Steps towards Passive Candidates

Let’s say you found a bunch of great potential passive candidates, now what do you do? Using passive candidate leads can be the most difficult and time-consuming aspect of recruiting today with the current situation of talent crunch in most sectors it is by far a difficult time, but it is becoming increasingly necessary as fewer people utilize traditional means to connect with potential employers. With specialized passive candidate search skills, recruiters now can quickly access a few contacts and be back on the phone within minutes. This accelerates a recruiter’s ability to reach passive candidates, but it requires a different type of phone skill.

While much advice exists on addressing candidates that have taken some initiative in their job search, not many experts talk about what happens once a passive candidate picks up the phone and says “Hello?” in response to your cold call. Making that initial call to a truly passive lead can be a scary moment, so in this article we will review a handful of tips to help break the ice and overcome that awkwardness. Let us first look at the five main stages to a successful cold call, and then we can review a few useful tips:

What you need to do
What they're thinking
Establish Curiosity
Get their attention

Why should I take your call?
Break the tension
Obtain their interests
What is in it for me?

Show your credentials
Gain credibility
How do I know you are for real?
Personalize the call

Build rapport
Do you really know your stuff
Call to Action
Get them to commit
Where do we go from here?

Tip #1: Don’t Sell!

The best way to start talking with passive candidates is to engage them in conversation, not to sell them on an opportunity.
Most recruiters get an earful of “pitch the job” and “sell the opportunity:’ but passive candidates are not in the market to buy anything so selling them something is absolutely the wrong approach.
Instead of selling, try establishing your credentials and reputation. Mention connections you may have inside your organization, sector or industry, and offer these connections as a resource to them when needed.

Make a connection and listen to them. Before you call someone, learn as much as you can about them. The Internet offers you plenty of information about their company, their industry and very often even detailed information about their interest. If you found them on a passive candidate sourcing site, such as Monster.com, look at their web references and you will likely find a number of websites where they are mentioned. Identifying something you have in common with them will help you develop a genuine connection. For example, have you been to their city or town? Have you attended similar universities or conferences?



Beyond that personal connection it also helps if you know about what’s going on with their organization and even better if you utilize familiar language and jargon. For example, use “insider” lingo or nicknames for products, facilities and locations, projects, departments, and technologies. Monster.com and additional deep web research can help you gather the information that helps you understand the candidate’s milieu.

Tip #2: Email First

When possible, start your conversation with an email. It may seem counter-intuitive to begin a “conversation” with an email, particularly in the context of this article, but great recruiters will use every tool at their disposal to connect with appropriate talent and e-mail is as powerful a communication tool as the phone. Email is the quickest, most unobtrusive and most commonly accepted way to establish rapport today. Using both the phone and email strongly increases the likelihood you will make a connection.

The best method is a three-step approach where the first step is an unobtrusive, non-solicitous networking request email. Remember that you are reaching out to someone who is most likely not actively looking for new opportunities so they will not respond well to bait-and-switch messages or overt recruitment approaches. When reaching out to passive leads using e-mail do not directly solicit them for employment in any way. Your initial contact email should include:

1. Asking them if they would be receptive to networking with you
2. Mention that you are initiating contact electronically out of respect for their time and privacy
3. A clear way to get in touch with you privately (i.e. your phone number)
4. Enough detail so they can decide if you are worthy of a reply

The second step is a quick and simple voicemail the following day indicating your desire to speak with them for networking purposes. Keep it brief, inform them of your intent to network, and clearly state the best way to get in touch with you.
After your first voicemail attempt an e-mail follow-through greatly increases the chance of a return call because it bridges the gap between the “electronic” world where spammers exists, and the “live” world of phone calls and face-to-face meetings. The subject line on your follow-up email should reference the voicemail you just left by having a “date stamp” like this: “Follow-through on my voicemail from today mm/dd/yy.”


