It’s the age-old battle, internal recruiters disparage Headhunters and Search firm people trash HR. Let’s take a fair and balanced look that the benefits and limits of each of these valuable hiring resources. 

What’s the deal with recruiters?

In my previous book, I discuss the different types of recruiters and how they can help people with their career. Let’s invest a few minutes exploring how they can help you hire. There are two classifications of recruiters, internal recruiters and headhunters.

The pros and cons of Internal Recruiters

Internal recruiters are the recruiters that your company employs to handle your open jobs. The advantage of these folks is that you’re not paying any additional external fees for this person. The cost to a company for this type of resource is fixed, typically you pay them a salary or hourly rate without any commission so the cost is the same regardless of how many people you hire. The other advantage is they know the culture of your organization and what type of people work best in it. The disadvantage is these folks is tend to have a very high workload. This means they have little time to reach out and attract candidates that aren’t looking for a job. The typical strategy of an internal recruiting model is to have fewer recruiters working on more job openings. 

I spent ten years managing an internal recruitment program and I’m one of the few people in the entire recruitment business book-writing industry that has worked in both internal corporate recruiting and as a headhunter. Based on this experience, I can tell you that internal recruiters are extremely cost-effective; however they struggle to find the top performers from your competitors. Internal recruiting works best when you’re hiring a large number of very similar jobs and candidates aren’t hard to find.

Their tools tend to be limited to things like LinkedIn, candidate applicants, and possibly a little bit of networking if they have any time. There is little focus on the proactive and strategic parts of recruitment. I estimate that most spend less than five percent of their time speaking to people in the industry who aren’t looking for a job. That simply isn’t an effective model. If this model works for you, that’s just great. But if you need to find a star in a shorter period of time, your best options are: A, to take matters into your own hands and reach out to people in your network or build your own network or, B, get somebody to do the job who’s already built a network of high quality candidates in your industry.

Are external recruiters better?

Since I run an external recruiting firm, you might be thinking that I am now going to tell you how great external recruiters are. Unfortunately, the majority of headhunters now work more like corporate recruiters or worse, they are pushy sales people with zero knowledge. They work on LinkedIn, they post jobs, they send whatever they find. Become an educated consumer and learn where the experts reside.  These are the individuals who can help you to target top performers, and coach you to make you a better hiring manger.

How the best recruiters work

If you ask the right questions within your network and interview recruiters, you’ll discover that not all recruiters spend all their time on LinkedIn. Some recruiters work in the old school way that existed before LinkedIn when the telephone, a database, and printed directories were the only way to find talent. They pick up the phone. They strive to identify people who are happy in their job and not looking. They build relationships and market knowledge which allows them to create candidates that don’t exist by identifying gaps in individuals’ career goals and offer new opportunity to fill in those gaps.

This skill takes years to develop and isn’t in the toolkit of most corporate recruiters. It simply doesn’t make sense for them to do this. Headhunters need to build relationships with all good candidates across geographies and functions within their market. Corporate recruiters don’t place the same value on building relationships in their industry. They’re focused on their company and candidates they can hire now to fill current jobs. From a candidate’s perspective they also have little need to befriend a corporate recruiter unless they are looking for a job at their company. A headhunter can unlock many, many doors so it’s wise to get to know a few. Candidates know this, so the smart ones are more likely to speak to you even if they’re not looking.  This is the power that a truly effective headhunter brings to your career and the power that a headhunter brings to your search process.

Ask how recruiters work

Unfortunately, this is the era of the “lazy LinkedIn Recruiter.” Why anyone would pay twenty or thirty thousand dollars for a headhunter who posts jobs or trolls LinkedIn is beyond me. This investment only makes sense when you hire a market expert who has invested the time to build their own network and a highly valuable database. Sure, I use LinkedIn but I use it as a source for data not as my major focus. Find a recruiter who is focused on finding people that aren’t looking for a job and your investment will be well worth it.

I’m not saying that you need to use search for all your jobs. The fact is you may be able to build a network and relationships that allow you to identify top quality talent with little to no use of headhunters. However, when that’s not working, before you go post and pray, and hope that somebody applies for your job, consider using the expertise of a headhunter that knows and works in your marketplace to get you connected with talent that can change the game for you.

____________________________________________________________________

Mike Adamo is a Medical Device Headhunter and author of several business books.

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You can also read more from Mike on his blog MRAdamo.com.

Check out Mike's business books on career management and recruitment:

This Book Will Get You Hired

Radical Hiring Success

Want to learn how to write an amazing resume? In this eppisode I share tips that will help your resume to stand out!

Check out my book for more - http://a.co/bmapuKD

Visit my Youtube for more career advice- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeJgV25TpsLofxC3VriNBHA

This Book Will Get You Hired

Need a strategy to get your job search on track? In this episode we will cover what to do if you find yourself on the job hunt without a job.  We will explore the following:

• Creating a job search strategy

Don't let your career die! In order for your career to suvive you must take a proactive strategy. In this eposide we will explore the Cooper Color Code as it applies to career and personal survival.

