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Benchmark Your Recruiting Skills Using the New 10-Factor Recruiter Scorecard

By Lou Adler, February 18, 2009

Back in 1999 I developed the first competency model for corporate and third-party recruiters. It's still relevant today, but not quite perfect. Here's a free online version (with instant feedback) you can use to assess yourself and your team.

We're now putting a new recruiter assessment tool together, and the following are some of the updated factors we're considering. Please look them over, rank yourself and/or your team and tell us what you think. Then, text the word "sourcing" to 96625 and enter your score to see where you stand.  

We'll have a free webinar on this (March, 2009) where you can voice your opinion and see where you stand against your recruiter competition. In addition to this scorecard we're now working with Profiles International in developing a cognitive skills and behavioral skills assessment for corporate and third-party recruiters. While there's a tiny fee to take each online assessment, we've reduced this dramatically during this beta evaluation. We'll be summarizing the results of this benchmark study on my blog – The Recruiter's Wall – so join this if you want to be part of the buzz. It's quite apparent that many recruiters have lost their edge over the past few years. Our goal is to show you what you need to do to get it back, and provide the resources to make it happen.

Following are the primary factors driving recruiter success. As you read each description determine where you stand on the 1-5 scale shown below. These factors are based on what I've observed after tracking over 1,000 recruiters in the past 10 years combined with some of the latest recruiting techniques and Web 2.0 sourcing tools.  

The Adler 1-5 Performance Ranking Scale

This is not your typical ranking scale. It's the same one we use for ranking candidates using our standard 10-Factor Candidate Assessment template. The basic idea for this scale is that a 3-5 ranking includes everyone in the top 20-25%, with a 2.5 representing average performance, and a 5 the top 5%. Level 2 is below average, and a Level 1 is unmentionable.

Level 1: Completely incompetent, or totally uninterested in doing this type of work
Level 2: Basically competent, but unmotivated by this type of work
Level 3: Totally competent to do the work, and highly motivated to do it
Level 4: Sometimes an All-star, consistently exceeds expectations by 10-20%
Level 5: All-star performance, sometimes the MVP, asked to train and develop others

Based on the type of recruiting work you do and with these ranking levels in mind, evaluate yourself and/or your team members on these ten factors. Then total your score and see where you stand.   

1. Consistently deliver results. A level 3 on this factor means you make your numbers 90% or more of the time, you don't make excuses, and you don't require much direction or supervision.  

If you're making your numbers at a level 4 to 5, some of what I describe below is irrelevant. Whatever you're doing is perfectly fine. Keep it up. On the other hand if you're not a 4 or 5, or you want to improve your numbers, some of the following process steps might help identify areas of improvement.

2. An industry/company expert. Great recruiters need to understand their industry, their company, the competition, and the business environment for the types of people they place. To score a 3 or better on this scale, your clients and candidates must see you as an advisor and consultant on these issues. To score a 5 you need to be considered a guru and sought out by others.

3. A partner with your hiring manager clients. If you want to attract and represent top performers for professional or managerial positions, recruiters need to personally know their hiring managers, understand their leadership style, know how they make hiring decisions, and advise them on the selection decision. This is level 3 performance. If you're a level 5 here, you're training hiring managers on how to interview and select their staff.

4. Understand real job needs. Top people aren't looking for lateral jobs doing the same work; they're looking for growth and opportunity. To recruit these types of people a recruiter needs to understand the job beyond the list of skills and experiences required. This means knowing the manager, the types of specific projects the person will be doing, and the impact of this work on the company's business. This is level 3 performance. Level 5 means you're helping your hiring manager to figure this stuff out. (Here's an article on our new multi-stakeholder job analysis you might find useful for this.)

5. Source top performing active candidates. If you're primarily sourcing active candidates, your objective is to identify them as soon as they enter the market. This represents a significant competitive advantage and a critical factor for success in a Web 2.0 world. Everyone can get names, but getting them first is now what matters. This means you're effectively using social media, you're well networked with top people, you're using search engine marketing techniques, and you're consistently obtaining great employee referrals. Regardless of what you use, though, you can only score a level 3 on this factor if you're getting lots of great people within a week or two of when they've entered the market. A level 5 here means you get lots of great people calling you directly on the first day they decide to look for a new career opportunity.

