SAP Recruiter Podcast | ASAP Talent Services

Getting creative is one of the best ways to get top talent interested in your opportunity. Today, I'll share a few creative tactics you can use as talking points to attract 'A' players. Subscribe to my Video Updates Request a Free Consultation Getting creative and exhibiting flexibility will go a long way in landing top talent. There are even things you can do to find 'A' players that may not even be actively looking. Whether you're doing your own recruitment or using a recruiting firm, the top thing you must do at the beginning is really know what's motivating someone to make a move. That's more important early on in the discussion than talking about your opportunity. Before you start selling your offer, you want to understand what's going on with someone's situation. People are more likely to make a move to remove pain points than they are to make a move for pleasure. People are very motivated by these pain points in life, like not getting paid enough, traveling too often, not getting along with their superior, or getting overlooked for a promotion. These pain points are the number one reason people think about making a career move. Generally, people will think about making a career move for two years before they actually do something about it. Pain points are the number one reason people think about making a career move. You also want to think about how creative and flexible you can be to attract top talent. An example of this creativity and flexibility would be allowing someone to work from a home office if they live in a different city—could they work on a virtual team concept? If there is travel, could you allow them to work from home on Fridays? Could you even be flexible with our titles? For the right person, would you be willing to go from a director to a senior director or even associate partner? Think about how you can be flexible with a title with the same compensation. They are just words, but for some people, the title is a really big deal. You will also want to discuss their future with this company and succession planning. What can this role for them be in two or three years? This is a big deal for an 'A' player, and a lot of people forget to discuss it in the interview process. Finally, think about how this role will improve their skill set. What's in it for them? If you discuss all of these things with people, I think you'll find that you get more 'A' players interested in your opportunity. I hope this information was helpful for you. If you have any questions we can answer, don't hesitate to reach out to me. I look forward to hearing from you!

The new year is a busy time for hiring managers. How can you get ahead? Subscribe to my Video Updates Request a Free Consultation I want to quickly talk to you about how this time of year impacts your business and hiring. The beginning of a new calendar year often means new budgets, new project spending, and more for hiring managers. For a lot of people out in the workforce, it’s New Year’s resolution time. It’s a period where people start to re-evaluate whether they are happy or not in their current role. We usually see an uptick in people looking to make moves in January, much like the influx of new members at your local gym. I wish you luck with your 2017 hirings. The most important thing for you to do in December and January to prepare for this is to really think about your February and March hirings. It’s time to get started right now to think about any positions you may need to have filled in the new year once you start working with your recruiting partners and internal HR. To help yourself, you should reach out to people who might be a welcome addition to your team on social media. Stay in touch with former workers who have left and gone to other companies, too. I hope this has been helpful to you and that you have good luck with your hiring in 2017. If you have any questions for me or have something you’d like to see as a future video topic, leave it in the comment section below. You can always give us a call or send us an email as well. I look forward to hearing from you!