Most people’s profiles really are pretty bad so it’s not hard to stand out. Let's make your profile Linkedin profile amazing!

see more on Youtube- https://youtu.be/_saTmAchohk

Critical steps to make your LinkedIn profile stand out:

3) Update Your Content

• Think Key words here, completely fill out your profile.

Take a look at my profile and you can steal any of my ideas www.linkedin.com/in/mikeadamo

Ok so that’s content- Simple

We have also started production of the Audiobook version

Is It Really Time to Look for a New Job or Are You Being Impulsive?

The decision to make a job change can create a great deal of stress. The last thing you want to do is make a bad decision. In almost twenty years as a headhunter, career coach, and human resources executive, I have developed a framework to help thousands of people make a decision to stay or go. It’s best to know where you stand before you initiate a job search, so get out that mirror and take a look what where you stand:

How is the relationship with your boss?

Research shows that the majority of people don’t leave companies and jobs. They actually leave bad bosses to go to better bosses. It’s not to say if the other three components of this model are bad that you will stay in your job for a great boss, but you need to take a hard look at how good things are and how good your direct leadership is for your career.

What’s your career plan?

If you have been keeping up with my work (mradamo.com), you know I am a big advocate for creating and maintaining a career plan. The decision to leave a company should be grounded in a solid career plan. If you don’t have one, this is a good time to start that process. Another measure of this is to ask yourself if you know what the next step in your career is once you achieve the goals you have for your job. If you don’t have goals and a next step, this would be a pretty clear sign that you don’t have a clear career path at your current employer. It’s time to create one with your amazing boss or update that resume.

How long have you been there?

Job hoppers ultimately become less attractive candidates. If you want more on this, check out a job hopping article I wrote a while back. Generally, there is a major problem if you’re ready to look for a job less than three years after joining a company. While you can get away with this once in your career, it’s better to ask yourself did I make a bad decision? On the other hand, if you been with a company for more than seven years, you may just want to start planning a change even if the other components are not that bad. Staying too long at one company can be a major career killer. 

What is the future outlook for your company?

Now that you have analyzed the other three components that are about you and your boss, it’s time to look at the big picture. What is the future of your company? If things are bleak, you may accelerate your plans; however, if things are looking up, you may want to look for another internal opportunity or work harder to resolve some of the areas previously described.

So now you have the knowledge to go from impulsive to calculated. These four components work as a system. Sometimes one is a deal breaker, but often it’s the totality of the picture that drives your ultimate decision. The final piece of advice I will give you on making the decision is from Yoda. “Do or do not. There is no try.” If you make a decision to find a new job, stick to it and get it done. Don’t be dissuaded by challenge or adversity. It’s hard work to drive your career forward. If you make the call to stay, work hard and stick it out. Going back and forth or worse, interviewing and accepting a counter offer to stay, is another major career killer

As the unemployment rate continues to drop, 2017 promises to be a very tough year in the war for talent. Here are the top ten reasons why the very best companies succeed in hiring top talent.

• Planning – Organizations that are geared towards hiring the best acknowledge that it takes time to attract, identify, and land great people. You can’t just start recruiting when you need someone to start. The best employers take a proactive approach to identifying the talent they will need and building the pipeline necessary to hire the best.

• They move quickly – Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. The best companies have a fast and smooth hiring process. They move from resume to phone interview then on to face to face and an offer very quickly. Fast hiring processes allow top performing companies to “swoop up” in demand talent before their competitors can make a decision.

• Incredible candidate experience – The best employers know that candidates are customers too. They treat their candidates like a high-value commodity. They are not like a cattle call. Providing great “candidate service” makes the candidates they are courting feel important.

• Outstanding employee experience – The best employers treat their employees like the critical asset they are—great benefits, plenty of free parking, aggressive pay, and great career growth. You can’t fake this one. Many companies pretend to treat their employees great and then wonder why they have trouble hiring. If you’re really treating your employees amazing, they will be referring people all the time. 

• Humility – The most effective employers are humble. They acknowledge that great candidates have choices and work hard to earn the right to hire those people. Some companies are so arrogant that they expect people to all line up to work for them. Humility will drive a great employee and candidate experience. Don’t take the “you’re so lucky to work here attitude.” 

• Promote great leaders and fire poor ones – Great leaders have top tier followers. The best companies aggressively look to give more responsibility to outstanding leaders and get rid of poor ones. By building a culture of inspirational leadership, these companies attract the best people.

• They build a hiring process that identifies people who are not looking – Headhunter secret #1: the best people are not looking for a job. By putting talent attraction strategies in place that target people who are not looking, they are able to fish from a pool of better people.

• Stellar employment brand – The best employers implement #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6 to bring together a stellar employment brand. They also invest time and energy in shouting it from the rooftop. 

• A team approach to hiring – Partnering an inspiring manager with a great HR team and headhunters who really get it create a “dream team” approach to acquiring talent. The best companies know it’s not us vs them when it comes to external recruiters and internal talent acquisition.

