every client with a status on their open positions. That helps to eliminate a lot of the “what’s going on” calls that recruiters generally receive on Mondays. I also spend Friday decompressing from my week. Our team tries to leave early on Friday when we can and that usually means a nice glass of wine at the wine bar that is right downstairs. Ahh…vino…how we love thee!

Time management can also be improved in simple little ways. Here are a couple that work for me:

1. Put a silent timer on your desk and each time you conduct a phone interview try to keep in at thirty minutes or less. It forces you to use your words carefully and to keep the interview on track. I am not suggesting for a second that you don’t take the time to get to know your candidate, but you can do that in a relatively short conversation if you ask good questions and really listen to the responses.

2. Only listen to voicemail or read email during specific windows of time. This isn’t always practical since we are in a very speed sensitive industry, but if you can avoid distracting yourself by responding to every single email or voicemail as it comes in you will find that you are more productive because you are more focused on the task at hand.

Maybe those things will help other recruiters. At the very least it is a place to start. On a side note: I hate it when people tell me to work smarter and not harder and it seems like you hear that a lot in the recruiting world. What does that mean exactly? Does that mean that if you work hard you aren’t smart? Maybe what it means is to manage your time better and you will find that your day goes by a little more smoothly. All I know for sure is that time management in the recruiting industry is beyond critical for your success and the really good recruiters have it down to a science. Personally, I am still trying to master it so any tips you have are more than welcome!

What do you mean "headhunter"?

It is never easy to take on a new career, but when you make the leap into recruiting you face a particularly difficult task; albeit, a worthwhile one. I am currently working with a new employee who is training to be a recruiter and it has brought back to me all of the trepidation I faced when I started in this industry.

I started in recruiting in 1999. I was a bright eyed and bushy-tailed new graduate with a degree in Communications. I was going to work for a PR firm and I was going to conquer the world. Two months later I was losing hope because I was not prepared for how competitive my chosen field was. Fortunately, I got a call from one of my sorority sisters. She was an HR graduate and had just gotten a job with a recruiting firm in Seattle. According to her, I was perfect for it and should apply. Thus began my career in recruiting.

As a completely green recruiter I was given an area to focus on – in my case, information technology – and instructed to learn as much as I could as fast as I could about technology. Techweb became my new best friend as I sat for hours reading resumes and looking up every term I didn’t know. There were a lot of terms. One spiral bound notebook full of them. Most days I went home with a headache and a sense of complete and utter stupidity. It took only a few interviews with highly talented folks to figure out how much I didn’t know and, at the same time, how much information had actually stuck.

At the same time I was suffering through the eternal vocabulary lesson, I was learning how to find candidates: sourcing resumes, data mining and formulating emails/phone messages most likely to get a response. I was also being trained to call in and direct recruit candidates out of specific companies. I vividly remember sitting in front of a phone with the trainer and a couple of other new recruiters. The trainer would dial a number on speaker phone and each of us took turns trying to get past the receptionist and into a specific department. Our trainer, who was clearly the anti-Christ, always called Amazon.com for these little ego-boosting exercises. The receptionist at Amazon had some kind of freaky 6th sense that a recruiter was on the phone. She would play little games with us like acting like we were being transferred to our target department and then leaving us on hold indefinitely. Looking back I would be willing to bet that the receptionist and the trainer were in cahoots, but I can’t prove anything.

The experience was vicious, but the lessons learned were priceless. To this day I can call anyone, anywhere, about anything…and I can do it without batting an eye.

It wasn’t long before the bottom fell out (thank you dotcoms!). Recruiting firms went out of business left and right, recruiters changed career fields and a few of us diehards hung on through the resulting requisition drought. Years later, I am still in the industry and those early lessons in headhunting help me more now than they did then. I have perfected my technique and lost the nerves. I have figured out what techniques work for me and further adapted them to my personality. I am “old school” and that gives me an edge.

The average burn-out rate for a recruiter is approximately 3 years (up from the 2 years back in the hey-day). That means the majority of recruiters in the field now were hired into firms and trained during a time where jobs were scarce and candidates plentiful. The skills used to match a candidate to a job have been, to a large extent, simple paper shuffling and basic screening.

Times, they are a’changin’.

As our marketplace shifts we find ourselves in a time where requirements are plentiful and truly skilled candidates are scarce. The good candidates are working. They took a package and moved to Tahiti. They certainly aren’t trolling job boards and applying to anything and everything that is remotely close to their skill set. You want the top talent now? You have to find them where they work. That is what us “old folks” know how to do. We cut our teeth on direct recruiting and we are experts at it now.

Thankfully, many of the less ethical recruiters jumped ship and they took their unethical recruiting practices with them. A good recruiter, a tried and true, old school headhunter like me, determines who your competitors are. We ask you which competitors we should leave alone. We call into your competitors and get the information we need without ever disclosing the client or lying about who we are. Good headhunters will get past the gatekeeper politely and ethically. They will talk to your competitor’s employees with respect and will identify those who are truly looking for a change. It is a skill that was lost when the “big box stores” of the recruiting world decided to build their very own assembly line of placements. A good headhunter will never “throw resumes at the wall” in the hopes that one of them will stick.

If you are a hiring manager wanting to work with a recruiter, take the time to find a recruiter you are comfortable with. A good one will meet your needs with great people and they will do it quickly, ethically and with enthusiasm. A good recruiter drops the smoke and the mirrors and they simply find talent so you don’t have to.