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In these challenging times, being a smart consumer of employment sites is a core competency of recruiters. Make sure you measure up.
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Blink Relationships
Someone once said that recruiting is a “contact sport.” The statement implies that success is simply a matter of connecting with the right people. If recruiting were that easy, however, we’d all be sitting on a beach somewhere drinking pina coladas. The reality, of course, is that contacts are only the first step. It’s the relationship which follows those contacts that determines whether or not we’ll hire top talent.
Now, don’t misunderstand. I am very respectful of how hard it is to find “A” level performers. The proliferation of sources – both online and in the real world – means that there’s now no single venue which can provide a sufficient number of contacts to meet our recruiting needs.
That said, we undercut our yield (and thus our ultimate success) when we focus the majority of our time and effort on making contacts. Those connections are simply a prelude. They open the door, but they do not deliver talent – especially the best talent – to our recruiting process.
Why?
Because the best talent are almost always employed. To recruit them, therefore, we have to convince them to change devils. We have to persuade them to move from the devil they know – their current employer, boss and commute – to the devil they don’t know – a new employer, boss and commute.
You can’t do that by simply contacting someone. You have to persuade them. And, persuasion requires that we build two kinds of bonds with candidates: familiarity and trust.
Those two bonds are the pillars of a meaningful relationship. And, as anyone who’s ever been in a relationship knows, they typically take time to develop. Which is a problem for recruiters. We don’t have time. We have openings to fill today.
So, what’s the answer? Blink relationships. The process of building familiarity and trust in the blink of an eye.
How to Blink in Recruiting
Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink focused on human decision making. He argued that – contrary to conventional wisdom – we make some of our best decisions very quickly. We cut through the blizzard of details and focus on just what we need to know to set our course.
Similarly, we can build some of our best relationships in the blink of an eye. It’s done by focusing our communications on just what the best talent wants to know. Or, to put it another way, once we make a contact, we have to message like a headhunter. Here’s what I mean.
Your email to a high caliber contact is not a corporate memo or a job posting with a cover message. It is an invitation to talk about a career advancement opportunity that you’re sending to a person who doesn’t really want to change devils. They have the attention span of a gnat and, in most cases, will see your communication as an interruption in their business day.
So, how should you structure your message?
Write informally, but professionally. Don’t compose the message as a Facebook post to your friends or as a memo to the CEO. Think of it, instead, as a communication written in business casual.
To achieve that feel, compose your messages with the three Ps. Make them:
and
Now, of course, the actual content of your message will be shaped by the opportunity you have to offer. However, make sure you adhere to the Golden Rule of Blink Relationships. Flattery first. Facts second.
Just as a headhunter does:
That kind of messaging can persuade even the most passive prospect to change devils. You establish familiarity by treating them as a fellow professional. You earn their trust by treating them the way you would like to be treated online. And, you show them respect by offering them a position in which they can continue to excel. In short, you build a relationship in the blink of an eye.
Thanks for reading,
Peter
Visit me at Weddles.com
P.S. Please tell your coworkers and friends about WEDDLE’s Newsletter. They’ll appreciate your thoughtfulness, and so will we.
Become an “A” Level Recruiter
You need the best resources to do your best work as a recruiter. No matter how good you are, if you don’t have the right tools, your performance will be undermined.
What are the best Resources for Recruiting Success? They are:
Cast Your Vote for …
… the best employment sites on the Web!
Each year, WEDDLE’s conducts an open poll to determine which job boards, social media sites and career portals are considered the elite of their industry, according to the toughest judges on the planet. That would be YOU, the users of those sites.
At the end of each year, the the 30 sites with the most votes are recognized as the User’s Choice Award winners. It is not, admittedly, a statistically valid selection process, but it does clearly measure the intensity of support sites have among their customers. And, as the only accolade in which actual users – recruiters and jobs seekers – select the winners, the awards are among the most coveted online in e-commerce.
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