I received 5 emails citing interest and two calls. I hired one of the people who called as the other person who called – quite qualified mind you – couldnt meet the fee parameters I have in place with my client.

I had some email exchanges but they all fizzled out when solutions were saddled with price tags that didn’t make sense (not in this economy).

This made me realize two things:

1) I myself need to pick up the phone more often than email – I have some good projects going and am looking around wondering why I havent seen more success from my sales efforts. I believe it is b/c I am making less than 20 sales calls per week. That number needs to be higher.

FYI – at Careerbuilder they make 50-100 dials per day to sell their product. You can argue that custom sourcing adds more value and isnt a commodity if you like… but since both products are supposed to lead to hires I think we can draw some parallels.
2) Creative fee structuring is a requirement in any bear market. To Keith’s point – just b/c they need it doesnt mean they can afford it. I am asking for retainers and fees upon completion of task; I am breaking my fee apart across different quarters and fiscal years (when possible); and depending on the company, I am also taking equity in lieu of cash fee (if you can afford it I recommend trying this at least once).

Just my $.02.

“At least 75% of ordinary recruiting costs can be done away with using a sourcer who understands how to use the Internet as well as the phone (yes, sourcers, you’re going to have to up your game).”

Could you elaborate on this? What is it based on?

…………………………………………………..

“As Dr. John Sullivan pointed out in his October column, freezes lead to “a majority” of internal recruiters being laid off and also severely limit the amount of work going to agencies. However, most freezes are and have been hastily and poorly executed, and rather than saving money, often cause serious damage to companies by leaving key revenue-generating roles either unfilled or under-serviced.

These companies have cut off their noses to spite their faces and have crippled themselves moving forward.”

We have heard that good retention policies benefit organizations (though I maintain they inherently jeopardize recruiters’ job security without modification of our compensation and job expectations). In a job climate like todays’s, a stable company has a very strong retention incentive, if only because there are so few other options. How has this “crippled themselves moving forward?”

…………………………………………………..

“Think about it — there is nobody left in many recruiting departments to fulfill the needs (and the needs are arising, still, and will always arise unless the company is out of business!) to source and even develop candidate leads. Many staffing departments (if they’re left at all) are down to bare-bones minimum — maybe one or two persons left out of a normal 70 to 100 person workforce. They need your help more than they ever have, and believe it or not, many of those few remaining don’t know you exist or what help you can be to them! Enlighten them.”

I agree with this. At the same time, needing something and being able to pay for it are two very different things. We should search for companies that still need help and can’t afford to pay as much as they did, but can still pay SOMETHING. How do we do this? Here’s one way: do a search on any board or website for “sign-on bonus” or “referral bonus” or something similar. If an outfit is still paying this to find someone (typically medically-related these days) they’re more likely to be able to afford to pay YOU.
………………………………………………….

As far as transferring your skills: I’d be cautious about doing lead generation. Why? You can get lead generators for $1000 per month. However, there are lots of folks who are willing and able to pay for you to find things out for them. What kinds? Research it and see, then call them!

Burned out and miserable? Misery loves company! Partner with a similarly-situated friend whom you trust and do job searches for each other.

Finally, here are links to a collection of job-hunting resources:
The Riley Guide (http://www.rileyguide.com/) and
Job-Hunt: (http://www.job-hunt.org/).

Good Hunting,

Keith “Occasionally Useful” Halperin keithsrj@sbcglobal.net

Gregg Dourgarian
ceo, tempworks software

One job to consider is helping colleges and universities with their admissions recruitment….