Recruiters’ Secrets

The company you work for has a website. Even if it doesn’t have any bells and whistles, it’s an online calling card: a business card with a mission statement and contact details.

Recruitment consultants change jobs regularly. You’re unlikely to stay with one company for your entire career. You need your own online calling card.

You’ve got a CV, and you’ve got a LinkedIn profile. Your LinkedIn profile will give you some visibility.

But you really, really want to own your own domain name.

Personally, I don’t run this website as a vanity tool, I run it as a professional tool. Googling “recruitment brussels” gets you here within two clicks.

How much is your own online presence worth? If it wins you business or gets you a job, it has to be worth thousands.

If you’re ever toying with starting out on your own, it’s almost indispensable.

Setting up your own website can be daunting. If you don’t know where to start, my web-friend and general genius Johnny B Truant (yes, really) will set you up for a one-off fee of $39.

You’ll be responsible for the hosting fees (about 10 dollars a month in my case, less than two drinks), but he’ll have you hitting the ground running, with your own website/blog and hosting and a bit more, within a couple of days max.

If you can send an email, or muck around with a Word document, you can manage your own website. And you’re likely to be wealthier and more visible as a direct result.

$39 is the kind of money that you drop on a round of drinks, if you’re like any all of the recruiters I know. By getting your own web-presence NOW, you’re setting yourself up for future opportunities, starting tomorrow.

Click here to get started, and you’ll have your own website within a few days.

Even if you’ve got nothing to say today, you can start to drive business your way by virtue of sticking your contact details online.

“Thinkers think and doers do”, and if you’ve been thinking about getting a web-presence, which you probably have, now is not a bad time to get doing.

(Incidentally, if you’re not a recruiter, but a nurse, or a DJ, or a part-time poet, or an aspiring astronaut, you could do a lot worse than take advantage of this as well.)

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Gavin Ingham, sales trainer extraordinaire and trainer of thousands of recruitment consultants, is running a “Selling in a Recession” newsletter.

You’d be well-advised to swing over and sign up.

The Talent Buzz has an excellent article on why we should concentrate on our core recruiting skills (picking up the telephone, getting business) and not be blinded by the social media wizardry of Facebook, Twitter et al

After spending a few years in my first recruiting role I saw many peers come and go. It was very obvious why certain people were able to weather the economic storm and continue to have success. They knew how to make phone calls and were not afraid to do it. They could cold call, find a name and a title on LinkedIn and start dialing, or network until blue in the face. The fact is, these people stuck to their proven relationship-based techniques, and used new technology as a supplement. It was amazing to watch, and inspiring to witness.

And how many real recruiters can say that day in, day out, they pick up the phone and bang away at their aim - to convert calls to meetings, meetings to requirements, and requirements to placements?

The whole article on Old School Techniques is available here.

“Coldcalling is not easy” is something I hear every day. “I hate cold-calling” or “cold calling sucks” I hear every other day.

But it can also be fun, and if you’re a recruitment consultant who’s on the phone all day long, you’d do well to remember these points:

People buy off people they like - therefore sound likeable, which means sound happy, which means smile.

Energy is infectious. If you sound miserable, you’re going to be inviting your prospect to feel miserable. If you’ve got energy in your voice, that will be transmitted down the phone line and your client will respond with energy. Don’t believe me? Try whispering to the person next to you. I bet they whisper back!

Energy is easy to create. Just stand up!

Set yourself reasonable targets. If you need to make ten calls, make sure that when you’ve made them you reward yourself with a coffee, a chat with a friend or a cigarette break!

Put yourself out of your comfort zone every day. Ask a question you normally hate to ask - be more straightforward! You will become a better recruiter for it!

Recruitment news:

• Jihadist recruitment techniques are changing
• Police launch recruitment drive for gamekeepers
• Some advice on recruiting flight attendants
• And how to write a cover letter that gets read

Opening a cold call is always the most crucial and often the most difficult part. You have only a few seconds to make your first impression, and your first impression is the only impression you get to make in 99% of cases.

Matthew Kimberley, director of Target Recruitment in Belgium, has three examples on his website:

Cold calling opening lines
More cold calling opening lines

Although simple, trying a variation of a few of these lines could be the difference between making that vital impression, and making no impression at all.

Guest post by Edwin Abl

In order for someone to be good as a recruitment consultant they require a blend of several types of skills, without these the role can be very demoralising and unsuccessful.

It is not hard to land yourself a role in recruitment, after all recruitment is a sales role and therefore does not necessarily require a strong academic background. But for many being a good recruitment consultant is incredibly difficult - so I will try to explain why it is so difficult and how you can position yourself to be the best possible success you can be. Remember as with any other sales positions the 80/20 role generally applies. So 80% commission will be earned by 20% of the sales team, if you want to be part of that 20% then read on and hopefully you can fine tune your recruitment skills.

read more…

How to be a recruitment consultant: various takes from various sources

The role is very people interfacing. On a day to day basis you will research markets, contact business to develop business, arrange meetings and use various search tools to identify suitable candidates.

- from Gemma Lavers at the Matchtech Group

8.40 - 10am Try to avoid everyone, by staying in the toilet or making coffee. Sometimes I’ll sit at my desk and look busy. Try frowning a lot at your screen, lots of big sighs help too.

- from Rich Wooten at No Plan B, via JobSeekers Advice

Arrive at the office, review today’s to do list, prioritise key tasks and update candidate availability in anticipation of today’s vacancies.

- from Australian Recruiting Pty Ltd

In the fast-paced world of recruitment, it is not unusual for Robert to sometimes work a 50-hour week. “It is up to the individual and how much you want to get on as there are high rewards for hard work”, he says. It is very rare these days that there are quiet times in recruitment

- from Robert Part at Richmond Recruitment, via IrishJobs.ie

Commission schemes vary from company to company but on target earnings at the end of your first year should be around £30k which will accelerate as your career develops.

- from John Brown, Recruitment Consultant at CBSButler

I have been with the company for 8 months and during that time I have hit my first car target and now have a brand new Polo Sport. I have won rookie of the month. I have been on an all expenses paid trip to New York with my team and I have won £100 Harvey Nichols vouchers and have been on two lunch clubs.

- from the University of Manchester’s StudentNet

Your day is always busy and will include writing advertisements, reading resumes, screening candidates, business developing and networking, client visits, matching candidates to employment opportunities, coaching candidates, arranging and following up on interviews, staying abreast of industry news and facing all unforeseen events head on and in a positive manner.

- from Foxwell Recruitment, The Foxwell Blog

1. They phone you up saying that they have several jobs that you are suitable for. They need you, however, first to supply them with references. Is this true? No, it isn’t. They do not have any jobs for you. They are just trying to find out people who take on contractors and want to know the names and phone numbers of your old bosses.

Original source - Contractor UK

Cold calling is not dead.

Many recruitment companies still use cold calling as a highly effective way to communicate with their clients and prospects. Cold calling is difficult to do well and it’s pretty easy for any recruitment consultant to learn to *hate* to make the call.

The reality of cold calling is that it allows the caller to connect with more potential clients in shorter meetings over the phone. Selling has long been a numbers game, and cold calling is the most effective way to achieve those numbers. The key variable that most salespeople miss in their cold calls is quality.

The most important moment of any telephone based sale is in the first 20 seconds.

read more…