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Let's face it, we don't very often get paid for the easy search. All too frequently a client provides a list of candidate requirements that make it seem impossible that such a candidate exists. For instance, we recently needed a Physician Assistant with specialty in cardiothoracic surgery and extensive experience in laparoscopy - rare bird. We needed a list of all the laparoscopic savvy PA's so we could find one with any amount of CT experience.


Where do you get a list of PA's with laparoscopic experience? Our research team was able to provide us with a list of such candidates within a radius of our target location. Their "creativity" enabled us to win with a tough assignment and allowed our recruiter to spend her time on the phone, not searching for resources.


That's our goal - to be your one, On Target Recruiting Resource for your search needs...


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Focus is key to execution. Anyone who has ever had to get ready to go on vacation knows the truth of that statement. It is incredible what you can get done in a short period of time when you have to get it done so that you can leave for vacation!


Our ability to consistently complete predetermined objectives on time is completely dependent on our ability to focus. These predetermined objectives include such things as getting paid every month, delivering candidates to clients in a timely fashion, etc.


What is your "practice time" as a recruiter really worth? Assuming that you want to bill $250k this year. That would be my minimum goal for a recruiter since that will get him or her over the $100k mark in commissions. The key to achieving that goal is your ability to focus for three 90 minute practice sessions each day, five days per week. That means that you only have 60 hours per month or 720 hours per year of "practice time". Here's the math: $250k divided by 720 sessions = $347.


So, every day you fail to practice one hour; every call block you miss costs you $347. Every day you fail to focus costs you $1,041. So, go ahead and spend your time responding to inane email, or reading the MSN news page....but know that every hour you lose costs you big time!


ONE OF THE MAJOR KEYS TO FOCUS is being prepared for the day. When you are a member of On Target Recruiting Resources that is no problem as we prepare your call lists for you. Ready. Set. Focus...


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Someone once said "Let no one say, 'I haven't enough time', because you have all the time there is!" Successful people know that time management is really a matter of self-management since time can't really be managed. Here are some sobering facts about (sales personnel) recruiters and their time:

  • The average sales person is distracted every 11 minutes and it takes an average of 25 minutes to get back on track (University of California, 2008).
  • The typical inside sales person is making 8.12 calls per day and logs an average total talk time of 33 minutes/day.
  • 80% of sales calls result in leaving a voice mail.


Fact is that we all know that we need to make an average of 85-100 calls per day to experience success in the recruiting space. We don't need a university study to tell us that we frequently fail to meet that goal. Here are some suggestions for success:

  1. Have a plan - The number one reason for failure to achieve call goals is that our lists are not prepared when we sit down to work in the morning. Investing the last hour of the day in preparing for the next is the best spent hour of the day. Better yet, why not get all your lists organized on Friday afternoon (no one is answering their phone anyway)?
  2. Schedule call blocks - I recommend three call blocks of 90 minutes each with 15 minute breaks in between. These blocks should be balanced between sourcing and marketing, follow-up and cold calls.
  3. Hit it hard first thing in the morning - Get your three blocks done early in the day to ensure that they actually happen. This will build your momentum and confidence as well as ensure your routine success.
  4. Eliminate interruptions - Top three interruptions: (1) email, make it wait until noon, (2) telephone, send it to voicemail, (3) coworkers, inform them to leave you alone until 12:30PM every day.


Almost everyone knows what they need to do. Successful people actually figure out a way to routinely get the mission critical tasks done. Change the equation. Take draconian measures if necessary. Your future depends on today.


On Target Recruiting Resources can be part of the solution to having a plan - we provide "ready to call" lists customized to your search needs - up to 300 leads per week.


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How many times have you missed an opportunity because you simply didn't have time to market that hot rod Director of Nursing? You simply never got around to it. What if you had a current list of posted opportunities in the candidate's target area so that you only had to make 12 calls in the morning to get the marketing ball rolling? Here's what such a resource would mean for your firm:

  • Maximize your call blocks with a "ready to call" list
  • Increase the number of MPC you can market in a given week or month
  • Improve candidate satisfaction with your services with on-time delivery of interviews
  • Eliminate the feeling that you are missing out on business you could capture


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Business development guru Michael Port is famous for his "red velvet rope policy." The principle is that we need to have a red velvet rope policy for choosing clients so that we only work with the ideal clients that energize, inspire, and pay us. Todd Duncan says, "If you don't aim for the best prospects you will do business with any prospect.'


