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Welcome to issue 394 of the ukrecruiter newsletter.
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CONTENTS
Visit http://www.ukrecruiterjobs.co.uk for the latest recruitment industry jobs. |
Weekly Tips Just a reminder that this section is mostly populated by content from YOU! We alternate between the traditional "my favourites", series' of short tips and a new feature we've called "If I've learned three things in recruitment it's ..". If you want to provide content for any (or all) of these drop me a note at louise@ukrecruiter.co.uk Also, if you didn't spot it last week we are doing a survey into the readership of the newsletter. It should only take you about 3 minutes to complete. You can complete the survey here.
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Article One: Sales vs Service - What Matters More? by Gaynor Lowndes The recruiter’s “Product” is people, and the needs, priorities and feelings of these people need to be considered at every stage of the Recruitment process. But when the prerogative is to “Sell, sell, sell” in the highly competitive current market, candidate care will often fall by the wayside as energy and attention are devoted to clients, in pursuit of placements, and therefore, profit. For many other recruiters that I have trained and worked with over the years, the opposite is true: the candidate-short market or cold call reluctance lead to a disproportionate focus on candidate care, to ensure candidate loyalty or to “Escape” business development. As a manager and trainer, I have been asked on numerous occasions: Which matters more? My answer is always the same: Both sales and candidate care are key components of the recruitment process; remove either, and the process falls down. It is up to the consultant to ensure a balance in priorities, in terms of time, energy and understanding. What follows will provide you with an understanding of the consequences of neglecting either of these key components, proving that both sales and candidate care are “Good business” when done properly and in balanced moderation. Are you neglecting candidate care in order to focus on Sales? It’s certainly not uncommon. The wisdom from management often declares that candidate care is a “Secondary value-add,” (The words of a team leader who attended one of my workshops) to be taken into consideration with whatever time and energy is left over from client services. Sales generate revenue and profit for the agency, and commission for the consultant, so why wouldn’t sales take priority over guidance and counselling provided to the candidate? The truth here is brutally simple: If the candidate doesn’t feel cared for, they will go somewhere else. There is no getting past how the market has changed: The Baby Boomers are beginning to retire, and with them the notion of workplace loyalty for loyalty’s sake. Generation Y require more personalised service and reassurance, and if they don’t get it, they will go and find it elsewhere… with your competitors, and the number of agencies in the industry is approaching saturation point. With all that has been written and spoken on Generation Y, its amazing how many recruiters I meet or train are still approaching candidate care the way they did 25 years ago. Recruiters with many years of experience ask me why they can’t find or keep committed candidates. When I examine their methodologies, the reason is clear. Candidates seem to be almost an afterthought in the recruitment process, a commodity sold to the well-serviced client. There is no communication with the candidate regarding the process, minimal consideration of candidate needs and goals, no candidate follow-up after employment is secured, and what results is a clear recipe for candidate fall-offs. Suddenly the “Secondary Value-add” of candidate care becomes important! While candidates are not your direct source of profit (They do not pay you), you can’t make a cent without them, so why treat them as though they don’t matter? Simple, straightforward communication is paramount here, and not at all difficult to do. Keep your candidate updated on the process, ensure that their needs, goals and priorities match the role, follow-up with them post-placement, to ensure that any issues between the candidate and their new employer can be dealt with, thus preventing a drop-off before your fee guarantee (Usually 3 months) has passed. You get to keep your fee, the client gets to keep their employee, and the candidate gets to keep their job… everyone wins; but in the absence of personalised candidate care, the outcome can be very different. Are You Neglecting Sales to Focus on Candidate Care? I can hear the sceptics already.: In this increasingly competitive environment, who can afford to neglect sales? Well, the answer is this: No one can afford to neglect sales, but many consultants do, and in my experience as a trainer I have uncovered two common reasons as to why: 1. Call Reluctance, and Let’s talk about Call reluctance first. An agency director I train in the Sydney area recently expressed concern to me that his consultants were “Putting all their eggs in one basket,” Because they were too scared to make business development calls, they opted to bury themselves in candidate management, rather than confronting their call reluctance and taking productive steps to overcome it. I can’t emphasize how important it is for all managers and team leaders to be on the lookout for this kind of behaviour. The rationale behind it is obvious enough: “I can escape my business development duties by spending more time on candidate matters, and I can still feel as though I am being productive and contributing.” This kind of behaviour is not only a waste of the consultant’s time, it is a waste of the candidate’s time as well, as they are being pampered by the consultant, but candidate in reality isn’t any closer to securing a role, because the marketing has fallen by the wayside. So, in the end, all that extra candidate care is pointless for everyone involved… not really candidate care at all, just an excuse to kill business development time. Paranoia about the candidate short market can lead to a similar outcome, and it certainly is understandable. Candidates can be hard to find, and even harder to retain. But as I have pointed out already, you won’t gain candidate commitment and loyalty by providing customer service in the absence of marketing them into a role, the very reason they registered with you. If you don’t follow through on your duty to find them employment, all your bowing and scraping will not stop them from going elsewhere. Candidates respond to a consultant who listens to them, who communicates with them and provides guidance and advice, but it is the end result that matters most of all, and will keep them loyal and committed for the long-term. As you can see, recruiters are required to walk a tight-rope between sales and service priorities. It can be difficult at times, after 20+ years in the industry I understand this, but it is disturbing nonetheless to see so many recruiters neglecting one in favour of the other. The recruitment process is a chain where one weak link can undermine the whole thing. I encourage you to step back and look objectively at your methods, remembering that balance is the key to recruitment success.
