While all professions have their sources of frustration, the executive recruiting profession is in a unique position because we can be frustrated by either side of the sale! Clients and/or candidates can change their mind; don't honor their commitment, etc.
If we were financial advisers and we consulted with a client and that client chose to invest in 100 shares of Google, those shares could not say "I don't want to be in your client's portfolio!" Let's face it, making a placement is an emotional nightmare and is a culmination of a number of activities that lead to it.
Frankly, making a placement is truly the one thing we can't control in the placement process.
Seriously-- think about it. We can not control the decision on either side. Can we influence it? Of Course. Control it? Of Course not!
If this is true, then why is the main focal point of most owners and managers of recruiting firms the ONE thing they can not control? Most recruiting training focuses on this to the exception of the most important parts of the process! This is a recipe for perpetual frustration and makes running a recruiting firm educated guess work.
Stop obsessing on placements! Today!
You heard me, stop focusing on placements and focus on what counts--ACTIVITY. I am going to talk about the taking and tracking of key metrics or key numbers. Now, for those of you reading beyond the last sentence, Congratulations!
We all learned this, yet my experience with my clients is that few actually do it. My experience is also that those that take, track and execute to specific targets rarely fail. Even in the toughest economies. Actually, they are usually among the highest producing offices out there.
As we know, placements are a function of interviews and job orders. Interviews and job orders are a function of live presentations, which are a function of outbound calls or targeted emails. While we don't control placements, we do control the number of calls and attempts. Attempts and good presentations lead to good job orders and candidates. These can be measured daily and weekly and, tracked over time are predictable.
We know this yet we don't do it!
Again, we all know this, yet most of us do not do it. Why? It is Boring with a capital "SNORE"! I don't take our numbers. I have a service called the lock on report that emails each recruiter every Friday as a reminder to send their data in. The data is compiled and sent to me in a very easy to read format. It is by far the best tool for tracking numbers and seeing their relationship on the market.
I don't recommend the owner or manager take numbers from recruiters with more than 6 months experience-because it won't happen! Have your office manager do it and put it on a Excel if you do not want to pay a service to do it.
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