Good Recruiters Recruit - Better Than Great Recruiters Prepare Candidates

Even with Research, Recruiting, Sourcing, Networking, Identifying Passive Candidates and Evaluation - It All Can Be For Naught..

No Matter What the Scenario, Recruiters Need to Prepare their Candidates for the Interview Process.

Identifying passive candidates, sourcing, networking, recruiting, evaluating and presenting with knowledge are things  great recruiters can do in their sleep - but preparing a candidate for the recruiting process can be a whole different story.

As I have stated over and over again; good recruiters fill the pipeline of candidates with ease but the job really doesn't stop there.  As a passionate professional in recruiting and passive executive research, I cannot stress enough the importance of preparing a candidate for the interview process.

You would think that when you are recruiting best-of-breed talent you wouldn't have to prepare them for the interview process - right?  Well, let me tell you, beyond contrary belief this is not the case.  Believe it or not it isn't a fact that every candidate we find knows how to interview or prepare for the process.  All your hard work can be gone in a moment if your candidate walks into the interview with an outfit only fit to be worn by Lady Gaga herself.   Although she is an incredibly talented artist and fashion guru, wish I had half of what she has, her attire wouldn't quite be the fit for most of corporate America.  Having said this, my disclaimer to my fellow recruiting professionals is to prepare your candidates (whether you think they need it or not) with any and all the information you have regarding things such as company culture and what is expected of potential employees.  This is part of the process that is most often neglected or we just assume candidates know on their own.  Perhaps they do but why leave it up to chance.

Tips for preparing candidates for the interview.

1. Discuss the value of dressing for success.   This has been known to be a very sensitive subject with candidates - so tread lightly and use those personal skills you have developed throughout your years of recruiting.

2. Educate the candidate, discuss the corporate culture, the company,  the process, the biography of the hiring manager and why the position is open.

3. Explain the role and what is expected (an insider knowledge is always good).

4. Discuss with them potential questions to ask regarding the position.

5. Help them sell themselves.   Provide them with hot buttons that are relevant to the hiring managers expectations.

6. Advise them to be honest about their experiences and what they are interested in doing short and long-term.

7. Be sure to tell them to follow-up with a thank you to all they interviewed with.

These are just a few very basic things that I have seen get overlooked by recruiters because they are under the assumption everyone knows how to interview.  The fact is, professionals who have been in a particular position for any lengthy time period has more than likely no idea what is expected of them in today's interviewing environment.

Recruiters, yes you are trained on how to recruit.   But success also rests on completing and filling the assignment. I believe that preparing candidates for the interview is an important part of the process as you continue finding, recruiting, networking, sourcing the best of breed talent for your clients each and every time.

Enjoy the holiday weekend and thanks for visiting us at http://www.sgatalent.com

Additional Expert Advice:

http://www.money-zine.com/   Preparing For The Job Interview

Ten Tips on Preparing For a Job Interview

Recruiting Women In Technology SGA's 2011 Study Sneak Peek Preview

Since 1993 we have been specializing in recruiting and conducting passive executive research in the I/T World

The fact is that there are still fewer Women than men In Technology to Recruit!

Our results for just the Fortune 100 are in.  For 2011 there are 17% Women In Technology Leaders in comparison to 15% in 2004 and 12% in 2007. Finding top notch women in technology is becoming less difficult, there are just fewer out there.   No wonder why women in technology continue to encourage young women in high school and college to major in technology. These professionals are mentors and active in multiple related associations and organizations.   As most technology recruiters are aware, recruiting technology professionals can be challenging within itself and women in this space are considered "a hot commodity".

For the next few weeks my staff and I will begin to once again analyze women in technology and release our findings to all of you and the world.  FYI it consists of 1000 Companies.  Stay tuned for the results of SGA's Women in Technology Study.  This particular study is so much fun!

The 17 We have identified from The Fortune 100

1. Charlene Begley President and CEO of GE Home & Business Solutions and Senior Vice President and CIO for GE

2. Linda Sanford, Senior VP, Enterprise on Demand Transformation & Information Technology, IBM

3. Patricia Morrison EVP & CIO - Cardinal Health, Inc.

4. Beth M. Jacob, Executive Vice President, Target Technology Services and Chief Information Officer

5. Kim Hammonds, Chief information Officer of The Boeing Company

6. Nancy Davis, Vice President and Chief Information Officer UTC

7. Maria R. Morris,Executive Vice President, Technology & Operations MetLife, Inc.

8. Linda Gooden is Executive Vice President of Lockheed Martin’s  (IS&GS)

9. Diane M. Bryant,Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Intel

10. Rebecca Jacoby Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Cisco

11. Barbara G. Koster Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Prudential Financial

12. Susan O'Day, Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer The Walt Disney Company

13. Twila M. Day, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at SYSCO Corporation

14. Eileen Slevin, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, New York Life

15. Linda A. Mills Corporate Vice President and President of Northrop Grumman’s Information Systems

16. Theresa Wise  Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Delta Air Lines

17. Noel Brown Williams Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer HCA Information Technology & Services

This is it for now, but stay tuned..

