Managing a successful search assignment as a Third Party Recruiter (hint – if you treat your internal recruiting role as a business, these apply to you as well) has many components that all lead to the same finish line. Right? Well… let’s walk through it for a moment – shall we?
1. First, there is the ever important search acquisition/business development and
agreement execution process. It wouldn’t be prudent to get started without an agreement that clearly outlines the business terms of each search assignment.
2. Don’t forget the position profile and detailed job description with your client’s buy-in and sign-off.
3. Then, once we know the type of person we are searching for – it’s on to research, profiling and company and candidate sourcing. That can take a while depending on the complexity of the search and the ideal candidate profile.
4. Once we have our target list of (who knows how many) names, we can begin our networking – it’s time to have (MANY) conversations with many candidates, candidate sources, the rare (did I mention really rare) low hanging fruit that might have a lead or two.
5. Then, it’s time for phone screens and interviews for days or weeks depending on the search and then it’s (GUESS WHAT?) time for more calls and more screens and yes…more initial interviews.
Whew!!! Obviously, you want to do extremely well in each phase of the search assignment – but remember….our currency is human capital, RIGHT? At the end of the day – the main ingredient to success is not hidden in some secret sauce that the large firms profess to have. Many think it could be the brand equity they have in the shingle that hangs outside their door. Maybe it’s the letterhead they use, their practice brochure, the high-end dinners they buy or the $1K suits their consultants wear?
Here’s the scoop….What makes them different and will make YOU different is your ability to control the entire process – and I mean “flawlessly” – end to end. Managing your client and candidates through multiple weeks (and months) of on-going conference calls and in-person meetings is NOT a lay-up.
Far from it. It’s juggling with chainsaws…
It takes special skill to be able to control and know every detail of the search and it is essential that you learn to sweat the small stuff. So…. do your best to get better at writing a solid search agreement that’s fair for both parties, have the know-how to write killer position profiles, become proficient at candidate profiling and sourcing, and you must resolve to always improve your interviewing skills every time you meet with a candidate and a client. THE real key to all of this is (drum roll please…) becoming excellent at managing the entire search process. Once you do that, you will be forced to improve in all areas of search. Become a “Master” at managing the entire search process and you”ll have the recipe to the secret sauce!
Tim Tolan is a partner at Sanford Rose Associates and specializes in Executive Search in Healthcare IT. He’s a closer, and you really don’t want to call him unless you’re ready to bring out the bazooka to bag some big game. When I started Fistful, I checked four references on Tim – his wife, his kids, his pastor and a client. The references were great, even if it sounded like they were reading from a sheet of paper. I just chalked that up to them being “detail oriented” in their feedback….