When you discuss compensation during an interview, you should actually begin the conversation by asking about the candidate's key motivation. From there, there are a few other questions you need to ask. Subscribe to my Video Updates Request a Free Consultation When you discuss compensation during a job interview, it’s actually very important to start off by asking a candidate about their motivation. I recommend asking, “What are the top three things, besides money, that you are looking for in this job opportunity?” Most people are motivated by either location, quality of life, their career path, or more money. Once you understand what motivates the candidate, you can reflect those key points when discussing the job opportunity. Doing so allows you to hire the right people and wind up with more long-term hires. Asking this question will allow you to transition into the compensation discussion. When you do start the money conversation, you should ask open-ended questions. Simply say, “What is your current compensation and how is it structured?” Just be quiet for a while and let them talk. When they’re done, you should try and clarify a few things. Ask open-ended questions, and then ask for more detail. For example, you want to know exactly what their base salary is and how it is structured. You also want to know about any bonuses or commission programs. Ask about other long-term incentives, like a form of equity or a stock program with a three-year vesting period. Do they have a 401K or pension at their current job? After that, I recommend asking, “Is there anything you consider to be part of your compensation that we haven’t discussed?” I also recommend asking about last year’s W2 so that you can understand their compensation and payouts on those bonus programs. Does this opportunity really match up with their key motivations to move? If so, it’s time to ask them an “If I, will you” question. For example, you would say, “If I can come up with such and such compensation program, will you be able to join our company?” Close it down that way in order to get a yes or no question from your candidate. That way, you will be able to accept more offers the first time around. If you have any other questions about the compensation aspect of the job interview, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Should you use a contingency search or a retained search? The answer lies in the importance of the role in question. Subscribe to my Video Updates Request a Free Consultation What is the difference between a contingency search and a retained search? If your company needs to fill a role within your organization, which one should you consider? Typically, a contingency search is used because either the role in question is a lower-level position that might not be quite as impactful, the time to fill the role or the speed of the search isn’t paramount, or you prefer a lower-risk scenario for your leadership team. In a contingency search, you can potentially choose two or three search firms and have them compete because there’s no real investment on the front end. Which search you should use depends on the importance of the position in question. Retained searches, on the other hand, are a more financially committed search. It means, in essence, that you’re choosing one search firm. There are several reasons to consider retained searches. One of the top reasons is the level of the role. If it’s a very impactful role to your company, your best bet is to use a retained search. Retained searches are also much quicker than contingency searches. When a search is financially committed and/or there is exclusivity, and if a search firm knows they’re the only firm on it, they’re going to be far more focused on that search until that role gets filled. To put it more simply, a retained search is like being married, whereas a contingency search is like dating. Also, don’t forget the effect your search has on the perception of the candidates in the marketplace. When a company uses a retained search firm, it absolutely sends a message to the candidates of the importance of the role. If the level of the role is high and the firm is using a contingency search, however, it could set off a flurry of red flags. If you have any more questions about the difference between a contingency search and a retained search, please feel free to reach out to me. I look forward to working with you in the future!

Why would a company use a search firm to fill a particular role in their business? Here are the benefits that search firms provide. Subscribe to my Video Updates Request a Free Consultation Why would a company want to utilize a search firm for recruiting? Here are my top five reasons why they may consider doing so: Difficulty filling the position. If it’s challenging to find a particular skillset and your company knows that the type of position or level of position is very challenging to come across, this is a great opportunity to use a search firm. A search firm may have even done that exact type of search many times before, which will help find great candidates for that specific role. This is especially true if they have a back history, a network, and warm relationships with the kinds of people that are qualified for that role.How important that role is to your company. If a role is critical to the success of the business, potentially because it’s a Director or Vice President role, it’s absolutely imperative to find the right hire. A poor hiring decision could be far costlier to the organization than not hiring anyone at all. In these scenarios, using a search firm to make sure that you’re truly identifying the top 5% or top 10% of candidates is crucial.Speeding up the hiring process. A firm that has done this exact search many times over already has the starting point and knows the people in the network that are fit for that role. A good search firm can get right to these candidates, speed up your search, and get you right into your interviews with the top candidates in a very quick time frame.Saving the company’s leadership time and energy. Time is money, so any chance that the leadership of the company has to leverage their time is a worthwhile effort. This is particularly true for executives in the company that may spend considerable amounts of time in the interview process. Outsourcing the vetting process to a great search firm can help a company cut to the top 3% or 5% of candidates, and will save the company’s higher-ups valuable time.An unbiased third party can help you negotiate. An unbiased third party can help you sell your opportunity and give you feedback so that you make a more informed decision. Search firms can help find the top 5% of candidates for the role. All of these reasons add up to a significant value proposition as to why a company should consider using a search firm to find candidates for roles that are hard to fill or roles that are impactful to their business. If you have any other questions about the benefits that search firms provide, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you!