Where do you find time to line up client prospect calls? It's difficult when your time is eaten up by your current, high maintenance clients. That is unless you have On Target Recruiting Resources providing you with "ready to call" prospect lists. Whether you want to target non-profit facilities nationwide or all the facilities in a State or region, our call lists will enable you to land the clients you need.


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Yes, the gatekeeper is often our ally - but sometimes they can't be turned. What if you had the name and email address of the CEO, COO, or CNO so you could contact them directly? This information is available to our monthly subscribers along with marketing lists for the A players you are attempting to market.


Recently one of our monthly subscribers wanted the name of all the CEO's in a major metropolitan market. They were provided the next day. A few days later he called and said it would be helpful to have their email addresses as well. No problem...


Monthly subscribers have a full research department at their disposal. When they encounter a tough assignment or need something unique, help is only a phone call away. Outsource your research with On Target Recruiting Resources today.


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Since the advent of the Internet, recruiting is all about job boards, resume banks, deep web searches, and various web "spiders," all promising to instantly provide top quality candidates and to abbreviate the placement time line. Last night I tried one of the new "cutting edge" tools, InfoGist's "Platinum Recruiter." The designers promise "the highest quality resumes," "unmatched precision," "automatic searching," and "targeted emailing" all just a mouse click away. So, I took the bait signed up for the demo and ran a series of searches using very specific as well as general key words. Total usable resumes surfaced in three different disciplines? Zero.


But that is all beside the point, which is this: Unemployment in the U.S. is about 10% overall and about 15% of the working population has their resumes posted at any given time, which means that searching resume databases will likely yield two kinds of candidates: (1) the unemployed, read "unemployable," and (2) the 10% who are always fishing for the greener grass. Meanwhile, the 85% happily employed are completely overlooked by the resume database search strategy.


Not to mention the fact that corporate recruiting departments and thousands of other recruiting firms are all "mining" these same resume databases for candidates in an effort to avoid having to actually pick up the phone to talk to a candidate! I know that this is the case because I regularly get the same candidate referred to our office by 4-5 different affiliates, often within minutes of each other and rarely see a uniquely sourced candidate referral.


The unique contribution that we bring to the marketplace is fresh, pristine, untapped candidates of remarkable quality. We catch them working competently for someone else. We listen to them talk about their passion for patients and frustration with corporate policies that prevent them from providing the best care. We discover health care heroes every day. And we do this by pro-actively introducing ourselves to hundreds of potential candidates daily. No resume spider software can come close to this.


On Target Recruiting Resources can provide you all the leads you need to source passive candidates, day in and day out.


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"If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete." - Jack Welch, Former Chairman of General Electric


Successful recruiting is not about luck (send out lots of people and hope somebody gets hired), but about design. While there is no way to ensure the outcome of a sendout or an interview, it is possible to ensure that the "odds" are tipped in your favor.


A competitive edge is whatever tips the odds of success in your favor. Having a competitive edge is like a double-edged sword because advantages can be internal (your personal gifts, abilities, and expertise) and external (such as technology, information, or partnership).


Firms that have On Target Recruiting Resources as their partner have a definite competitive edge. They can spend more time talking to candidates and clients and less time preparing to do so.


What is your competitive edge? Here's the motto: "No edge, no play."


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Recruiting is all about being in the right place at the right time. Of course, to be in the right place at the right time, you have to be in a lot of places all the time. So, every recruiter worth his or her salt is very aware of how many calls they must make to put enough candidates in the pipeline in order to expect a certain level of return. In most cases a hundred calls generally nets 8-12 potential candidates.


But it is not just about the number of calls. According to Skip Miller in Knock Your Socks Off Prospecting, success depends on a number of factors. He suggests that our metric for successful cold calling should include at least three elements:

  • Number of Calls or emails where we actually connected with someone or receive a response
  • Talk Time - There is a direct correlation between time on the call and successful conversion (1-3 mins is normal, 3-7 is good, 8+ minutes = high dollar)
  • Next Step Calls - where a real conversation occurs, agreement is secured from the client for taking the next steps, and the client meets the agreed upon goals.


So, be sure to give your candidates homework before you get off the call - one simple assignment (send me a resume, send me a reference, etc.). Then set a date to reconnect. Your success rate will go way up.


Subscribers of On Target Recruiting Resources have more time for talk and more time for follow-up because their call blocks are ready for them every day.


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