The Recruiting Process: Start to Finish

After taking time to highlight on some groups of candidates, discuss current trends in the recruiting world, and give insight to the skills that prove successful in the field, it’s only fitting to discuss the placement process.  Essentially the placement process in recruiting is the entire regimen that recruiters go through to place a candidate in their ideal position.  After careful research, I found that the most thorough recruiting process is the “19 Step Placement Process,” that Adam C. of The Birmingham Group uses.  The 19 steps are as follows:

1.     Meet with client

2.     Develop search plan

3.     Research

4.     Initiate search process

5.     Candidate contact

6.     Candidate selection

7.     Candidate presentation to client

8.     Set interview days and times

9.     Follow up with client

10. Schedule second interview

11. Reference check

12. Follow up with candidate

13. Closing/negotiating

14. Offer

15. Help candidate with transition

16. Resignation debrief

17. Follow up

18. Verify project completion

19. Request for client satisfaction reference

While this process is quite lengthy, it is very thorough. Through research I’ve learned that in recruiting, it is always better to be thorough and not cut corners.  Cutting corners can lead to bad placements. 

19 Step Placement Process

Step number one involves meeting with the client.  The client in this case is the company who is looking to fill a certain position or positions.  During this meeting, the recruiter discusses the company culture and position requirements with the hiring authority.  During this meeting, the recruiter also establishes a profile for the position and begins to establish the hiring process as it pertains to this position.  The next step is to develop a search plan.  In developing a search plan, the recruiter selects and assembles a team of his or her employees to form a project team.  These employees are now officially designated to this project and begin to develop a set of research questions and topics.  After the search plan is developed, it is time for the research to begin.  The project team develops a list of target companies and potential candidates and establishes the minimum requirements for the position.  The team then does a search within their database as well as national databases like the Executive Search Profile and Candidate Data Base in order to find candidates who qualify.  Once the research is complete, recruiters initiate the search process. Essentially this part of the 19-step process involves much networking and actual recruiting. Recruiters talk to people they know to try and get recommendations and find people that they may have encountered in the past who would be a good fit for the position.  Once the candidates are narrowed down by qualification, they are contacted, profiled, and qualified to be compared to one another on paper. This step flows right into candidate selection, which is a review of the best-qualified candidates.  Upon finding the best candidate(s) for the position, the recruiter then takes the candidate profile and presents it to the client (company) for further review.  This step is crucial to ensure that all of the client’s needs are met and they will be happy with the selection in the future.  After the candidate is presented to the client, the recruiter then sets up an interview date and time with the candidate.  This interview process is generally a behavioral interview.  Many recruiters use the STAR method of interviewing for this step.  The STAR method allows the candidate to:

1.     Discuss a Situation that they were involved in that had a positive outcome.

2.     Describe the Tasks involved

3.     Explain what Actions you took to complete the tasks and achieve the positive outcome.

4.     Discuss the Results that followed your actions. 

The STAR method helps the recruiter understand how you think and how you handle real world experience.  It also gives the recruiter a way to compare the responses of candidates.  Once the interview process is complete, the recruiter will follow up with the client to discuss the interviews.  The recruiter will give the client feedback and decide the appropriate actions to take in the next step, which is scheduling the second interview.  The first interview is a way of separating the good candidates from the great candidates.  Once the great candidates are determined, the recruiter sets up a second interview. This interview is comprised of more realistic job based questions in order to get a feel for how the candidate will fit with the culture of the company.  Once the second interview is complete, the recruiter reviews the candidate’s resume in order to check references.  They contact the listed references in order to get a sense of how the candidate works with others, what their work ethic is like, and their overall impression of the candidate in a work environment.   Once the references are checked and confirmed, the recruiter follows up with the candidate.  In this follow up process, they debrief the candidate and give them feedback about how they did in the interview.  If all goes well following the feedback session and debriefing, the next step is the closing and negotiating process.  During this step, the recruiter acts as a mediator between the client and the candidate.  The recruiter mediates things that have to do with the job itself.  Once all the negotiables are handled and both parties reach an agreement, it’s time for the recruiter to present the offer to the candidate.  Once the offer is presented it’s the candidates move to accept the offer. Once the offer is accepted, the recruiter talks with the client and the candidate to establish a start date.  The next step is to help the candidate with their transition from their current position (if applicable) to their new position. The recruiter helps prepare the candidate to resign from their job while maintaining contact in order to help with personal issues.  If necessary, the recruiter will help with relocation, where they can offer discounted moving services.  Following the transition step is the resignation debrief.  In this step, the recruiter continues to help with the rendition and confirms the start date with the client and candidate.  Next is the follow up step in which the recruiter maintains their relationship with the candidate and client to ensure happiness and satisfaction with the placement.  Following the follow up step, the recruiter then verifies the project completion and requests a reference of satisfaction from the client regarding the placement success. 

