Comments on: The Real World of Recruiting

By: Jeff Altman

Jeff Altman — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 13:02:32 +0000

To me, there is no such thing as some generic “exceptional talent,” or “A++ candidate.” After all, my clients don’t hire “exceptional talent” in some generic sense. They hire exceptional talent for their environment. To someone else’s firm, these people may be B’s and C’s, not A’s but to my clients, they are an A.

My job is to understand the skills my clients want, how they measure those skills (every firm does it differently) and give them what they want at a price they are willing to pay or educate them as to why I am unwilling to invest time to work to fill their job and risk having them not contact me again.

As I wrote here at the time of his death, Steve Jobs wouldn’t have been hired by a lot of firms. Clearly, he was not “a team player” and had many personality peculiarities. Yet Steve Jobs changed the world and opened our eyes to possibilities.

For many firms, he would have been a D performer who would not have been worth hiring.

By: Edward Sussek

Edward Sussek — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:09:21 +0000

Keith – I think many of the “experts” overlook the basics. Fundamentally, Recruiting has not changed in that we find people and sell them on the opportunity. The tools have changed but the fundamentals stay the same. Recruiters need to know the product (jobs) and present it in such a way as to sell it to people.

Whatever the metrics or measures Recruiting still comes down to sales and marketing. These are the “experts” we should be talking to.

By: Keith Halperin

Keith Halperin — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:41:02 +0000

Mine too, Nancy. Quite timely in some ways….

-kh

By: Nancy Robin Gillman, MBA, SPHR

Nancy Robin Gillman, MBA, SPHR — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 03:57:57 +0000

Network–one of my favorite movies…

By: Keith Halperin

Keith Halperin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:32:14 +0000

Thanks, Michelle. I think that’s a really good topic. Fell free to contact me off-forum to discuss. I’d welcome the input of any skilled-trades recruiters out there- this is a national shortage, from what I understand….

Cheers,

Keith keithsrj@sbcglobal.net

By: Michelle Monsma

Michelle Monsma — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:18:50 +0000

Keith, here’s a topic I’d love to read more about. So much of the advice on sourcing and recruiting seems geared toward hiring for professional positions. I’m a corporate HR generalist for a 125 person rural manufacturing company. I’d love to read some advice on how to source and recruit hourly manufacturing people. I’ve tried some of the recommended search techniques for professionals, and they just don’t seem to work for finding people such as machine operators and welders.