The Recruiter Campus

Recruiting Plans: The Slate is Clear, What are you Going to Do About it?

For most recruiting firm owners, 2009 sucked!  Well it's over.  Dead, buried!  The stock market opened today with an almost 2% up day on strong reports of expansion in manufacturing.  We all start at ZERO  again this week.

So what are you going to do differently?  What commitments are you prepared to make to yourself and your recruiting team this year that you will actually STICK with for the balance of the year?

Let's face it, this business can get very boring after a few years if you don't push yourself a bit.  I believe the first step is a strong vision.  You can read about how to build a strong vision here.  The second step is taking the elements of that vision and creating a plan based on strong recruiting metrics. 

What?  You don't track your numbers?  If you don't track your numbers you will NEVER have a sustainable, scalable recruiting business, you will have a recruiting practice. I can't say it any more bluntly than that.  The good news is that you can CHOOSE to start tracking numbers now.  Here's some ideas on how and why.   

This WILL Change the Way You Look at Your Recruiting Business!

Instead of my normal written article this week I am moved to do something I don't normally do.

 

Last week I held a teleseminar to help Recruiting Firm Owners get ready for 2010.  I was so overwhelmed with notes on how much the call impacted those that attended and how the information made them look at their business in ways they never had before that I decided to make the replay available at no cost to all of my readers in the spirit of the season.  No Catch!

 

In the call are 4 key strategies recruiters and owners can use to develop a plan that  WORKS for them in 2010.

 

You do not need to register.  Simply go to this link to download the call in MP3 format or to listen to it on your PC (plan on 45 minutes) on your time:

 

www.attendthisevent.com/?eventid=10120035

 

Happy Holidays!

Recruiters: How to Define Your Targets for 2010

 In my last post I explained why many recruiting plans fail.  This week I give  you a solid outline to build your plan for 2010. 
 
In the next few days I challenge you to start setting objectives for next year.  What do you want your business to look like on December 31st 2010?  What EXACTLY did you accomplish?  

Here are the recommended steps I would take right NOW:

1) Define your revenue target for 2010?  Exactly.  Don't even say one million bucks,... that tells me you didn't think it through.

Recruiting Business Plans: It's November HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 That's right, it is November and Happy New Year!  And.... Yes, I am still fully functionally mentally.
 
You see, most of you know this, but do not "own" it deep inside.  As recruiting firm owners we know that pretty much any work we do in November will lead to cash in January.  Could some slip in December?  Sure, but for all intents and purposes any NEW work you start now will be revenue in 2010.
 
OK, we all know this, but when do we do our annual recruiting business plans-if we plan at all?  My experience is that most do their planning in late December and January.  While any plan at any time is better than no plan at all, you have lost two months in 2010 of executing on a good focused plan for next year.
 
The good news in the market is most I have met at recent conferences where I have spoke as well as my coaching client base are seeing nice sustained increases in their business.  Most are crawling out of the rubble to build and/or re-build their recruiting firm.  I am telling them to start NOW!
 
I am coaching my clients to start hiring recruiters the right way with strong expectations and accountability structures.  When these are in place your new hires make placements quicker and you weed the "wannabe's" out weeks and months before they drain you of precious resources you could be using on someone else.
 
Before I give you some solid tips on building a plan, let me share with you what a plan is NOT.  A plan is NOT  polling your office for what they will "sign up for" next year. 

 

Doing a plan this way (I confess, I used to too a long time ago) takes control from you as the owner and makes it dependent on: 1) everyone being physically there at the end of the year, 2) all of them making their usually pie in the sky goals and 3) elements that you can't measure-other than pure placements-to insure execution.  

 

In my next post I will give you a solid outline to build your plan for 2010.  In the next few days I challenge you to start setting objectives for next year.  What do you want your recruiting business to look like on December 31st 2010?  What EXACTLY did you accomplish?  Have those thoughts ready for the next column.

No One Ever Remebers Who Came in Second Place!

 Who lost the Super Bowl?  Who lost the World Series last year?  You probably don't remember and at best can come up with the answer only by thinking about it.

Well, now that's me!  :-(  I attended a national coaching conference in Dallas last week and I was one of 3 finalists for "Coaching Entrepreneur of the Year".   I had a well prepared (and funny) presentation, and, well, so did the other finalists.  The competition was tough and I came in 2nd by 2 votes to an incredibly worthy individual named Kelly Thorne from http://ibloom.us/.  Kelly has built a great business at a very early age and is quite an inspiration!  She truly deserved the award.

Here's what the experience taught me.  The biggest value of the whole process was filling out the application.  It made me reflect back on my recruiting coaching practice and focus on where I have come from.  It made me focus on what I have built and the mistakes as well as the wins along the way.  It also made the "gaps" very visible as to what I needed to do to develop the business going forward.