This begins to build recognition with your prospect and increases the chances of success when you attempt this three-step strategy in one week.
The third step is a follow up email sent immediately after you leave a voicemail, verifying they received your voicemail and re-stating your contact details. The best candidates are going to be aware of their value so they may not take much initiative in calling you back. Try the above steps three times and then use the “Last Ditch” approach. In your fourth call and email, state something to the effect of”I thought I’d give it one last shot” and explain how it is important that you connect with them but that you have reached out previously to no avail. In the message clearly state that this will be your last attempt to connect and you will be amazed at how many people respond to this last message.

Tip #3: No Isn’t Always No

The best passive candidates are successful and busy people so if you just accepted this initial “no” all the time then you will not likely speak to many good people. Once someone answers you may get some initial resistance to the conversation or even a very outspoken “no”, but you can often overcome this initial reaction. Once you do, a great relationship may blossom with your new contact and you will find that the effort will be worthwhile.

An initial “no” could mean many other things besides “I’m not interested in what you have to say” so it is important that you investigate a bit before giving up. For example, it could mean “I’m very busy right now:’ in which case you should simply offer to call at a more convenient time and schedule a follow up. It could also mean they are having a bad day, or are very tired, and this is just not something they want to do right now. If their tone is abrupt, brusque or negative, let this initial negativity roll off your back without reacting to it and do not take it personally. Tell them you appreciate they may be very busy right now, but what you have to say is important and you would like to call them at another more convenient time. As before, make an appointment and follow up. This initial “no” could also mean “I can’t talk right now because my boss is looking over my shoulder” or they are in the middle of a meeting or other call. Drop a few hints and if that is the case then see if there may be a better time when you can reach out.

It is important to keep in mind that recruiters are not sales people. We do not sell a “product” —we help companies find the right talent at the right time, and we help people move forward with their career goals. There are many reasons why someone may not yet be ready to move forward and thus they may not be interested in taking our call. Only by establishing a connection will we be in a position to help them once they are ready, or to obtain referrals to those who are. In our next white paper, we will discuss a number of strategies for successfully eliciting referrals.

Conclusion

In a tight labor market, a successful passive candidate recruiting program can be an essential for companies’ success. Working with passive candidates requires a major change in methodology for companies that are accustomed to working with active candidates, and recruiters who master these changes are at great competitive advantage. By breaking the passive recruiting process into steps — source the appropriate potential candidates, engage them in conversation, use a combination of communication methods, and give the prospect every opportunity to respond positively — committed recruiters can readily adapt to the new recruiting landscape.

Happy Searching!

