For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, FOT’s own Jennifer McClure was featured on Bill Vick’s xtremerecruiting.tv. Click here to see Jennifer’s interview, which features a cat who’s run amok and sunshine that looks like JM is doing the interview from her summer home on Mercury. Good stuff, regardless of the sunshine and feline complications.
While you’re at it, click on the interview with Harry Joiner as well, because both interviews play into the
topic of this post.
Should recruiters be open to putting themselves out of business by networking others?
-Jennifer is an uber networker in my eyes. She spends a lot of time networking folks, especially in her home town of Cincinnati. The process of connecting others is not something that all recruiters do, as most folks are content to connect with candidates, then position themselves as the gatekeeper that’s necessary to find talent.
-Harry’s a recruiter with a deep domain focus in eCommerce. During his interview with Bill Vick, Harry mentioned that he’s started a LinkedIn group so his rockstar candidates can talk to each other.
All of which begs this question in my mind – is it a good idea for recruiters to facilitate networking within the talent pool they’re connected to and will rely on for revenue? Many would say no, and more importantly, I don’t think you see a lot of this in the marketplace. Lots of paranoia, at times probably well-placed. After all, what’s to stop the rockstars from calling each other directly rather than calling the recruiter?
Still, my take is that the fact that this approach is different is why the marketplace will reward it. Networking candidate targets within the industry you serve has the "pay it forward" feel, and I think the marketplace will reward what feels like authenticity.
Of course, if the rest of the world started to do it, it wouldn’t have as much value. But I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
paying it forward is probably a bit easier for a corporate recruiter within his/her industry. i do it within my space and really, it’s lovely to be able to be on friendly terms with other recruiters in the biz when i see them at industry events or other places – and no one likes a hoarder.
i dunno if i’m too naive in thinking what goes around comes around… but i really feel like if you scratch my back, i’ll scratch yours. and ya know, i think it says a lot to a candidate when you are able to and willing to send them a different direction if you don’t quite have the right fit, or you know it’s never going to work but think they have potential.
perhaps it depends on whether you’re in-house or not? because if revenue were on the line… just ‘sayin…
For me, it just sounds so self-serving to think that a recruiter could connect with a talented person who could benefit from meeting someone else they know, and they wouldn’t introduce them because they might lose out on a placement fee. I guess I get that – and I don’t. Certainly, I don’t always get a placement fee when I provide some beneficial contacts to one of my relationships and they eventually wind up getting a job out of the connection. (It’s happened – and one time for a position that would likely have been a 6 figure fee.) However, the result is that these individuals know that I want to help them be successful, and they in turn want to help me. When they land, most want to “pay it back” in some way. I’m currently working with one recruiting client and one coaching client that were both referrals from individuals that I helped in this way. I’d rather have that kind of business any day – versus a stable full of “super-stars” that I try to protect and keep all for myself.
Note to self… Put the cats away next time a video interview is going on. They don’t understand why they aren’t allowed to be a part of the fun. Also, do any interviews at night – or move to a planet farther away from the sun!