Performance-based Hiring is about recruiting top performers, and in today's economy recruiters and companies have a chance to pick up some really great talent.  The key word here is "chance." One prerequisite to finding and recruiting top talent is that recruiters must understand the mentality of a top performer.  If I had to sum it up in one word it would be "Picky"! Top performers want the right job, not just any job.  The job has to offer a challenge and be with the right company and the right people, not to mention offering the right compensation and benefits package.  While timing is important, top performers won't rush into taking just any job.  They are confident in their capabilities, and their job search is part of an overall master plan. 

The question is, though, how can you become part of that plan?  We teach a great deal about the importance of having an "Early-Bird" sourcing strategy in our Recruiter Boot Camp course.  How do recruiters intercept hot candidates before they get snatched up by some other recruiter or company?  This week's article is about tapping into that process at a grass roots level.

I'm the first to admit that it's a real jungle out there and our economic woes are starting to hit close to home.  One of my good friends, Benjamin Moore, just got caught up in a round of layoffs at his small start-up software company. Yes, that's his real name; and no, he's not the heir to the paint company fortunes.  If he were, he wouldn't be looking for another job!  He's worked with HP for many years selling software, has a great track record of success, and recently completed his MBA.  He decided about a year ago to try his hand at a start-up software company.  He knew the risks going in but he didn't anticipate the sudden freefall in the economy. 

In this week's newsletter, I'll give you an honest, detailed view of the actual process a top performer uses to find the right next job.  I'm not suggesting that Ben's process is the best approach, but it does represent the thinking of a top performer.  Ben has been fully engaged in his search for one and a half weeks now.  Here's what he's done so far:

1. Call a trusted recruiter:  The first thing Ben did was to call the recruiter who helped him get his last job.  The recruiter's name is Jason Stanley.  He's well-networked in the Denver area, knows everybody in technology in town, and has built a strong pipeline – the consummate early-bird sourcer.  Because of all this, Ben trusts him.  However, while Jason is a great resource, Ben is not willing to put all his eggs in one basket.  He is actively networking with close friends to find the names of those recruiters who have helped them find jobs in the past, but Jason was one of his first calls. In fact, he's meeting Ben for breakfast tomorrow morning.  If you want to become a top recruiter, you have to be the one who gets called first.  This requires a strategy that allows you to stay in touch with top candidates when they are still working, so when they start looking you get the first call.
   
   
2. Update the resume:  It's been a while since Ben has updated his resume, so he actually hired a professional to give his resume a fresh, clean look.  It took a couple of days going back and forth to get it just right, but his calling card is now ready to go.  Do you have a strategy that connects with companies/individuals that handle professional resumes? Is there a way to intercept Ben's resume at this stage by building a network of resume writing professionals? 

1. Call close friends:  After Ben hung up the phone with Jason he immediately started calling his closest friends and confidants.  He's not yet broadly networking; instead, he's working on his overall job hunting strategy and needs advice.  This is a big step for Ben, but he considers his current situation an opportunity to explore new options and get the best advice possible from people he trusts.  His biggest question is if he really wants to stay in the software world.  Given the state of the economy, and especially the weakness of the technology sector, he's actively looking at other industries.  All of his contacts in the technology industry are worried because their companies are either in a hiring freeze or considering layoffs.  So in talking with his friends he has identified medical device/product sales as the direction he wants to pursue, and is learning more about companies that would be open to hiring sales people from outside of that industry.  His first priority now is to explore these opportunities in a very targeted way.  Now that his strategy is clear, he's ready to expand his network. 

At this stage of his search, the only way to get to Ben is to be in his inner circle of friends or recruiters and to be on the short list of companies that have a reputation as a good place to work.  What's your company's reputation in the market place?  Would people give your organization a thumbs-up if they called one of your suppliers, vendors, employees, or friends?  What are you actively doing to nurture a positive impression of your company to these audiences?    

1. Leveraging LinkedIn:  Ben has built a very strong database of personal contacts using LinkedIn in the technology field.  He actively searches through his 335 contacts in LinkedIn and starts networking to find people who have any connections with the medical device industry.  He also does broad searching within LinkedIn for people who live within 100 miles of his home who currently work at his target companies.  He's particularly interested in people who work in sales who came from a non medical device background. From his searching in LinkedIn and his conversations with buddies, he's developed a list of target accounts and individuals.   He's not interested in all medical device companies, only those that have demonstrated a willingness to hire sales people from outside their industry.  For now he is steering clear of any company who hasn't or won't hire across industries.  Click here to learn about our upcoming webinar on using LinkedIn for networking. 