6. Source top performing passive candidates. There are three big steps to sourcing top passive candidates. First, identifying them. Second, getting them to call you back. And third, having them give you the names of even more top performers who aren't looking. If you're just dialing for dollars, hoping someone you've identified on LinkedIn calls you back, and is qualified and interested, you score a 2.5 on this factor. If 80% of the time you're calling pre-qualified, referred top people, who always call you back and give you more great referrals, and you can get them interested in moving forward, you deserve a 4 or 5 on this scale.

7. Organize and manage the process. This might not seem like recruiting, but from what I've seen if you're dealing with lots of activity, scheduling meetings, pushing interviews forward, leading debriefing sessions and closing multiple deals per month, you need to be well organized. A level 3 to 4 on this factor means you don't get flustered when things go awry, you can re-plan on the fly, you're flexible and you can prioritize and reprioritize activities, you formally document what you're doing, you rarely drop the ball, and you're on top of everything.

8. Optimize the use of technology. A good corporate or contingency recruiter needs to be very comfortable with technology, whether it's an ATS, reverse engineering a posting using search engine optimization techniques, setting up and participating in blogs, or trying out new Web-based tools to improve performance. You deserve a level 3 on this factor if other recruiters ask you how to do this stuff. If you're working with developers, tweaking your ATS to extract better results, using web analytics to track online activity, and setting up a workflow to maximize your automated CRM and pipelining system, you're in the 4-5 range.

9. Interview effectively. Being a good interviewer is more than just screening candidates for skills and experience. To score a 3 on this factor you have to go beyond the job description to assess competency, motivation, and fit, and you have to make correct assessments.  As part of this you need to be respected by your hiring managers as someone whose opinion they trust at least as much as their own. To score a 4 here you also use the interview to demonstrate that your job is a career move, you shift the candidate's decision to focus more on growth and less on compensation, and you can defend your candidate from managers who make incorrect assessments. To score a 5 on this factor you're training your clients on how to interview, leading panel interviews, and conducting the debriefing session.  Here is a bunch of articles on using our one-question Performance-based Interview. If you read and apply the techniques shown, you'll be at least a level 3 by the weekend.

10. Recruit and close. Every candidate wants more money. Every candidate says at some point that they're not interested in what you have to offer. Every top candidate will have other opportunities. Smoothly handling these types of concerns are second nature to great recruiters. You don't need to be a great recruiter to place average candidates, so if 80% or more of your candidates aren't in the top 15-20% quality level, you can't get any more than a 2.5 on this factor. To get a 3 on this factor, you need to be dealing with top performers and have the ability to keep most of these top candidates interested every step of the way. If you score a 4 or 5 here you're probably doubling your quota or you make more placements per month than everyone else on your team. Most likely if this is the case, these same top performers seek you out for career advice, trust your judgment regarding which offer to take, and proactively refer other top people to you.

Where did you stand on this score? During our one-on-one assessments, we ask recruiters to walk us step-by-step through their process, from taking the assignment through sourcing, screening, networking, working with their clients, and closing the deal. Corporate recruiters score 25 points on average on this basis with the top people on the team scoring around 30 to 35 points. Great contingency recruiters need to score about this level to make quota, and 40 or more to be in the top 10% of their group.

Make sure you join my Recruiter's Wall blog to voice your opinion regarding the relative merits of these 10 factors. These aren't set in concrete, so don't hesitate to be an advocate for something you think better reflects recruiter competency. Also, make sure you add your score (honestly and anonymously) to our phone poll for instant results (text "sourcing" to 96625 to participate). Separately, if you're in recruiting management, contact us if you'd like to participate in our Profiles International benchmark study. As a minimum you'll learn what you need to do to build a team of level 3 and better recruiters.