The Recruiting Blog | People First Recruiting

You’ve no doubt read, heard and been told over and over again to personalize any network invites you send to people on LinkedIn.  I know I am one of the choir members preaching this to anyone who is willing to listen.  When we train new employees this is one of the first things we say when it comes to LinkedIn; personalize your invites.

Why?

A couple reasons:

1. It’s nice and thoughtful.  And what did our parents teach us about being thoughtful?  That it makes the other person, the person on the receiving end, feel good.  And don’t we like to make others feel good?
2. You stand out from the crowd.   I receive invites on a daily basis, 90% of them are always the default invite.  Believe me when I say, those who personalize an invite have my attention. 

In fact, they have my attention so much so that the reason I am writing this blog post is because of a great invite I got this week.  This unique and thoughtful invite stood out from all the others and affected me like a morning cup of coffee – perked me right up.  This invite told me this person took the time to read about me and what I do.  It told me that this individual had attention for detail as he listed a couple things in my profile that were relevant to him and his background as well as a few things we had in common.  Yes, this person had my attention and I wanted to know more about him.  Immediately I went to his profile, forget those other invites for now.  What I saw on his profile was a thoughtful and experienced individual, someone that very clearly has put in a lot of time and care to his LinkedIn profile, to his career.  I noted, with excitement, his senior leadership experience.  As I am always connecting with Executives across Canada (due to my work in Executive Search) I knew that somewhere down the road this person could potentially be a candidate or a client or maybe a great help – who knows?  The bottom line is that I will remember his name and his background just from this simple personalized invite.  Already his first impression is one of care and thoughtfulness.  If he puts this much energy into an invite, how much energy does he put into his career?  His business?  His employees? 

So what do I mean when I say personalize?  I mean, don't use the default one LinkedIn gives you.  Would you just walk up to someone at a networking event and say "Hi there, I'd like to meet you and have you in my network." and then shake hands and leave?  No, probably not.

“I use their name in the invite, isn’t that enough?” 

No, a name alone doesn’t make the note personalized (though you should definitely be using their name in it, always use their name).  Let me ask you; what do you know about this individual other than their name?  Did you really read through their profile?  Get a sense of what this person does?  Who they are?  What they are passionate about?  Before I send out any invite, I make it a rule to read their profile first and then send my invite.  I comment on at least one thing that jumps out at me from their profile – why I was compelled to send them an invite in the first place.

“Okay, so what should I say?”

That’s up to you.  Why do you want to connect with them?  Is it because of their background?  Because they might be a thought leader in your area of business?  Are you following their blog because you enjoy their posts and saw they were on LinkedIn?  Be honest.  Take the time to tell that person WHY you want to connect.  If it is just to grow your network then say that too, but still give a reason why you want them as part of your network.  Something in their profile must have caught your eye – why else would you want to connect with them? 

So, to the candidates out there who are on the job search – when sending out your invites to recruiters or hiring managers, personalize your invite.  Make it about the person you are sending the invite to – I guarantee, they will take note and the chances of your invite being accepted are much higher.

To the Recruiters who are sending invites to candidates.  Make it about the candidate and not about what they can do for you.  In fact, try sending invites to potential candidates before you ever even need to recruit them.  Just connecting and learning about others in the business community should be enough of a reason to send out those invites.

Happy networking all, and feel free to send me a LinkedIn invite.  You know what to do.

~Annette Kohut, Executive Search Associate

A colleague of mine tweeted this article yesterday: “Recruiters: Your Days are Numbered” and when I read it my first inclination was to re-tweet it.  The only problem was that I was limited by the number of characters and I wouldn’t be able to clearly express how I felt about this article concerning the “future of Recruiters.”

I know why she tweeted it.  She was equally disturbed by the fact that a blog could be written about a career she so passionately and firmly believes in and that the success of an entire profession which is built around people (and the relationships you develop with these people) can be thought to be replaced by technology.

So often you read, regardless of the position or industry, that eventually a company or a function will no longer be relevant because technology will replace it.  Don’t get me wrong; we here at People First Recruiting completely support and embrace technology – in fact I love it and would like to have more of it.  What was shocking to me about this article is how recruiting can be boiled down to “3 critical ingredients” - sourcing, screening and verifying.

Boy, if only it were that simple. 

Any recruiter, one paid by a company like us here at People First Recruiting or one who works internally for a company, knows that recruiting is just not that simple – an industry focused on people never is. 

What’s interesting about this article is that it refers to technologies that only cover a small piece of the world of recruiting.  Recruiting isn’t just about finding 'key words' that match a job profile – it is about finding the right person for the role.  Sure, technology can run 24/7 - sweeping LinkedIn and/or the online world to hone in on the right keywords – but can technology then call that person up? Talk to them? Get a sense of whether or not they are truly happy doing what they are doing?   Analyze the actual fit between employer and employee, culture and personality?  Needs versus desires?

While we do embrace technology and look at technology as a partner in our business to help round out our skills, we still ensure we invest in our people.  An example is adding and training people to join our Talent Discovery Group; individuals who everyday utilize research techniques, social channels, and networks.  They turn to their existing relationships to reach out and engage with potential candidates to inform them of some of the incredible opportunities we have with Canadian businesses. 