1. Create a target list of companies:  You may be surprised to learn that most of Ben's early work on the Internet was doing research on specific companies that had been recommended to him by his network.  His top companies include Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Striker, Johnson & Johnson, and Covidien.  Much of his effort over the next few weeks will be to find a personal introduction to these organizations.

1. Interviewing other recruiters:  Over the past two years Ben has received numerous phone calls from recruiters.  He has a practice of using LinkedIn to keep in touch with these recruiters.  Now that he is looking for work, he doesn't call them randomly; he asks each of his personal contacts who they consider to be good.  Once he gets a referral he uses the LinkedIn platform to get in touch with them.  After networking with 20 friends a pattern emerged – he started hearing the names of good recruiters over and over again.  That's his starting point.  Here are his questions:
   1. How much work are you doing in the Denver area?  He would like to stay here if possible and wants to work with someone with local connections.
   2. What's the average salary of the positions you typically place?  If it's too low he will pass on that recruiter.
   3. Do you work with any partners or affiliates in the Denver area you could refer me to?
   4. What are the typical types of job you recruit for?
   5. What companies do you recruiter for?  If they are not on his target list he will pass on that recruiter. 
   6. Are those companies willing to hire people from outside their industry?  Have you made any placements like that?  If not, it's a pass.

He spoke with one recruiter who worked out of Salt Lake City.  She was a good recruiter and was referred to him from a credible source.  However, she recruited exclusively for only four companies and none of them had a track record for considering sales people outside the industry.  He passed on working with her.  

Now, none of this is rocket science – it's just good common sense.  But it has enormous repercussions on sourcing strategies.   Perhaps even more important is what Ben hasn't done:

• Ben hasn't visited any of the major job boards like Monster, CareerBuilder, and Hotjobs.  He considers these sites low priorities and may never visit them in his entire job search, saying, "They just aren't that effective!"  In our conversation he rattles off some statistics he gleaned from a website about finding a job and how effective those sources are. For most candidates 55% of their time and energy is spend looking on internet job sites, but only 14% of the jobs are found that way.  Some of Ben's friends recommended a few niche sites and suggested that he take a look.  He has spent some limited time on these sites, but has not applied for a single job posted there.  Instead, he is looking for the names of companies that fit his target list who are still hiring.  He then uses his network in LinkedIn to find people in sales within these companies.  He's not about to be one of 100 resumes sitting on a corporate recruiter's desk.  He is especially interested in networking with sales people who came from outside the industry who are now working in one of his target companies.  He is planning to get introductions to these people, meet with them personally for lunch, and understand what the transition was like from their former industry to the medical device industry. If your company is open to attracting sales people from other industries, does your website contain content that invites these people to apply?  Does it contain information about the learning curve and success stories of individuals who have made the transition?  This type of information could be part of a Talent Hub focused on transitioning sales people.

• He hasn't posted his resume on ANY job board.  Ben considers this a big black hole.  He wants to control his search, not be controlled by it.  It's likely he will never post his resume online.

• He hasn't blasted out a general email to all of his contacts either.  While that could be efficient, he has learned that personalized communication produces better results.  So Ben is willing to spend time crafting individual emails to carefully selected individuals from his network with ties to the target companies he is interested in.

• He hasn't even Googled for jobs.  Although he has visited a few of his target company websites to verify that they are still hiring.  

Now that you understand the first week and a half of job hunting activities, consider your own sourcing channels.  You might even consider joining us for our Recruiter Boot Camp to learn how to source top performers like Ben.  At this point in Ben's search, only the recruiters who have called him in the past and who have kept in touch with him, the employees that have worked with him, or referrals from these sources are the people who have direct access to Ben.  This early in his search, ads (even well written ones) wouldn't find him either, unless someone in his network saw something very compelling and emailed him directly.  Ben is a great guy, so I'm sure he'll find a great job shortly.  But if you want to be the recruiter who gets the fee for Ben, or the corporate recruiter who gets to place him in your organization, you've got to become visible in the places where Ben is looking.  

I'll end with a quote from Ben:

"Referrals are powerful!  In my start-up software company it was an uphill battle to sell anything.  We were a new company with no referenceable customers.  We weren't rated by Gartner and we didn't have a recognized brand name.  The only way to sell was to be referred in by someone who could make a strong recommendation.  I view my job search in the same way.  I'm looking for a way in through someone I know."

Networking is the key.

Happy Recruiting,
Bryan Johanson