• Leaders who take responsibility for hiring great people – The final tip from the most successful attractors of talent is that management takes responsibility for hiring the best. A relentless pursuit of great hires results in guess what? Great hires.

While this list may not be all inclusive, it represents the top ten success practices of companies that go above and beyond to hire the best talent. 

How to Get into Management

As a headhunter, many people who are not currently in a management role ask me if I can let them know about opportunities in management. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it works. “Getting into” management isn’t something that companies hire people off the street to do. Trust me; they already have plenty of people in their company who want to get into management.

If you prefer to listen or watch about this content, we have also produced a YouTube on the subject 

“Getting in” is something that is best accomplished by implementing a solid career strategy and executing it within your current company. If you don’t see a path with your current organization, you must identify a new company and invest the time and effort to build your reputation as an individual contributor and then implement a career strategy geared towards developing into a leadership role.

Here is a simple acronym to remember the steps you must take to get into leadership: BELT. 

Build

Enlist

Lead

Train

Build a Plan – Let’s be realistic here. Developing leadership skills takes years, typically 7–10 as an individual contributor and then another 2–3 to develop the reputation, leadership skills, and experience to be truly seen as a manager.

Enlist Mentors and Advocates – The good news is that all leaders in your organization have faced this same hurdle. It’s not an easy transition. Invest time in identifying people who can advise you and be your advocate when the time is right.

Lead – Look for informal opportunities to demonstrate leadership within your organization. Leaders have followers! The best way to be seen as a leader is to start demonstrating your leadership skills. Look for opportunities to contribute to the direction of your organization. Speak up in meetings. Mentor others. When you start looking for these opportunities, you will be surprised how many are out there 

Train – Become a dedicated student of leadership and management. Reading this article is a good start but don’t stop. Invest in yourself—take classes, read books, listen to podcasts, and identify as many learning opportunities as you can. Getting your boss to invest in that cool new management class is a great start but don’t stop learning.

The best way to become a leader is to be seen as one, so implement the BELT strategy and start leading. As you execute your career development plan, develop your leadership skills, and cultivate a stable of mentors and advocates, you will develop a level of momentum that will be impossible to stop.

Getting promoted sometimes feels like a mysterious process. We all have seen that colleague that was “surprised” to get that promotion. I am here to tell you that for top performers, promotions are not a mystical process. They are a process that you must methodically implement to ensure that you maintain a career trajectory that will get you where you want to go.

If you prefer to listen or watch about this content, we have also produced a YouTube and Podcast on the subject. 

Let’s use the acronym PROMO to remember the steps we must take to achieve our goal.

Plan

Review

Objectives

Maximize

Outspoken

Plan – We must have a career plan that we revisit regularly. This will help us to ensure we are actually on a career path and not drifting through work.

Review – You must review your plan regularly and also review it with your boss to ensure that he/she is aligned with your career plan.

Objectives – You must work with your boss to set realistic performance levels or objectives so that you know what you must achieve to get promoted to the next level.

Maximize – Ok, I am stretching here. What I really mean is EXECUTE. Get as much done as possible. If you want to be promoted, you need to be seen as an individual who really gets things done.

Outspoken – When you do get things done, don’t be content being in the background. Look for opportunities to communicate your accomplishments. Creating visibility for your high level of achievement is critical to getting regularly promoted.

By incorporating the PROMO strategy into your career as a regular part of what you do, you can achieve a career path where you receive promotions every 2–4 years. This becomes much harder to do once you reach Director and VP, but in the first 12 years of your career, you should strive for regular promotions. If you can’t achieve this at your current company, it may be time for some self-reflection or a job change.

The Four P’s of ASKING for and GETTING a PAY increase

Despite what people say about it not being all about the money, sometimes it is. For most of us we spend more time working than we do with our family. It’s important to feel like you being fairly paid for the work you do. If you don’t you have two choices; find another job or ask for a Pay Increase. Before you start looking for a job it’s always best to confirm that your issue can’t be solved by raising it with your company. If pay is your primary motivator for job hunting ALWAYS ASK FOR A PAY INCREASE FIRST!

Below you will see a simple outline of the steps you can take to ASK for and GET the increase you want. If you prefer to listen to or watch to better understand the content check out the Med Device Talent YouTube and or Podcast on Getting Paid!

There are four steps to addressing salary issues. I call them the four P’s. Plan, Present, Partner and Perform. Let’s explore each is a bit greater detail.

Plan – In the planning phase you need to gather your data and plan how you will execute this crucial conversation

• Do some research – not just on line salary calculators

• Talk to co-workers ( Yes HR will hate this)

• Like all crucial conversations you should preplan

• What you will say and how you will say it

Present – This is the step where you actually discuss your issue with your boss. Make sure you follow your plan.

• First, assess how your boss feels about your performance

• If you’re not a star performer you’re not getting that raise

Partner - During this phase you need to move from complaining about your pay to partnering with your boss to understand and solve the issue.

• Once you identify the issue seek to understand if and how your pay can be resolved

Perform – Without performance people will not want to give you a pay increase

• You must establish a reputation as a top perfumer and continue to deliver on your promise