How often do you as a recruiting firm owner refelect on where you have come from?  How often have you reflected on your mistakes, your goof ups?  My long time coach, Pat Scopelliti taught me that there is "no dishonor in failure, the only dishonor is not learning from that failure".  This lesson has made me millions over the years.

Do you tend to blame circumstances, the economy, your health, etc for what holds you back?  There is NO learning there! There is NO personal development there! 

The past is over, you can't change it... GET OVER IT! Do, however ANALYZE it.  Ask questions like "What was it in me that brought this outcome?", and/or "Knowing what I know now, what will I do in a similar situation next time?
 

Recruiters- Do You Have Trouble Planning?

One of the first challenges recruiting firm owners and recruiters bring to me as a coach is "Mike, I need help planning" and/or (read a 'whining' sound into this) "I don't plan well or at all!"

Well I have good news and bad news!  This won't be the 157th article you read on good planning, on how to devote a period of your day to map out strategically what you will do next week and tomorrow.  Don't get me wrong, I believe you need to do this, but just between you and me-- please keep this a secret-- I was HORRIBLE at it!  That doesn't mean I didn't plan, but putting together lists, filling in forms made me want to stick needles in my eyes!!

Here is what it took me over 10 years to learn.  Most likely poor planning is a result of the recruiter or recruiting firm owner having a very weak short and long term vision for their business.  You see, "making a lot of money" is NOT a vision and frankly it is not even compelling until you can answer "How MUCH money?" and for "What SPECIFIC purpose?"

Here's a quick question to see if this applies to you:

Recruiting Firm Owners: The Power and Leverage From Masterminding

 I have recently returned from a "mini" west coast tour having spoken at the California Staffing Professionals Retreat (see post below) then flying to Palm Springs, CA for a "master mind" meeting  with a group of about 15 other trainers, authors, speakers and coaches.  None of these were from the recruiting industry.  

You might be wondering what I get from a meeting of people NOT from the recruiting industry.  Good question!  First, Napoleon Hill's research indicates being part of a mastermind group is one of the key priciples of success based on his interviews with over 500 extremely wealthy and successful people.

Second, from these meetings I bring innovative ways

The Power of VISION in Your Recruiting Firm From the California Staffing Professionals Owner's Retreat

   I had the privilege of speaking at the California Staffing Professionals Owner's Retreat 9/25 and 9/26 in front of a group of recruiting professionals commited to growing their firms.  The theme of the meeting and most of the speakers was HOW to start the process of rebuilding their firms and the power of a defined specific vision to get them their.

 Patricia Drain opened the recruiting conference stressing the need for owners to work ON their business more instead of working primarily IN their business.  Those that work primarily IN their business don't have a business they have a J-O-B! 

She also stressed the need to work with the "end in mind" and to create multiple streams of income such as coaching programs and/or teleseminars for candidates that we can't help.  

My presentation similarly stressed one of "Deadly Sins" recruiting firm owners make is that they do not have a specific and strategic vision of where they are taking their firms in 12, 24, and 36 months from now.  Coming out of a recession is a GREAT opportunity to get it "right". 

The 4 Key Strategies I discussed were:

Recruiters: Highlights from the Recruiting Animal Radio Show

Today I was priviledged to be the guest of The Recruiting Animal's Blog radio show with his panel which consisted partly of Maureen Sharib, Bill Boorman, Jerry Albright, Carl Chapman and some other erudites in the recruiting industry.

If you have never listened to his show, Animal is a non-profane Howard Stern type shock jock for the recruiting industry.  I find myself laughing out loud on every show!  You can listen to his past shows on the above link or tune in on the web Wednesday's at Noon eastern time.

We had an in-depth discussion on ways to succeed in a down economy.  You can listen or download the entire one hour show right here.  Animal asked a bunch of questions from articles in this very blog. 

Here are some of the summary points that most of the panel seemed to agree with (in no particular order):

Recruiting Firm Owners: When was the Last Time You Weeded Your Garden?

Have you ever planted dandelions?  Do you have a special garden for them?  No?  Then why do they show up?  Why does any weed end up in your garden if it is not planted?

Weeds like negative thoughts spread.  The people we talk to, both clients and peers spread them to us.  We spread them to our team.  They are 'watered' every day by more negative thoughts.  Like invasive plants need to be pulled from a garden, negative thoughts need to be manually removed from your mind.

I was reminded about this during the past week as I had the priviledge of speaking with over 30 owners of recruiting firms in a thirty minute strategy session about their business.  With the exception of one person, the good news is they are all seeing nice increases in their businesses.  Some even saying they are getting a consistent flow of call-in job orders!

Despite this uptick in the business a few of the folks I spoke with were a bit "beat up" by the economy over the past year.  This is quite understandable.  However, I challenged them and I challenge you to "tend to your mind".