Creative Recruiting

By Dr. Larry Craft

In this extremely thin personnel market, recruiters are so desperate to find qualified candidates that the only test they want to administer is a 'breath test' to see if the candidate is able to breathe. They feel they can't afford to exclude any candidates using pre employment testing or interviewing because they have too many jobs and too few candidates to fill them.

One particular HR manager in North Carolina told me last week that his company is replacing all selection systems with contract recruiters who are paid to find anyone who is interested in their sales positions. Their sales managers, who have never had a day of training on interviewing and selecting the best candidates, then make the final hiring decision. Literally millions of dollars will be spent hiring unqualified candidates who will most likely be gone within six months. Their belief is that desperate conditions demand desperate actions. Their actions beg the question, 'Is this recruiting market really this desperate?' Without a doubt, recruiting is difficult when the unemployment rate drops to the lowest levels in over a decade. However, a popular axiom tells us, 'When the going gets tough, the tough get going.'

It reminds me of one of the worst recessions ever faced by the recruiting industry in Houston, Texas in the early 1980's. Over a dozen personnel recruiting firms closed their doors because their client companies stopped hiring when the oil industry dried up. They could find all the applicants they needed, but couldn't find the client companies to hire them. Yet, a few companies continued to succeed in these most adverse conditions. I had the opportunity to study their success and discover the reasons why they succeeded and so many others failed. Talent Tree, a fledgling company at the time, and Burnett Personnel both transcended the recession by hiring highly motivated and creative 'racehorses' who just couldn't accept failure. This special breed of salesperson obsessed on the 'finish line' and kept driving themselves until they found success. They wouldn't take 'no' for an answer and had a 'can do' attitude that had no room for excuses. Just as important, they had an intense creativity that kept trying new solutions until they found something that worked. They tried new markets and new approaches until they began making sales once again.

Today, recruiters have a different problem. They can find the client companies but they can't find the applicants. Once again, those companies that have hired racehorse recruiters are the ones who are coping with these adverse conditions. These are the creative recruiters who are still able to find the applicants needed to fill their positions. They are trying new markets and new approaches and 'making things happen' that could not have happened by following the status quo. And they've shared a few of their ideas with me. Let's just call it Creative Recruiting Tips.

Tip #1 - - Ask your present applicants for referrals to new applicants. Tell them, "We are presently interviewing for a 2^nd position and would like to ask for your help. Who would be one of your most intense competitors who you'd like to see take up a new profession?"

Tip #2 - - Insert a recruiting advertisement into every piece of mail that leaves your office. Talk to the home office about inserting recruiting ads into all billing statements.

Tip#3 - - Create 'sponsorship' programs that give your present employees a cash bonus for referring new employees. Pay them $25.00 for every interviewed candidate and $500.00 if they are hired and $500.00 more if they are still with you after six months. Employees who are hired from sponsorship referrals have significantly higher retention than employees who are hired through newspaper advertising.

Tip #4 - - Take your employees, one at a time, to lunch regularly and let them know how much you need their help to find quality candidates. Remind them of the sponsorship program.

Tip #5 - - Print special business cards that have recruiting information on one side and your name and telephone number on the other. Give them to your employees to hand out whenever they run into a qualified applicant.

Tip #6 - - Negotiate with your local personnel recruiting firm to provide you with any applications or resumes they receive who they can't place immediately. Tell them you'll contact those applicants and pay the recruiter $500 for every candidate you hire and $500.00 more if they are still employed after six months.

Tip #7 - - Join one or two local organizations and attend their meetings regularly. Let everyone know you are recruiting for a particular position and ask for help to find qualified candidates.

Tip #8 - - Use the Internet. It is quickly becoming an excellent resource for technical and non-technical job skills.

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