“So what should I call myself?”
How about a “Solid, Decent, and Competent Recruiter”?
For many of the “Recruiting Thought Leaders” (not those here on ERE of course), if that description was EVER in their pasts, it was so long ago- “that boat hasn’t just sailed, it sailed, sank, and got filmed in IMAX for a documentary by James Cameron!”

YOWZA!

Keep up the Good Work,

Keith

Cheers,

Keith keithsrj@sbcglobal.net

Thanks for the article, I’m definitely following.

“The usual answer most people accept jobs.”

Cheers,

Keith

I agree with you Richard and you bring up a good point. In fact most recently I was chastised for suggesting to do exist interviews because the company stated, “we did that before and employees just got mad because we did not implement any change from the suggestions and exit interviews and it just caused more grief!) I did the research and have changed my stance a bit on that. In realizing that I could only change myself, because of my honesty, the 100+ candidates that I brought in came to me and let me know their challenges and personal wins and I think that counts.
I am a bit unclear on what you mean by speaking to employees like that. I did, however, want to reflect that once you find the ideal candidate, who likes the environment, support them and cheer them on! A smile goes a long way in retention!
To me saying “my gripe is not with my job or company because I chose to work there and I believe such companies can and do have massive opportunities. That’s why I’m there” is why you are an ideal candidate / employee for environments such as yours. You are not a whiner rather a survivor an a good mentor to those who may question what they are doing at the company!
I have the same gripe with thought leaders who do offer almost an “in a perfect world” scenario. You bring up a great point. I hope you checked out my profile – I am the real deal. Check out my LinkedIn profile and go to http://www.jackyeclayton.com. I do get it! When I read stuff from some thought leaders, it is like Madonna telling me how to get my before children body back. Believe me, if I had chefs, trainers a gym in my house and a plastic surgeon I would! What I can do, like Ghandi said, “be the change I want to see in the world” and do the best with what I have. Sometimes, money is not the incentive but rather a smile and a pat on the back.
Richard, thank you for your opinion and insight! Also, thanks for being real! I would love to connect and hear more of your opinions. It looks like I could learn a great deal from you.

Thanks again for this excellent contribution.

Regards:
Anmol Singh

Keith

I think everyone defines #1 differently though, Tim. That’s the key: find the people who do consider your company #1 or one of the best, or at least tolerable, and try and target them. Definitely scoop them up when they happen to come your way too.

@ Richard: you’re stealing my thunder! My beef with the so called (and possibly “self-proclaimed) “thought leaders” is just like yours- they work in a very rarefied environment far from “the real world of recruiting”. They get healthy fees to speak to and advise high-level staffing execs at wealthy companies, by basically telling them what they want to hear so as to make the execs feel that they are really doing something, when very little meaningful is actually done. (If the staffing execs REALLY wanted to do something, they’d work closely with those of us actually doing the staffing, listen to what what we suggest, and implement the best of those ideas. THEN, they’d go to the high-level consultants if additional help were needed.) After awhile, many of these bogus “TLs” start believing their own hype, and utter “pronouncements on-high” with only casual relationship to fact-based results. Their entourages of sycophantic followers keep them carefully oblivious of how divorced from reality they actually are, as does the continuing stream of well-paid talks and consulting engagements…Of course, none of these fake “TLs” are ever to be found on ERE.

Cheers,

Keith “Wish I Got Money Like a Thought Leader” Halperin

What I think is missing, however, is an explanation of what the company is doing about their situation. Sure, you may find that candidate you mentioned that likes the chaos, but you’re sure to find many more that won’t give you the time of day. If you want to recruit top candidates, you have to be an employer of choice. On of my favorite stats: 75% of Americans wouldn’t accept a job at a company with a bad reputation, even if they were unemployed.
http://www.staffingindustry.com/Research-Publications/Daily-News/Bad-Reputation-75-Would-Refuse-Job-Offers

Yahoo has had this problem – nobody wants to work there, and employees frequently leave to work for top companies like Google, Apple or Facebook. Melissa Meyer has a plan to change that – and I’d bet she’s sharing it with recruits to get them to overcome objections. It’s a slow and arduous process, but a necessary one. You can’t expect candidates to walk into a disaster of a company, and actually stay put – you need to do something about it.

I recently did a webinar on how to get better quality candidates through your employer brand – check it out and let me know what you think!

Increase your Quality of Hire with Employer Branding
http://www.bright.com/recruiter/webinars/quality-hire-employer-branding/recording

Best,

Jen Picard
Marketing Director, Bright.com
http://www.bright.com/recruiter

My gripe is with sites like Ere and ‘thought leaders’ who often give great advice… for people who are working in multi billion dollar corporations with endless access to data and resources to implement every best practice idea ever conceived. The articles often seem completely detached from the reality many of us deal with, not often having access to the necessary reporting, the necessary resources, or top level monetary and non monetary compensation to offer to entice top performers.

Opportunity cost is an issue not often dealt with, and articles more often than not present Great Idea X, but with little to no data to back up its effectiveness, and so little to nothing to use to make a decision on whether or not it’s worth pursuing if it means you would have to forego another option, and that’s what it always means.

Thank you!
I got the numbers from Book author Peggy Klaus. She says: “Research, conducted with Fortune 500 CEOs by the Stanford Research Institute International and Carnegie Mellon Foundation, found that 75% of long-term job success depends on people skills, while only 25% on technical knowledge. Another study of headhunters hiring CEOs ranked the ability to communicate and motivate as necessary attributes for positively affecting the bottom line. And when they do provide these soft-skills training, the programs are often exclusively reserved for “high-potential” employees or senior executives.

And you are right. There are no perfect candidates but I was referring more to perfect for the company you are recruiting for. Our definitions I think are very close if not the same! :) And so maybe the arrogant jerk is the perfect candidate! :) This new over sell under deliver mentality can be painful!

You provide great insight on how to try to recruit “all-stars” who can turn the team/organization around.