It is so important to have a thorough planning process like the one above. “The way an organization recruits can influence the type of employees it hires, how they perform, and their retention rate” (Breaugh 2013).  When candidates see the care and consideration that recruiters pay to them during this process, it gives them more incentive to do a good job as well as feel important in the process.

Works Cited:

Breaugh, J. A. (2013). Employee recruitment. Annual review of psychology, 64,

389-416.

Carniol, A. (2013, march 21). Inside the star interview approach: what you need

to know. Huffington post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-carniol/inside-the-star-interview_b_3310122.html

Marsden, P. V. (1994). The hiring process.

 American behavioral scientist, 37(7), 978-991.

Adam Cohen, Vice President, The Birmingham Group

            “19 Step Placement Process: The Birmingham Group”

Important Recruiting Skills

A recruiter by definition is a person who attracts, screens, selects, and places qualified candidates in to jobs that match their skills.  The number of candidates that receive job positions as a result of their placement measures their success.  I would have to argue that part of what makes a recruiter successful is their personality and how they interact with people.  Many recruiters generally don’t intend on entering the Human Resources field; they tend to sway towards things like sales, marketing, and communications. 

For this blog post, I interviewed two recruiters that work for different firms to gain some insight on what it means to be a recruiter and how to succeed in the field.  The first recruiter that I interviewed is Adam C.  Adam is Vice President of the Birmingham Group in Birmingham, MI.  The second recruiter that I interviewed is Mike R. Mike is Director of Talent Acquisition and Recruitment at Five Brothers Default Management Solutions.  These two men agree that there are specific qualifications that differentiate the good recruiters from the great recruiters.

The hybrid of traits that are required to be a successful salesperson, marketing professional, and communications professional have proven to be great traits for success in Human Resource Recruiting. Recruiters must genuinely love to be around people. Whether it is meeting new people, interacting with people, or contacting on the phone, it’s a crucial factor in what separates a good recruiter from a great recruiter.  There are eight skills that are considered a “must have” to be a great recruiter.  These skills include:

1.     Strong Sales Skills

2.     Ability to Cultivate and Build Relationships

3.     Hunter’s Mentality

4.     Big-Picture Thinking

5.     Strong Follow-Up Skills

6.     Listening

7.     Consultative in Nature

8.     Personable and Approachable

STRONG SALES SKILLS

Essentially recruiters are the salespeople of a company.  It is a necessary skill to learn fast and become really good at even faster. Recruiters are the main point of contact that ultimately persuades someone to embark on a new career.  Recruiters sell on the phone upon inquiry, sell the company in an interview, and sell them on why your company is better that the rest. Mike R. recommends that it is important to recognize the difference between a hard and easy sell.  “If you find yourself ‘overselling’ and pushing an opportunity, I say back off, because you could be setting yourself up for failure!” (Mike R.) This does one of two things:

1.     It assures that your candidate wants the job when they continue to contact you.

2.     It could distance the applicant because they really weren’t that interested and that it was your selling ability that was controlling the process.

ABILITY TO CULTIVATE AND BUILD RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships are the key to success in any industry.  With better relationships comes more success.  From my interviews with Mike R. and Adam C. I’ve learned that in recruiting, trust is everything.  Gaining the trust of a client sets a recruiter up for success. It proves to the potential candidate that you are acting in the best interest of their personal and professional lives.  Mike R. says that “the more time you take to fully understand the candidate; the better you are at facilitating the needs of both the candidate and their potential employer.  You need to be personable and approachable because you are an extension of the recruiting effort!” (Mike R.) “By creating a more open, friendly, and communicative relationship with candidates, the candidate experience will increase, making the recruiter and company stand out professionally and as an employer of choice” (Hoogvelt, 2012).