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Article Two: Striving, thriving, surviving - A Plan for Survival & Growth by Bill Boorman In the second of a series of articles, Bill Boorman explores the essential areas for change aimed at companies living through the downturn. In my previous article I looked at how you should spread your company’s business mix, re-assess your training budget and communicate with your staff. In this piece, I’m going to address the next essential moves to make in a client led market. As obvious as it may sound you need to protect and grow your existing business. As I mentioned in my last article it is important to address the staff you already have – but you also need to make sure you address the clients you already have – they need to be reminded as to why they use you! Set vacancy coverage targets and response times. Insist that your consultants are obtaining full job descriptions to enable better matching success and make sure that consultants are prioritising their searches against existing vacancies so that your current clients feel serviced. It’s also crucial in this market to undertake regular quality service reviews to ensure that your clients are kept happy!. Remember, a sales culture is an essential ingredient to survival! In a contracting market, you need to be winning new business just to be able to stand still. Look at your team and spend more time with those who may struggle with sales – this is an area they need to be strong in now more then ever. Work with them to counsel any sales reluctance and focus on selling the candidates you already have. Make sure that all leads that your consultants generate are followed up and draw up a plan to ensure that it happens. To emphasise the importance of sales with your team, diarise sales time and ‘power hours’ - particular hours of the day when everyone is targeted to canvass for new business – increase motivation by offering prizes and incentives to everyone so that those who really push themselves benefit. There needs to be a real emphasis on building your consultants’ understanding of prospects and a big push on the importance of database building in order to generate new leads. Make sure vacancies are tracked and consider giving a bonus for closing the deal – although it’s important that any bonus arrangements are formalised by signed agreements. It’s also good to think outside the box. Whereas in the traditional recruitment model, contingency fees will be cheaper than retained assignments why not turn that on its head. It’s a well known fact that retained assignments have a much higher success rate than contingency recruitment so if you sell the retained model at a discount and extend payments by instalments, this could be a real revenue generator. In the current market there is going to be a much bigger candidate pool and a high level of response so you’ll need a sensible process in place to deal with this and keep your candidates happy and feeling that they are getting a good service. Don’t automatically advertise new vacancies - check all your existing candidates first. Make sure your applicants know that your consultants care about them and are actively trying to source opportunities. Be honest with candidates if things aren’t looking good, but at the same time be constructive with the advice. This not only gives them a good feeling about your business but also means that they will remember you when the recovery comes - and it will! Next time we will be looking at strategic alliances, managing performance and how to keep lean in tough times.
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Online Recruitment Update (This section is sponsored by http://www.1Job.co.uk; "the leading UK job search engine") UKRecruiterJobs:
Traditional, On-line and Corporate HR Recruitment Job Board Hitwise top 10 Recruitment
Sites, week ending 7th March 2009 Louise's UK Recruiter blog Discussion Board Summary This section is sponsored by http://www.1Job.co.uk; "the leading UK job search engine" |
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Don't Miss This Press Release: reed.co.uk reveals all Global Financial Hiring Survey |
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Regards
Louise Triance
UK Recruiter http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk
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