The Basics of Balanced Recruitment Marketing -By Lou Adler

The Competition for Talent
The national job market is poised for a dramatic change in the next few years. Baby Boomers are starting to retire, smaller replacement generations are entering the workforce and the available pool of qualified talent is shrinking. This situation is made more dire given the findings from a recent CareerBuilder.com survey1 stating that one-in-ten hiring managers expect to hire more than 100 new employees in the next year. In general, job openings are projected to increase by 13% or nearly 19 million jobs through the year 2014.
So the recruitment market is faced with economists what have been dealing with for eons, supply vs. demand. The supply of adults in the workforce, not to mention highly qualified talent, is shrinking yet the demand of organizations looking fill thousands of job openings continues to increase. This will become even more apparent should there be an upturn in the nation’s economic strength and companies begin expanding even further and hiring from a stagnant, if not shrinking pool of candidates.
Currently, 38% of hiring managers surveyed by CareerBuilder stated that they are facing difficulties finding qualified talent. It is evident that the competition for top-notch talent is heating up and will continue to intensify within the foreseeable future. In order to minimize the impact felt by this “perfect storm” in the recruitment market, companies must take a proactive stance to their hiring process to ensure they retain top performers and attract the new qualified talent they need, quickly and efficiently.
The Ever-present Active Candidate
“The most persistent responders to job ads and internet postings are active candidates –
often these candidates are either unemployed or disgruntled job seekers who are desperate for ANY job with ANY company”2
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, active job seekers make up 16% of the American workforce. Active candidates are widely considered the “low-hanging fruit” of the labor market. They are probably the most obvious recruitment audience because they are the easiest to target and the most likely to respond immediately to job openings. They are “in-market”, currently pursuing a new job, constantly posting and updating their resumes on job boards, surfing recruitment websites, blogs and networking sites.
Candidate Market
84%
16%
1 Careerbuilder.com, Small Business Advisor: Hiring Tips, “Will Passive Job Seekers Apply to Your Job?”
- 1 -
2 HTC Research Newsletter Jan 2003, “The Value of the Passive Candidate”
Active candidates are replying to multiple openings and may have more than one opportunity in process at once. They are potentially taking the first thing that comes along regardless of fit, skills or career path. On the other hand, a passive candidate has plenty of time to truly examine how the new job opportunity will benefit his or her goals, career growth and personal life.
Debbie Goodman, Managing Director of Jack Hammer Executive Headhunters, states that “only 20% of employees in any designated market sector are actively looking for jobs and those are the ones that will respond to job advertisements. Of the remaining 80% approximately, 75% are passive job seekers who are open to hearing about alternative career opportunities…”3 Yet companies continue to rely on the smaller pool of active candidates for their staffing needs. In a recent Unicru survey4, 100 staffing managers for Fortune 1000-size companies indicated that 75% of their time and effort were focused solely on active candidate recruitment.
Active candidates are on the full–time job hunt and constantly visible in the candidate market, therefore the competition is intense even for these “low-hanging fruit”. Many smart companies have recognized this competition and have increased their recruitment efforts in targeting the elusive passive candidate.
The Elusive Passive Candidate
Dr. Michael Boyd, Human Resourcing Strategies Research for IDC refers to passive candidates as the “Holy Grail” for recruiters, “They’re among the most highly valued prospects, and yet by virtue of fact that they typically aren’t going to employment sites or speaking with recruiters, they’re the hardest to find. A job site that also functions as a regular destination… puts career opportunities right in front of candidates who might not otherwise learn about them. It’s like a win-win for the prospective employee and employer alike.”5
Passive candidates are highly skilled, happily employed individuals who are not actively seeking new job opportunities. And because most are happily employed, these candidates are also considered more loyal and more stable (on average passive job seekers stay with a company three years and seven months, compared to only 15 months for active job seekers6), therefore more valuable, than active job seekers. They have a job in which they have already demonstrated ability to make a contribution, potentially translating into a higher chance of success within your organization. As a result, they are extremely hard to target. 1543ActivePassiveAvg. Months Employed
3 Bizcommunity.com, “Best Job Candidates Slipping Through the Net”, April 11, 2005
4 Electronic Recruiting Exchange; How to Attract and Hire Passive Candidates, Part 5; Lou Adler; 3/11/2005
5 TechTarget.com Press Release, March 2001
- 2 -
6 Hospitalityjobsonline.com; FAQ’s
These “Hidden Gems” are not found through an active recruitment marketing campaign on job boards, networking sites, online databases or in help wanted ads. They do not want to jeopardize their current employment by being exposed on a job board or resume database, etc. Passive candidates are busy performing quality work at their current job not actively looking for another one, however, they are proactively or passively thinking about their career path and are willing to entertain new opportunities should circumstances change.