If you are interested in this full list feel free to contact me at sgreco@sheilagreco.com.

Thank you for visiting  www.sgatalent.com

World Class Recruiting

Recruiting Top Talent and Creating World Class Recruiting Organizations Were The Common Threads in SMA's Event This Year.

The day began early as usual, with a gracious opening from Chloe Rada.  The day went by quickly as the speaker line up had many top-notch Industry Thought Leaders, Talent Acquisition & Sourcing Experts.  The Keynote was Andres Tapia, who provided us with compelling insights and practical information on why recruiting and retaining diverse talent is a business imperative for any organization.  Among the speakers, as always a crowd favorite Gerry Crispin who was a great moderator with a five star panel of experts such as Annie Chae, Chris Gould and Tito Magobet.  This session proved to be very informative.  Each speaking openly about their background's,  experiences and shared with us a few of their successes. I am sure everyone learned something from this session.

What a great day for LinkedIn!  The company went public, how exciting for many. Another great panel joined Kevin Krantz, Enterprise Relationship Manager, LinkedIn and discussed the many uses of LinkedIn as a tool for recruiters.  The panel consisted of Suzi Edwards, Diane Hughes and Michele Portfilio.  The day ended with a session on Recruiting Metrics, nicely presented by Steve Lowisz.

This powerful professional community was warm, and friendly, often sharing their own experiences with each other during  sessions, in private and during the event's breaks.  The evening cocktail party  sponsored by us, Sheila Greco Associates was very joyous one.  The room was filled with laughter, buzz around the topics discussed and it was quite obvious people really enjoyed being there and with each other.  This Chicago SHRM is one of a kind we really enjoyed it since it gave us a chance to reconnect with clients, friends, and develop new relationships with future clients.

Again we want to thank Michele and Chloe for giving us the opportunity to be part of this event.  We were a proud sponsor and look  forward to being part of this community.

If you work in Human Resources, Recruiting, Talent Acquisition, and/or Executive Search in the Chicago area you need to be part of the SMA of Greater Chicago organization.

Executive Recruiting Trends

The Importance of Human Touch and Pipeline Development are Center Stage for 2011's Executive Recruiting Trends

The Top 5  SGA has Heard Lately………

#1 In-sourcing vs. RPO:

This trend is toward selective, not full, recruitment process outsourcing. We will see outsourcing occur more often in the recruitment of high-volume, repetitive roles, and for the function of candidate sourcing only. There will be more RPO growth in the U.S. than Canada; more Canadian markets are focused on building internally. More executive recruitment functions are moving in-house, which is reflective of a growing transparency in the market. Increasingly, candidates can go online and see for themselves who holds which recruiting or leadership positions at a company, for example, rather than being forced to stay in the dark or play the guessing game to get in contact with the correct person.

#2 Talent Pipelining:

The importance of building a talent pipeline, as it helps employers get more return out of their recruitment efforts using the fewest resources, build a stronger employment brand, and create better relationships with candidates. Talent pipelining needs to be built into the recruitment process for key roles, as the push of relevant content and information to “nurtured” candidates helps build a company’s employment brand and increase passive candidates’ engagement and trust.

#3 Human Touch is Needed:

A poor or lengthy recruiting process can really hurt your organization’s chances of bringing the best talent onto your team. Just as candidates must sell themselves to you, you must sell your company to candidates. What’s your employment value proposition; how are you attracting, engaging, and retaining quality talent?

Begin to create a more candidate-centric recruitment process by adding more of a “human touch” to your process. Communicate with candidates when at all possible, and let them know where they stand as the process moves from phase to phase.  View all candidates as a customer or potential future customer, client or employee.

#4 Social Media for Recruitment:

Social media: It can be really overwhelming. Most of us are familiar with the major social media platforms — and they are playing an increasing role in recruitment as companies realize they must diversify their recruitment efforts to stay on top. Mobile technology is emerging as a recruitment channel, as companies are also realizing the power of texting and mobile apps for recruitment. Even location-based social networking sites like Foursquare have growing possibilities for businesses and recruitment. Tablets like the iPad are also becoming more popular for work use as these devices increase the business applications offered, and companies are beginning to examine the power of tablet applications to help strengthen their employment brand and company profile.

Video interviewing is a trend that more and more businesses (and candidates) are starting to pick up on, and platforms like Skype, the largest network on the Internet, are also becoming more popular for use in interviews or for virtual meetings.

Using these mediums can be powerful — but the content you put out and the messages you are sending to candidates and employees must be relevant.

#5 The Demand for Experienced Recruiters:

Recruiters today are being asked to do more with less, making it increasingly difficult for them to be successful. The demand for experienced recruiters is high — and the recruiter of yesterday has changed to reflect a demand for those who have an in-depth knowledge of the company for which they’re recruiting.

What are you hearing?

Presenting Passive Candidates With Knowledge

Successful Recruiters Are Knowledgeable Ones!

Having Knowledge about The Candidates & The Potential Target Universe Makes You The Expert!

