Countless recruiters have experienced how time has killed the placement process, resulting in job orders that have been withdrawn and hiring freezes, to name just two consequences. This trend has been even more rampant in today’s economic environment, where fear and uncertainty are the driving forces behind companies’ unwillingness to hire.
So how do you combat these problems? What can you do in order to not only convince companies that hiring is the right thing to do, but also to speed up the hiring process? We have answers from leading industry trainers, both past and present, who provide what they believe are the keys to accomplishing this.
With that in mind, below are three strategies for speeding up the hiring process for agency recruiters and search consultants:
Jon Bartos
“Recruiters have to get to the bottom line reason of why the process is being slowed or halted, and the way to do that is to ask questions. You have to go three levels deep in your questioning. That way, you have ammunition to overcome their objection. Once you get that information, you can attack the objection.
“After you understand what the problem is, you can reset expectations. Initially, you identify the process as being ‘this and this.’ Once you know what’s changed in the process, you can re-define it based upon what will work from that point forward and then you can stick to it.
“Even if the hiring manager gives you an objection, there still may be a reason to hire your candidate. It’s up to the recruiter to discover what that reason is and to convince the hiring manager that the reason is compelling enough to hire their candidate.”
Barb Bruno
“There are several things you can do to shorten the hiring process with clients. These include obtaining three interview times when you write an order; obtaining the name of someone else you can call to confirm the interviews; obtaining a specific date to hire, not ‘ASAP’, ‘yesterday,’ or ‘immediately’; understanding what problem exists as a result of this job being left open; finding out if there are specific individuals they would like to attract; and providing them with a list of expectations up front (i.e., what they can expect from you and what you expect from them.)
“There are also several things you can do to shorten the process with candidates. These include having them fill out your paperwork in advance so your interview can focus on clarifying their answers; re-interviewing them throughout the entire process to obtain more honest answers; never quoting salary, but always quoting a range, and telling them the offer depends on how well they interview; getting a specific target date from them; knowing what offers they’ve received and turned down; and once again, providing them with a list of expectations up front.”
Doug Beabout
“A recruiter has to understand far beyond knowing what the client wants. They also have to know why the client has to have it. That gives the recruiter the leverage of influence to keep the client in motion to decide to hire the candidate.
“The recruiter also has to know how to become an extension of the company in today’s talent pool. They have to know not only the job, but also why it’s an opportunity for the candidate; the company, but also how they’re going to attract and retain top talent; and the manager, but also what about them is going to compel a person to want to work for them.
“This whole issue is also related to client control. Control is not taken, it’s granted. It can’t be seized; it can only be given. If they [company officials] are not granting you the control, either you’ve failed to become trustworthy enough or they’re not in enough pain. Who gives a doctor a scalpel until they’ve taken all the pills they can take?”
Speed up the hiring process with training!
If you’re an agency recruiter or search consultant and you’re looking to sharpen your recruitment skills, you can do so with continuous training and education. The good news is that we can help with the Top Echelon Expert Recruiter Coaching Series of webinars!
These webinars are conducted by some of the most popular trainers in the recruiting and staffing industry on the second Tuesday or Wednesday of every month. (These trainers include the three featured in this blog post.) If you register for a live webinar and can not attend, we record the session so that you can access it at a later date. These recorded versions are then posted on our website as free online recruitment training courses in the Top Echelon Recruiter Training Library.
Top Echelon’s coaching series of webinars addresses the fundamentals of the recruiting and staffing profession. They also include the latest tips, trends, and strategies in the industry. These topics deal with candidates, clients, and sometimes both, depending upon the speaker and their areas of specialization and expertise. As always, our goal with these webinars (and corresponding videos) is to help agency recruiters and search consultants make more placements.
In addition to training and webinars, Top Echelon offers other recruitment solutions. These solutions include the following:
- Big Biller recruitment software
- Top Echelon recruiter network
Find out more about the recruiting solutions that Top Echelon offers to agency recruiters and search consultants!