Although job seekers become less likely to take potential risks and change jobs as they age and become more experienced, some passive candidates may become active job seekers as a result of a change in management or location that could potentially impact their quality of life or simply having a bad day during their current job. Their motivation could also come from a potential opportunity offering increased career challenge, higher salary, more attractive compensation package, a shorter commute or better work/life balance in general. A recent worker commitment study from AON, an HR consulting firm, showed that over 25% of employed workers would change jobs for a salary increase of 10% or less, 50% would change jobs for a 20% salary increase.7
Lastly, passive candidates who have reached a point in their current job which they see no career growth, expansion of skills or salary increase, are more likely to be swayed by openings that appeal to their long-term career goals. These candidates are interested in opportunities offering careers, not just jobs. A “job” normally lasts for a year where as a career offers multiple jobs with corresponding growth through many years. You do not try to convert a passive candidate into an active candidate, you make sure that they remember your company and know how to reach you when they have had a bad day. This is when they are likely to start looking at other opportunities.
Lou Adler, president of The Adler Group (a training and consulting firm focused on performance based hiring), believes that there is a 30% solution in attracting passive candidates8. These candidates look for the new job to offer 30% improvement compared to their current situation. This improvement can consist of a percentage increase in any of the following: compensation, job stretch (doing the work they enjoy and that taps into their existing skills and abilities) or long-term company/career growth.
A company’s growth prospects are an important consideration for passive candidates. The quality of the senior management and leadership teams as well as recruitment collateral and information on the website is also very important. While technically “passive”, these candidates are career focused and interested in related articles, research and stories, reading everything in the career section on your website. Therefore, it is important to maintain consistent PR and brand advertising.
7 StarTribune.com 10/21/03; We Are All “Passive Job Seekers”
- 3 -
8 Electronic Recruiting Exchange, “How to Hire Passive Candidates, Part 4: The 30% Solution, March 4, 2005
The passive candidate is under no pressure to find a new job. They spend more time evaluating, the position, the company, its strategy, the hiring manager and the management team. You cannot hire these candidates quickly. Not only do they take longer to find they also take longer to decide. Therefore, you need to start looking before you need them. A strong passive recruitment marketing plan will work only if you have enough time before the position needs to be filled.
An employee’s lack of movement between jobs also directly correlates with the economy. During poor economic times, top candidates are less willing to explore different job opportunities and more likely to do so when the economy is booming. However, there is also increased demand for this talent sourcing from the same supply pool. Passive candidates are becoming recognized for their value and are more frequently targeted by recruiters, making these candidates more frustrated with these tactics. It will become harder to reach these candidates as the demand increases. That is why it is imperative that companies proactively target and recruit a mixture of active and passive candidates. This perspective will generally cost less and produce better results than relying on reactive means alone.
The Importance of Recruiting a Mixture of Active & Passive Candidates
“Consistently and regularly engaging both active and passive candidates is the best way to maintain a pool of qualified candidates. Much like a sports team, a company should maintain a “bench” of candidates who are ready to step in and do the job if one of the regular players is no longer part of the team. This requires the company to maintain a “we’re always hiring” footing to the outside world. Companies that wait until they have a vacancy before they start building their candidate pool are at a disadvantage in finding the best candidates.”9
As recruiting consultant Howard Adamsky puts it “Staffing needs can change in the blink of an eye… it is not possible for most businesses to predict what tomorrow will bring. When a call comes in to open an office in New York and staff it with 20 people by yesterday, there is no time to dally. You had better be ready to do more than look at passive candidates as a recruiting model.”10
Companies need to focus on long and short term needs to come up with a balanced active and passive recruitment campaign. According to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of Chief Executive Officers, two-thirds of corporate executives use a planning cycle of only year or less11. Peter Weddle, recruiter and HR consultant, explains, “such nearsightedness virtually guarantees that recruiting will be an ad hoc, reactive and often crisis-driven process.”12 CEOs who responded to the survey said that their greatest business risk (except economic downturn) was their ability to acquire the talent they needed to accomplish their mission.
9 www.tidemarkprofiles.com; HiringCenter; Creating a Constant Flow of High-Quality Candidates
10 Electronic Recruiting Exchange; Howard Adamsky; The Myth of the Passive Candidate; May10, 2005
11 PricewaterhouseCoopers Survey of Chief Executive Officers - 4 -
12 Weddle.com; Peter Weddle; Cutting Corners to the Best Candidates
With such a short planning cycle companies simply do not have the time to properly attract passive candidates and must rely on the quickly attainable active candidates as almost a sure-thing to fill an urgent opening. This obviously exposes the risk that a top-notch or more qualified candidate is not filling the position, simply a candidate that is available and may have some of the needed experience.
Given that 16% of the American workforce is made up of active job seekers, “limiting an organization’s recruiting to fewer than one-out-of-every-five workers will inevitably depress its performance over the long run”. The competition for the few top performing active candidates increases rapidly, as recruitment planning timelines become shorter. Weddle refers to this as the “War for Talent”; 67% of corporate recruiters are competing for 16% of the workforce population, creating a constant demand with an artificially limited supply.