Chapter 5

Presenting With Knowledge. It says it all. You are totally aware of the potential talent pool! You sourced, networked, recruited and can say with confidence to your clients, we recruited the best from the companies you wanted! As you present the candidates you present the knowledge you gained during the recruiting process. You share with your clients the passive candidate research, organization charts, the top 7 and the 3-5 you believe are the best. Having the knowledge allows you, the recruiter to show that you listened and you are the expert.

Happy Hunting!

The Art Of Listening & Learning!

The Art of The Conversation!

Do We Really Listen & Learn When We Converse!

You need to.  In Chapter 4 we take you through the Evaluation & Selection process.  As we begin to make decisions as to who the "A" Players are, conduct deeper dive interviews, have the candidates tell us why they should be considered, it is also important to compare and contrast the potential candidates to each other.  The only way we can do this well is to really understand who the candidates are and how they will not only perform in the role but how they will do as a whole within the organization, with the team and will it be a win-win situation for all involved.  I cannot emphasis enough how important it is to listen to what the candidates are saying. Conversations will take you back to college, learn about where they grew up, why they went to a certain college, chose the career they did, and the moves they made in their career. Then you talk to them about their own long and short term strategies, where they see themselves in five years, seven and ten years in the future. Learn about what they do when they are not working. What are their hobbies and interests just to name a few. As you are doing this you need to listen, digest, understand and learn about each  candidate. This in turn will help you the recruiter to make the tough choices as to who you will be filling the pipeline with.

Have fun and learn, listen, evaluate and select!

Recruit! Go After The Ones You Want!

Be Proactive!

The Art of The Conversation!

Chapter 3, The Recruiting Campaign.

The Passive Candidate Research created the list, presented the recruiter with the lay of the land by showing WHO is at the right level, company and just awaiting our network and recruiting call. Begin to Network, Network, Network!!! It does get you many potential candidates to review, compare and contrast! So take advantage by calling, texting, emailing, talent your client wants, not the ones who are actively looking! I am not saying to dismiss the active candidates, I am saying that to proactively go after the passive ones! As we make a way through the list, we cannot forget to use such tools as SGA ExecutiveTracker; Linked In & SGA Live.

The recruiting campaign ultimately provides us the pipeline of candidates we will be presenting during the life cycle of the search. So you need to be giving it 100%.

Happy Hunting!

Intelligence is Everything....

Hiring Intelligently is the Only Way to Hire.

Being aware of the potential talent pool is critical to your success.

How do you know you recruited the best just because you made the hire?  Well, the truth is you don't.   You need the intelligence to be sure you did.  You do this by being totally aware of the potential talent universe.  You need to have the "inside view" of the talent pool of the professionals on your target list.

Time and time again we have proven there are significant benefits of knowing where to find the best talent, who they are and how to obtain access to them.  This is all available by using passive candidate research when you recruit.  This is done by building organization charts centered around the talent you are seeking.  This process does not necessarily need to be expensive but any cost involved is well worth it.

Successful companies have the intelligence on their competitors, back yard warriors, best of breed companies and the talent within each.

In order to be competitive you need to have the best talent.  Today a company's best asset and competitive edge is its people.   Having said that, when you are recruiting and/or looking to upgrade internal talent, become aware of whom the best players really are.

Follow my SGA Playbook and come back daily for information regarding recruiting the best with knowledge and intelligence.

Monday - Chapter 1 Who

Tuesday Chapter 2 Recruiting & Research Strategy

Wednesday Chapter 3 Recruiting Campaign

Thursday Chapter 4 Evaluation & Selection

Friday Chapter 5 Presenting With Knowledge & Intelligence

Calling, emailing, texting potential candidates

What came first the chicken or the egg! We know calling came first….but as a recruiter what do you do first? Call or email?? I prefer to email then call. How about you? But I must say finding emails and email formulas can be sometimes challenging. AND email formulas do not always work, but can be worth the try. Recruiters do agree that by using both emails and calling potential candidates as part of the recruiting process can and does result in a winning solution.

If you are looking for email formulas (again sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, but worth the try!).... search SGA ExecutiveTracker for free!!!!

It’s a little-known fact that searching for email formulas on SGA ExecutiveTracker is entirely free!

http://www.sgatrackerax.com/ETAX/ (S(5efiz545c10b2abij1eqh545))/UserLogin.aspx

If you see a company we don't have a formula for and you do, please forward it on to us and we will test it and post it when it works!!! Call me or email me privately if you wish at 518 843-4611 ext 221 or sgreco@sheila greco.com

So do you like to call first or email first. Love to learn about what you do and why!!!

PODCAST - A Candid Conversation with Recruiting Industry Veteran, Sheila Greco

It's no secret that our clients and colleagues in the recruiting industry are getting hammered in the current recession. In December, Heidrick & Struggles announced plans to cut its workforce by 15 percent. The job boards are getting hit, too. ERE reported CareerBuilder had terminated about 15 percent of its 2,100 person workforce in December. Other job boards also recently reported staff reductions. Sheila was interviewed today, listen to her Inside Recruiting podcast Interview on Total Picture Radio, with Peter Clayton reporting.