HUNTER’S MENTALITY

At first glance, this seems like a silly saying, but it’s detrimental to successful recruitment.  Mike R. says that it’s important to have the ambition and motivation to do self-checks from time to time.  This enables recruiters to determine whether of not they’re doing everything they can to be successful, because if you don’t find the perfect candidate, someone else will. This is where the “hunter’s mentality” comes in.  “Recruiting is a numbers game- the more contacts you make, the more yes’ you will hear.” (Mike R.)

BIG-PICTURE THINKING

Recruiters know from a resume if a candidate has the qualifications to succeed in a position. Big Picture Thinking is individual to each recruiter.  Mike R. has a couple of questions that come to mind when it comes to Big Picture Thinking. 

1.     Are you acting in the best interest of all parties involved?

2.     Have you considered wants vs. needs?

3.     Does the company culture/vision/pay align with what the potential candidate wants?

4.     Is this a fit for the now or long term?

5.     And after every recruiting effort he asks, “Is there something I could have done differently to have been more successful?

      

      This is such an important question to ask yourself throughout the recruiting process.  Recruiters should strive for continuous improvement.

STRONG FOLLOW-UP SKILLS

Another word for strong follow up skills is organization.  Regardless of being in corporate recruiting or staffing, a well thought out plan and strategy is key for recruiting organization.  Mike R. urges recruiters to schedule the time to take notes and use necessary tools and technology to aid your efforts.  You can use excel spreadsheets or the best HRIS in the game- something is better than nothing.  Clients have invested a lot of time into the recruiting effort too, so it is important to reciprocate. 

LISTENING

Listening is key for a recruiter because there is only so much you can learn about a client from a resume.  The key is asking open- ended questions in order to learn more about the candidate.  Listening to their responses to your questions allows for you to develop a new set of strategic questions to ask and learn more.  Using the STAR method of interviewing is a great way to learn about experiences because it forces the candidate to really discuss details about their experience and skills. 

CONSULTATIVE IN NATURE

This goes back to the issue of trust.  Again, it is so important for a recruiter to establish a trustworthy relationship with their clients. This allows for more open communication and ability to figure out where the best fit might be.  “A good recruiter will act as a trusted advisor for their clients, and in return, clients will respect and act on given advice” (Hoogvelt, 2012).

PERSONABLE AND APPROACHABLE

 Recruiting is all about people.  There are so many interactions that allow for meet and greets, intercommunication, and consultations.  For candidates, this can be extremely nerve wracking.  It is so important for recruiters to be able to put the candidate at ease and make them feel comfortable discussing what they want out of their career.  It is important for the recruiter to be accessible as well; whether it be by phone, email, or what have you, knowing that your time is important to the recruiter says a lot.  This capitalizes on the saying that you catch more bees with honey.  I believe this should be the theme of all recruiting efforts.

Adam C. believes that every one of these skills is very important qualities needed to be a successful recruiter.  If he were to rank them in order of importance they would be as follows:

1.     Hunter’s Mentality

2.     Consultative in Nature

3.     Big Picture Thinking

4.     Ability to Cultivate and Build Relationships

5.     Listening

6.     Personable and Approachable

7.     Strong Follow Up Skills

8.     Strong Sales Skills

He would also add some important skills of being self- motivated, persistence, aggressive, and having the strong ability to execute a plan. 


Works Cited:

Higgins, C. A., & Judge, T. A. (2004). The effect of applicant

influence tactics on recruiter perceptions of fit and hiring recommendations: A field study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(4), 622-632. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.89.4.622

Hoogvelt, M. (2012.). 8 skills recruiters should have. Retrieved

from http://www.ere.net/2012/07/26/8-skills-recruiters-should-have/

Michael Rea, Director of Talent Acquisition and Recruitment at Five Brothers Default Management Solutions

Adam Cohen, Vice President at The Birmingham Group