Most companies design their recruiting needs around active candidates. To keep a consistent flow of top-notch candidates you must attract a mix of active, passive and semi-active or passive candidates. You will face increased competition for prime talent from all angles of the recruitment world. You should market your organization to these candidates as if you would market your products or services to a consumer. You must go above and beyond a simple job description, duties, line of business, location, etc. Hiring the best candidates requires that your marketing mix lets the candidate know what it is in their best interest to work for your organization.
According to a WetFeet.com survey13 of more than 3,000 experienced professionals, more than a third of the respondents who were currently employed were open to accepting a new position in the next six months. 53% were not interested in accepting a new position. Concentrating your recruitment marketing campaign on the other half, a mixture of active and passive candidates, would increase efficiency and hires.
How the Total Experienced Professional Population Breaks Down
Currently "between jobs" (unemployed), seeking employment
2%
Currently employed, seeking new employment
9%
Currently employed, open to accepting a new position in the next six months
36%
Happily employed, not open to accepting a new position in the next six months
53%
Base: experienced professionals (n=3371)
Source: Recruitment Marketing Strategies: Building Employer Brands That Attract Talent © 2000 WetFeet.com
Despite the fact that passive job seekers are more plentiful, active job seekers still account for the most hires. 39% of survey respondents stated that they were extremely active when they switched jobs.
- 5 -
13 Recruitment Marketing Strategies: Building Employer Brands That Attract Talent © 2000 WetFeet.com
Source: Recruitment Marketing Strategies: Building Employer Brands That Attract Talent © 2000 WetFeet.com
This demonstrates that the current hiring process is set up to recruit candidates reactively, not proactively. “It is easier to deal with applicants who come to you then try to seek out new applicants. Without doubt, that is why actives account for such a disproportionate percentage of hires.”14
Another reason for the disparity may be that top-quality candidates regularly move between the active and passive realm, even exhibiting behaviors of both candidates depending on the job market, the economy or individual needs. In the following diagram, the dashed lines illustrate the open boundaries between candidate statuses.
A successful recruitment marketing campaign must utilize a complete media mix to cover the full-range of candidates in the job market as they move throughout the boundaries. “With the right message, a strong advertising campaign will reach active candidates immediately. However, a successful branding campaign will also resonate with passive job seekers when they enter the market.”15
14 WetFeet.com; Laura Sewell; Passive Candidates: Who They Are and How to Find Them
- 6 -
15 HEALTHeCAREERS.com 2/06 Newsletter; Capture Top Candidates with a Complete Media Mix
Creating a Balanced Recruitment Marketing Campaign
Transforming passive candidates into active prospects requires much more information and detail. Companies must generate awareness among passive candidates before they are ready to start actively searching. “To get these candidates the information needed to evaluate the opportunity objectively, companies must use a series of different recruiting and information-sharing approaches. The goal is to move candidates smoothly along a path of increasing knowledge and interest.”16 The point at which a candidate has enough information to realize the job is a good career move and shifts from a passive buying mode into an active selling position is referred to by Lou Adler as The Recruiting Inflection Point.
To facilitate this transition, companies must build top-of-mind awareness by utilizing various media to brand your company and educate potential employees on the benefits of your organization. Events expose candidates to your organization without the hard sell. They can meet with company representatives and get a feel for the organizational culture while recruiters can gather contact information and softly sell or evaluate candidates. News media and non-recruitment vehicles target the passive candidates while job boards or help wanted sections reach active candidates.
30% of all passive candidates in the WetFeet.com survey say they investigated employment opportunities with a company as a result of seeing their employment ad and 28% did so after seeing a general, branding or non-employment ad. 24% stated that they used news media to research employers in whom they were interested. Again, we see the significant role brand advertising plays in not only attracting clients or customers but also recruiting the quality passive candidates you need while staying ahead of the competition for talent.
Boston Globe Media can help generate a consistent pool of the qualified active and passive candidates you need through our branding and targeted recruitment marketing capabilities. We offer truly integrated multimedia marketing solutions through print, online, television, events and direct mail that cover as much or as little of the market as you need, reaching who you need, where you need them. Maintain a consistent brand presence and educate Boston’s top-notch passive candidates with the #1 news sources in the market, The Boston Globe and Boston.com, in the City region with Boston Metro and in the Western corridor with the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. And fill your openings quickly through active candidate targeting via BostonWorks print and online capabilities.
With a balanced recruitment marketing plan your company can enjoy a steady stream of quality candidates while avoiding the effects of the baby boomer retirement and increased competition for talent.

