I’m going to RecruitFest in September and like I always do, I began researching ways to make it cheaper, faster etc. While I was calling people I had never met and cashing in miles, a friend asked me, “Why are you doing all that? You can afford this.”
Bam. I was taken aback. She was right. I could. I can. So, what’s with all the string pulling? The miserly
penny pinching?
HERE’S WHAT. I work doggone hard for the money I make. For every big money hire I get, there’s a tiny voice in my head that remembers the late nights, the long searches, the endless networking (in heels). So, when you do the math, it works out to a completely fair living.
Second, I was 20 when Jeremy and I got married. We were poor, I mean dirt poor, paying off college loans for two, plus two babies in as many years. Poor. You get it. But I wanted a beautiful home. So, I painted and upholstered and ripped up carpet and bought stuff at thrift stores. . . Until someone came into my home where not a single stick of brand new furniture existed and offered me a job at an interior design firm.
That’s when it clicked. If you can’t do it with rudimentary tools, you can’t do it at all. I have very little respect for people who HAVE to have this ATS or that Widget or this Search Software to make their jobs easier. I’m all about free, which is a great quality for a search firm. It exposes me to great tools like this job portal and this tracking software and great, FREE networking events like BarCamps and TweetUps and PR tools like HARO and this.
So, I harumphed at my friend and went back to looking for someone to room with and checking on the very lowest prices, because it’s about being the best, doing the very most with the very least. It’s about showing up when no one thought you could. And I think, the second I lose that edge and start to posture like I deserve those big fat fees? Clients will see straight through me. They won’t see a fantastic recruiter with a natural gift for search. They’ll see a bloated machine propped up by expensive systems and fancy tools.
If you can be a great recruiter with a phone and a smile, do it. Because all the rest of the “stuff” will just make you even better.
(Special dedication to all the cranky pants who were fussing because their gmail was down. Pick up the phone! Do your job!)
Lovely. Absolutely freaking lovely. I didn’t know it when I started out in this business, but I got lucky. The search firm that took a chance on me (CPS, Inc.) believed firmly in: smarts+phone+pen+paper=placements. Everything else is dross – great to have dross, and useful if used right, but useless if you don’t have that basic combo. We had a thermal fax(!), one computer on a side table, some job order books, and drawers full of candidate cards and blue cards. And we made 6-figure incomes. And I learned foundational habits that I’ve carried with me to this day
The greatest recruiter I have ever known (guy named John Peterson) epitomized this. A bunch of us had gone to Florida for an reward trip. While we were in the airport waiting for our flight, John grabbed a pen, some blue cards, and a job order from his bag. He ambled over to a pay phone, and started to make calls. He came back 20 minutes later with a candidate, and a send out on that candidate. No database, no search software – hell, no Internet. Just John with a smile on his face and a goal in mind.
Martin -
Sweet comment. What’s John doing now? I’d like to meet him, the mental picture of him breaking away from the group with the cards to go dig up a candidate on a pay phone is classic… CLASSIC…
Now tell me he had a jacket on like Matt Foley in the clip above with a polo underneath. That would make me use ZoomInfo to track him down and invite him to lunch…
KD
Martin, there were so many things to love about your comment but I like “absolutely freaking lovely” the best. A girl only hears that so many times! Thanks for the great real-life example
Cool post – I’m with you 110% that everything always goes back to the fundamentals.
You have to admit the funny here, though: Guess what is sold at all the conferences???
“This ATS or that Widget or this Search Software to make their jobs easier . . . ”
Guess who sponsors the events and ‘fun’ (what used to be called “education” before conferences starting taking on new names, like Carnivals, Shin-digs, etc.)?:
Those very technology vendors! You know the ones – they are in the marketing brochures, have huge banners, get referenced at the beginning and end of the conference as platinum sponsors, etc.
Their goal is for us to show up as robotic purchasers with our credit card in hand . . . and they pay a pretty penny for the intoxicating lure of such an atmosphere. Frankly, I don’t blame them
Perhaps this is the dichotomy of recruiting conferences: Some people are there to learn, some just to network and hang out, etc. . . . but the vendors are always there to sell and achieve ROI on their trade-show/conference investment.
There were so many things to love about your comment but I like “absolutely freaking lovely” the best. A girl only hears that so many times! Thanks for the great real-life example
Not everyone like free, some people will pay for an advantage and those people are looking at Applicant Tracking Software that is affordable and easy-to-use. Even those looking for Online Employment Applications are finding them easy to use and worth the money.