When our clients come to us they need 3 things:

• find me the best candidate
• within a reasonable amount of time
• for a fair fee

Never do they ask what specific technological tools we used to find that person.  Instead they ask us how we will go about our search.  Where will we focus?  Have we filled a position like this before?  Do we understand the role we are filling on their behalf?  Once they are satisfied we then use a proven methodology and approach to finding them candidates.  The next questions our clients ask us are: What is our screening process?  Do we know how to interview for these roles?  How do we assess candidates?  And so on.

The point I am trying to make is that leaders of companies are not looking for a person to just fill a role, they want the whole package.  They want to partner with experts who use the best processes to find the right candidates; experts with the strongest experience and knowledge to assess the fit and qualifications of candidates.  Companies want to be assured that the person we find for them will be that right fit so that they can retain that individual and remain free to focus on their business.

If you are a Recruiter right now and you believe your job is to simply source, screen and verify then you are missing out on what is the most fulfilling and rewarding part of your job as a Recruiter.  We have the privilege of meeting new people who are making important career decisions every day.  We get to learn about great companies and meet great leaders and then we get to bring the two of them together in what is hopefully a perfect match.  That cohesion is what gets us excited around here.

In an industry that is all about people, technology can never be, and will never be an aspect that will replace the human touch.

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If you haven't figured it out, I am pretty passionate about recruiting, as is the team that I work with.  Because we love what we do and because we are growing - we are looking for more Recruiters to join our team here in Winnipeg.  Never considered recruiting before?  Take a look at our 10 Reasons You May be a Recruiter...and not even know it.  If you identify with these 10 reasons...drop us a line.

~Karin Pooley

We Recruiters really want to know one thing when it comes to candidates: “Are you the ideal candidate for our client?”  However the answer isn’t a simple yes or no as there are many layers that Recruiters consider.

• Do you have the right skill set and education that is necessary for the role?
• Do you come from a similar industry to that of our client?
• What type of environment are you going to thrive in? (After all, we do want you to succeed!)
• Are you motivated for a new career for the right reasons?  (Hint: money shouldn’t be the first one because it takes more than money to support your success).
• And finally, are you excited about the opportunity?

Why do you need to consider these questions?  Because it will save you and your Recruiter a whole lot of time and energy.  You are the only one who knows yourself well enough to know whether an opportunity is the right one for you.  Is it in an industry you love or always wanted to try and work in?  Is it a role that intrigues you, excites you and captivates you?  Is it with a company that you admire or that you heard has an excellent culture? 

It is one thing to hear us out about the newest Marketing Manager role or that sought after Web Developer position, but it’s an entirely different thing to be honest about whether or not you truly have the skills (and desire) to knock it out of the park.  This is probably the biggest frustration for us Recruiters; candidates applying for a job that doesn’t match their experience or skill set in anyway.  So save you and your Recruiter time - know thyself. 

If you are on the job search and are considering working with a recruiter, download our whitepaper to get some more insight on the recruiter/candidate relationship.

A couple months ago I wrote a whitepaper called “Maximizing Your Recruiter Relationship”.  It gives companies simple tips for hiring and working with a Recruiter to ensure a successful partnership.  From a company perspective, the big question always is “what's this recruitment going to cost me?” 

Over the next few weeks I will be blogging about recruiting fees.  First up though is a summary of what you, the company, should get from the recruiting fees you are charged. 

The job posting

• A job posting is a tool to advertise the job.  There is an art to writing an effective job profile especially once you consider search optimization and key words.  A Recruiter that understands online search techniques knows how to write job profiles so your ad can be found online.  Finally a well networked Recruiter has the contacts to send the job profile to, as well as a library list of free job boards, associations and industry networks. 

Finding candidates

• Print and online advertising alone does not guarantee you results.  That is the “let’s wait and see what we get” mentality.  Sometimes timing works out perfectly though and you hire a candidate from an ad, but did you get the best candidate?  Unless you conduct a search you really don’t have the answer to that.  Recruiters go to the market and search.  They will identify companies or like companies in your industry where candidates are performing similar jobs.  They will identify competitors.  They will look for industry thought leaders. 

Interviewing

• If the Recruiter isn’t certified in Behavioural Based Interviewing at the very least most will have training.  Behavioural Interviewing is based on the theory that the best predictor of future success is past performance.  This method of interviewing allows for a more structured and fair assessment process and it takes away the “gut feeling”.  Fit is also assessed.  Recruiters interview every single day so they are quite skilled at it. 

Reference checking

• A good reference checker knows how to listen for cues, they don’t accept just any answer.  They know to probe, to ask the individual for more information to get an honest reference.  It’s amazing how many companies don’t do references before hiring an employee.  This step in itself is worth the money.

Simply put you are paying a Recruiter to find a candidate, qualify a candidate and present a short list of candidates.  Stay tuned for more blog posts on exclusive, retained, contingency searches, guarantees, refunds, credits and so on.