PeopleJam - Social Networking Site

PeopleJam is launching a new social network with the goal of helping people get more out of their lives. The idea is to combine issues like career, personal finance, and relationships with social networking features. The site features a variety of experts on various topics, and lets users create profiles, blogs, and videos to share their own experiences and receive advice on different life issues. To try and focus content on life issues, PeopleJam uses structure blogging, meaning that users are prompted to make posts about their goals, to share advice, or to make entries specific types of life experiences. Professional life coaches help moderate the community and also provide feedback to members of the site. PeopleJam also pulls in professional content such as inspirational audio and video.

Employee Background Checks and Security Checks On The Increase

Are you in the process of hiring employees? Have you carried out employee background checks yet? This article gives you some helpful hints on how to carry out these checks...

Employee Background Checks and Security Checks On The Increase

In the aftermath of 9-11, and the growing problem of workplace violence, the demand and need for employee background checks and security checks are now greater than ever.

Employers are turning to investigative companies in greater numbers to run employee background checks on new job applicants and existing employees, including positions where security may not have previously been given much consideration in the "pre 9-11" era.

Many employers are now requiring security clearances for many non-defense related "high-tech" positions including computer programming.

Employee background checks are required by Federal or State law for certain occupations such as jobs working with children, law enforcement, defense contractors, and any Federal employment.


Security clearances

Often, in employee background checks, especially where a security clearance is required, employers may run criminal records checks on the spouse of a job applicant as well and decide not to hire somebody based on their spouse's criminal record, even if the applicant has a squeaky clean record.

In a traditional employee background check, only the applicant or employee is investigated while for a security clearance, the spouse and other family members are investigated as well.

This holds true not just for top secret job positions within the US Military, or defense contractors, but now many "high-tech" civilian jobs such as programming as well.

Unfortunately in some situations, whom one is married to can determine their employability. A dishonorable discharge from the US Military will automatically eliminate any chances of getting a security clearance.

In an employee background check, some things cannot be reported:

• Civil lawsuits
• judgments older than 7 years
• paid tax liens and collections paid after 7 years
• bankruptcies older than 10 years
• All other information except for criminal convictions older than 7 years.

While employers are prohibited from requiring applicants to provide copies of their criminal records, they can obtain this information from other sources such as private agencies or public records.

Criminal histories or "rap sheets" are not public record in every state.

In some states such as California, these are only available to certain employers where employee background checks are required by State and/or Federal law such as public utilities, child care services, law enforcement, security companies, defense contractors.


Credit checks

A credit background check is very often part of an employee background check, however employers are required to obtain the employee's or applicant's written consent under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, FCRA (15 U.S.C. §1681).

Many employers consider a person's credit habits a good judge of character.

Following any decisions not to hire somebody based on their credit report, a copy of the report must be provided to the employee, or applicant, so they may have to option to challenge it.

Employers cannot fire a current employee for filing bankruptcy, but potential employers can legally reject a job applicant.

There are two different kinds of credit checks.

A standard credit bureau report is obtained from any one of the 3 credit bureaus, Equifax, Experion, or Transunion. This reveals a person's credit worthiness, credit habits, credit capacity.