If you have a long, disjointed recruiting process, you are probably losing out on some top-tier recruits. There are a few things you can do to create a fast, efficient recruiting process. Subscribe to my Video Updates Request a Free Consultation A lot of the companies we work with have a long, disjointed recruiting process. If your recruiting process is too drawn-out and complex, you will lose out on those ‘A’ players that you want to hire. Those talented recruits will go to other companies that move faster and more efficiently. How can you create a fast, efficient recruiting process? Whether you or working on your own or with a search firm, we encourage you to nail down the top five candidates as quickly as you can. Choose your top five based on what they are looking for, their track record of success, and their career history. Once you have your top five selected, start phone interviews. By interviewing your top five over the phone along with your key decision-makers, you will be able to narrow your top five down to the top two. The top two candidates are then brought in for the final, in-person interview.  Keep in mind that your employee will need to resign before they can start working for you. If you have a more concise interview process, you won’t lose out on those ‘A’ players because another company moves faster. We also encourage you to think backward from when you want your new employee to start. A lot of companies fail to understand how long it will take them to recruit and interview the candidates. Companies also tend to forget that they need to give the candidates two or three weeks to resign. Some candidates may even have to relocate. So, think backward from the start date. If you need someone in three or four weeks, you may not be able to move fast enough to make that happen. You need to understand the calendar and develop a reasonable process so that you can hire that person on time and they can start when you need them. Hopefully, you have a better idea on how to create a fast, efficient recruiting process. If you have any questions, just give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

Most companies are writing job descriptions all wrong. We have some tips to share today that will help you improve your success with attracting top candidates. Subscribe to my Video Updates Request a Free Consultation We are excited to share some tips with you today about how to recruit and present better job descriptions. You want to present the best opportunity possible to the candidates you may be interviewing. We really want to encourage clients and hiring authorities to write their descriptions from the perspective of an “A” candidate. We want you to think about the sizzle. When working with clients and hiring authorities, we want to ask why an “A” candidate would leave the job they currently have to come work for us instead? When you think about it and write the description from that perspective, it’s more about what they would be doing in the role. What are the top three things you can assure them that they will be responsible for? That should be in your job description. You want to attract the top candidates. Coming back to the sizzle, what we mean is we want you to be able to tell the candidate what’s exciting about your company, your department, or your team. How will that impact their career? Lay out a framework that tells them where they will be in three to four years if they are still with your company. This is called a succession plan. It’s also about writing a job description from a different perspective instead of from the same old, same old. Most companies are still stuck on writing descriptions with bullet points, job duties, skills, experience, and other terminology. Those who deviate from that formula are the ones who are going to attract the best candidates. Hopefully, you can use these tips to help yourself stand out from other companies and attract that “A” candidate. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

Are you asking the right questions to find great partners? I wanted to offer some ideas for the right questions to ask to ensure you're forging the right relationships with your partners. Subscribe to my Video Updates Request a Free Consultation The reason clients, a company, or a candidate should consider working with ASAP Talent Services has a lot to do with the tenure that we have in the business, the deep expertise we have in SAP, and our history of successful matches with strong professionals that we place into the companies that we work with. We really pride ourselves on find culture fits and not just technical abilities to do the job. We aim to place people with our clients that can still be there for three to five years or even longer in the future, and are promotable within their organizations. A common question we get asked is how to find great partners. What questions do you need to ask? I think you need to ask companies about their demonstrated history of placing that type of person with other companies and other clients. You want to know about their history and their track record of quality placements. Are their references checkable with those companies and clients? You want to know if they have a good track record of quality placements. Take it a step further and ask how long they have been with those companies. Do they have repeat customers, where they're building deep partnerships that last for several years in a row? Are they working directly with hiring authorities and have collaborative relationships with talent acquisition (as well as the IT department in our case)? Or are they just working with HR? Do they do retained and financially committed searches, or are they only a contingency search firm — which oftentimes means they're just one of many firms working on the same exact search. Hopefully, these are some helpful questions for you to ask to help you determine if you have real confidence in the partner you're going to select and work with in the marketplace. The final tidbit of advice I would give you is to remember that after they get to know you and your company, ask them to present your opportunity back to you. You want to hear how they sound and how the message is put together. They're going to be your brand ambassador in the marketplace, and if you don't know how they sound and how they pitch your opportunity in the market, I think it's a huge mistake. If you have any more questions for me, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I hope to hear from you soon!