Selfishly, I always had too much to do and too little time to do it, so closing was a way to drive a decision as soon as possible in the process–less wasted time. Closing starts in the first conversation and doesn’t stop until the candidate is hired or out of the process.

This is one of the most under-developed skills for corporate recruiters. I think it boils down to the courage and the confidence to ask the important questions early and often.

George – I’m glad you’ve raised this issue because it’s one I was concerned would lend itself to misunderstanding. The primary thing I’m trying to encourage people to do is start the closing process from the beginning. By definition, this means we use these closing techniques with candidates we won’t want to hire (nor will they all want to join.) The danger is that if we reserve the use of these techniques for fully-vetted candidates, it is too late for much of it to be useful. Furthermore, while it wasn’t the focus of the article, these are also selection tools that benefit both the candidate and the firm. (For instance, being clear on the candidate’s reasons for a job change allows you to also collectively evaluate how good of a match you have, etc.)

Someshwar – Thanks for highlighting the 3rd party connection. While I’ve been on the corporate side for over 10 years now, virtually all of the closing techniques I’ve learned came in my contingency recruiting days. (There’s nothing like a full-commission job to get you motivated on increasing your closing skills.) A major way a recruiting firm can differentiate itself from competition is by doing this well. I can’t tell you how many times we received resumes from an agency who can’t tell us the basics of what the person is looking for (opportunity, location, compensation). Adding value from the start of the process is what earns the right to have influence at the offer stage as well.

Agreed. You and I both know that not all recruiters are mitigating the risks and that is the case both for in-house and TPR’s. If done right as stated above the risks can be addressed throughout the process leading to a successful close.

Thanks,

Mark

I do stand by my point that not all deals should be closed. It is in everyone’s best interest for the recruiter and the organization to help the recruit do a real due diligence after the offer is made and before it is accepted to mitigate three risks:
– organizational risk
– role risk
– personal risk
If those risks can’t be mitigated, the best recruiters will not push to close a bad deal. I’ve spent too much time since 2002 cleaning up bad deals to keep quiet on this point. We’ve reduced the risk of failure from 40% to 10%. Mitigating these three risks is the only way to get below 10%.

George Bradt – PrimeGenesis Executive Onboarding

George – a little surprised with your response (and unashamed self promotion on another person’s post)- your comment is a given to recruiters – at the beginning of the process and if you get to the closing stage – that this move is the right move for the candidate, company and supporters. If not, either the hiring manager, the recurter or the candidate will make the decision to have the candidate removed from consideration.

The point of the article is to give recruiters (potentially geared towards the more junior) real deal training on how to be closing candidates effectively and efficiently. In addition, it is a good article for the more experienced recruiters out there to remember the basics.

Kevin – good question – pose it to an ERE group or LI group and you should get some helpful responses.

Dan – thanks again for a great post and one that in my opinion will be useful to many recruiters.

I’m a Corporate Recruiter, what I notice is that he just sees it as filling slots.

The goal should certainly be an accepted offer if taking the job is the right move for the candidate, his or her supporters, and the organization over time. On the other hand, recruiters want a “no, thanks” if it’s not. Far better to have the wrong candidate say “no” than show up, fail, and leave after a few months.

We go into depth on this in our new book, “Onboarding – How To Get Your New Employees Up To Speed In Half The Time.” (Wiley, August 26, 2009) There’s a downloadable executive summary of the book at http://www.onboardingtools.com.

George Bradt – PrimeGenesis Executive Onboarding
http://www.primegenesis.com