An investigative consumer report is much more extensive and delves into a person's character, mode of living, reputation, etc. This is usually acquired by contacting associates, even neighbors or friends of the applicant to inquire as to their character.

In today's increasingly security-conscious world, employers feel they have a responsibility for the welfare and safety of their employees, company reputation, and liability.

Job seekers and employees can expect more employee background checks, and be placed under the microscope more than ever before.

5 Interviewing Mistakes That Can Lead To Hiring The Wrong Person

Are you in the process of hiring employees? The following article gives you an overview of 5 of the most common interviewing mistakes that you need to avoid, so that you don't hire the wrong person...

5 Interviewing Mistakes That Can Lead To Hiring The Wrong Person

Mistake #1: Going with the flow

Inexperienced interviewers sometimes fall into the trap of letting the interview become "free form", spending different amounts of time on different questions, basing follow-up questions on on how the candidates answer.

This can result in a candidate taking control of the interview and leading you where he or she wants to go, rather than where you can get the information you need.

Solution: Ask everyone the same questions.

Prepare a list in advance, based on the information you need, and use it as a guide throughout the interview. Put each question on a separate sheet of paper and prepare one set for each candidate.

As you move through the questions, use the appropriate sheets to make notes of the answers and your own observations and impressions. You can vary the follow up questions as necessary, but keep your notes on the main question page.

When you have followed this structure with all the candidates, you'll be able to compare them on an "apples to apples" basis.

Mistake #2: Asking predictable questions

Job applicants have many sources of help for interviewing, and it's easy to learn acceptable answers to the standard questions.

That means even the wrong candidate for your position could answer the questions in a way that fools you into thinking he or she is a fit.

Solution: Ask candidates questions that force them to expand on their answers, illustrating their thinking skills as well as their attitudes and job competencies.

Such questions might include:

• If you could design your own job, what would it look like?
• What's your favourite part of the work you do now? Why do you like that?

Ask questions like these and, instead of practised responses that tell you virtually nothing, you'll get insights into who these people really are.

Mistake #3: Whitewashing the job

If you have a candidate in front of you who seems like a great choice, you obviously want that person to accept your job offer.

Sometimes, though, you know the job has inherent challenges or downsides, and you may be afraid if you talk about these thing you will lose a good employee.

The trouble is, if you hire them and they discover the negatives themselves, you may well lose them in the first week!

Solution: Be candid about challenges in the job or within the company.

Watch for candidates who embrace and relish the challenges, and who can see beyond the negatives. These can become your most valued employees.

Mistake #4: Ignoring the question of "fit"

Every organization has a culture.

It comes from a blend of the industry you are in, the ages of those who work there, the size of the company, the number of people, the geographic location and many other factors.

But that culture creates its own work environment, and if employees are not comfortable with that environment or do not work well within it, they don't "fit". This person will never be an asset to your company, and may in fact leave very quickly.

Solution: Ask questions whose answers will demonstrate the candidate's personality and character, their attitudes towards the workplace.

An example of that type of question might be: Do you prefer a structured environment or a more loose, easy-going one? Why?

Mistake #5: Letting a candidate's one major positive blind you to the negatives

Sometimes a person might have one outstanding positive: worked for your major competitor, attended a university with a track record of successful graduates, or even just comes from your home town.

If you also instinctively like the individual, it is tempting to be overly influenced by this fact, and not pay enough attention to others that are not so attractive.

Solution: When recording your notes on each candidate (see solution to Mistake #1), be sure to record negatives as well as positives on the appropriate pages.

When you review your notes after the interview is over, you will be better able to balance the pros and cons impartially.

Candidates are often sophisticated job seekers, who are well prepared for the interview. To avoid costly hiring mistakes, hiring interviewers must be equally prepared for the process.

Beyond Recruitment

What is Recruitment:

Recruitment refers to the process of finding possible candidates for a job or function, usually undertaken by recruiters. It also may be undertaken by an employment agency or a member of staff at the business or organization looking for recruits and BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Lets forget about the definition for a while and talk about Recruitment in my language – oh and about me, I am a layman who have been walking in recruitment cycle in my day to day life. I started with technical recruitment for big companies Like IBM, EDS, Bank of America and many more. I know what you are thinking but I am not an expert recruiter, I am neither in States nor too old. It is said recruitment is an ongoing cycle as one day even recruiters would need a job.

Let’s put recruitment in meaningful sentence, recruitment refers to process of finding people for a particular job vacancy for a particular company. The position arises due to retirement, promotions BLAH BLAH BLAH

Okay enough of the crap on recruitment, I know everyone is aware of recruitment but hey – I am here to talk about recruitment on higher scale. How many corporate have heard about outsourcing recruitment process? I guest most of them know! But do you know that your job roles/functions you outsource to local recruitment agencies are outsourced again.

Strange right? Well… its true, local recruitment companies work faster then the corporate Companies.

Let see how.

Recruitment is grouped in two categories

1) Non- Core Recruitment

2) Core Recruitment

I would start with Non Core Recruitment, where one needs to spend 60% of their time searching and screening candidate profiles on job boards, internet, and head hunting or by networking. Job boards cost fortunes so logically not possible to have 5 to 6 job portals for a single organization. You won’t search more on internet as you can’t waste more then 70% of your time and networking takes longer then your defined time. Head hunting can be useful to you, which you think you will be good but you also miss all the other opportunities to find candidates, by not buying many job boards or not searching and giving more time on internet and networking.

Core recruitment includes calling candidates you have sourced, taking details, interview preparation, submitting candidates to client and all other procedures to earn money out of what you have and most important part is to develop your business.

Now you might not outsource your core business to companies as that is your business but you can surly outsource your non-core business to companies who are expert in searching on internet, they know where to find right candidate on right time. They have access to all the job boards as they have many clients to pay there gain and expenditures.

These companies are called offshore recruitment process outsourcing companies. 70% of fortune companies out source to local recruitment agencies in the same state and that local agencies outsource there requirements to India or China.
Other 30% directly outsource there requirements to India to China and save cost by not giving to local recruitment companies.

There are many benefits of outsourcing your recruitment processes to ORPO (offshore recruitment process outsourcing) companies and if you want to know how contact

Mail on tihsur@gmail.com OR

call

Robert Drake at 646 429 0905 (US) 08454 666600 (within the UK) or Company website

Os2i Limited

Recruitment Outsourcing - gaining ground in India

Next in line after the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) boom, it is Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) that is steadily gearing up for a new role.

RPO- it aims at taking the burden out of the head-hunting business of the corporate sector, particularly at a time when the dearth of talents is estimated by half a million in the coming years, RPO comes with lots of prospects. New and varied opportunity like retailing etc. has opened fresh horizon for RPO to play a major role to bridge this gap between demand and supply. This will increase RPO service providers role in India.

There is an intense war for talent. The hiring estimation for India is growing at an alarming state, and the clients are demanding higher quality candidates with increased efficiency. The RPO theory has been proved in the Western countries, however in India, the sector is currently at its infancy stage. Only few RPO firms currently cater to the needs of various domestic as well as multi-nationals in hiring employees for them.

RPO is primarily being practiced in two models - one is pure sourcing and providing support services to on-shore based recruiters to enhance their productivity and effectiveness. Second one- is a full cycle recruiting from sourcing, screening and on-boarding for both temporary contract as well as permanent positions. This is to reduce the overall cost of recruiting process and to improve competence at the same time.

The industry is expected to grow at around 30 to 35 percent in the next five years. It is estimated that within the Indian market, the total annual spend on recruitment is Rs.700 crore. This can supposedly be considered the potential size of the RPO business in India.

With the shortage of qualified talents and growing attrition rate, companies are forced to outsource the entire recruitment process, ranging from needs assessment to screening, and interviewing candidates.

The growing pressure to fill in vacancies every now and then, 80 percent of the HR personnel fail to concentrate on the real HR activities, including training, staffing needs, ensuring performance. So when it comes to RPO that takes care of the entire recruitment process and saves time and cost of companies, its a welcome move.