In the first article in this series I defined six skills that a recruiter must possess in order to effectively recruit passive candidates. Collectively, they’re called the 6Cs. While all are important, some are more critical than others. Here are the results of a recent poll we took of corporate and third-party recruiters asking them to define the most important of the six skills. Here’s the link to the poll so you can participate yourself. You might want to do this before you read the rest of this article. This way your responses won’t be biased.

The top three vote getters in this poll were the need to articulate a Compelling message, the ability to quickly convert your job opening into a Career move, and the Conviction that you won’t give up despite candidate reluctance to move ahead. The least important — at least according to the poll participants — were the need to Control the conversation, the ability to develop deep Connections, and Closing the deal, without money being the primary driver. If you’re a third-party recruiter you know this is upside down. Controlling, Connecting, and Closing are the most important. Without these, Compelling messages, Career opportunities, and Conviction won’t get you any more hires.

I’ll give the corporate recruiters who took the poll a break here since I didn’t define the 6Cs other than using the description shown on the chart. So let me better define and demonstrate why Controlling, Connecting, and Closing are the most important.

Why Control is #1 on the 6Cs Hit Parade

When first approached by a recruiter, passive candidates make a quick decision to engage in a conversation based on a few core pieces of information.

These generally cover factors like job title, company, location, and compensation. However, when candidates actually accept an offer, or even seriously consider one, the factors used to make this assessment are not the same. In this case they focus on job content, growth opportunity, chance to make an impact, the hiring manager’s leadership qualities, the team, and of course, compensation. But even in this case, compensation is somewhere in the middle of the list, rather than at the top. There is where “Control” comes into play and why it’s so important that the recruiter understand it thoroughly (article).

Control allows the recruiter to bridge the gap between the criteria the candidate uses to first engage in a conversation and those used to make a career decision after having a full set of information. It requires a combination of appropriate questioning, the ability to smoothly address concerns, and the ability to instantly shift the conversation from short-term to long-term. This is an essential skill if you want to increase the number of strong prospects in your candidate pool. If you want to either recruit passive candidates or network with them, you must start with a thorough understanding of the 6Cs, but be a master at Control.

Why Closing the Deal Is in the Top 3 of the 6Cs

One could argue that closing is more important than control, and should be the #1 of the 6Cs (article). Consider that if you can’t close the deal, everything else you do is a waste of time, effort, and resources. Let me be perfectly clear on this point. Closing encompasses the actual negotiation with the candidate, getting the person to accept the offer on reasonable terms, and making sure the person considers your offer on all critical short- and long-issues. Making matters more challenging is the idea that the person was not looking for a new opportunity until you called. Under this scenario that person will likely get a counteroffer that’s more competitive than what you’re offering, or worse, the person will immediately start looking and find something else better. Under this scenario, the ability to hold the deal together and close effectively takes center stage.

The fact that only 3% of those taking the poll considered this ability most important dumbfounds me.

Why Connecting Deserves to Be in the Top Three of the 6Cs

Most of you know I do a great deal of work training corporate recruiters to optimize their use of LinkedIn’s talent suite of products through networking (article). What surprises me is that corporate recruiters still think of LinkedIn as a flat list of 120 million names of largely passive candidates. For an external recruiter, it’s a 360° interconnected 3D map of every single person in the U.S. (soon the world). The idea here is that rather than finding your ideal candidate directly, consider instead contacting someone who might know the best candidate, and then provide a referral. For example, I called partners in CPA firms to identify great controllers they’ve worked with in the past. I connected with buyers at major retail chains to find out who the best salespeople they know are. And I’ve contacted product managers to find great engineers they’ve worked with on launching new products. Getting a referral like this is even better, since these people they call you back right away. And even better than that, these people are all fully qualified, since this is how you initially got their name.

So stop calling people you don’t know as a primary means for finding passive candidates. Instead start networking with everyone you do know and have them give you two or three names of the best people who are directly connected to them. If you start doing this on every call, pretty soon you’ll realize that connecting is really how you source passive candidates. (We’re holding a series of webcasts in the next few weeks demonstrating how to take connecting to another level and why you should give your TPRs a hug, rather than banish them.)

The 6Cs are the quintessential skills for any third-party recruiter who expects to survive and thrive in the current economic environment. Corporate recruiters need to think and act like TPRs if they expect to have success finding, recruiting, and hiring passive candidates in any significant quantity. While corporate recruiters might have the ability to deal with passive candidates, I’m not sure they have the hunger for it.

There’s nothing 100% foolproof and guaranteed, but good methods of pre-qualifying candidates regarding counteroffers will make your life less stressful and more financially rewarding. In addition, if you are straight in your qualifying methods you may even weed out the candidate who would accept the counteroffer and possibly leave you hanging.

First, I know the word “never” is a strong one. I don’t use it lightly or without substantial consideration as my world, both personal and professional, is gray. In this case I believe accepting a counteroffer is positive in a fraction of the cases and it’s just not worth the risk.

It can be career suicide. A counteroffer may be both tempting and flattering to the candidate in question. It may be very appealing to a candidate who isn’t truly committed to leaving his job. I have known people who accepted counteroffers and, most often, they regret their actions.

As a recruiter you must resist the temptation to persuade your candidates into accepting your offer if you have even the slightest hint that the position in question isn’t the right fit. It’s hard, especially if/when you’re depending on acceptance to make a living. We know people buy on emotion, and enticing someone to take your offer (or the current company getting their employee to accept a counteroffer) by getting him excited and hopeful is just plain out of integrity. Temptation can be very seductive and hard to resist. As George Bernard Shaw said, “I never resist temptation because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me.” That said, let’s look a some of the reasons not to accept a counteroffer. Make sure you’re using these reasons for them to decline a counteroffer wisely throughout the recruiting cycle.

1. The current employer is attempting to cover their tush. When you quit they lose money. When you quit the manager looks bad. Better to keep you on board until they can find a replacement. If that happens your pink slip will follow in short order.
2. You become a fidelity risk to your current employer. You’ve threatened to quit once. It’s only a matter of time before you do it again, and smart companies won’t allow themselves to be put into this situation. You will never be perceived the same to them once you’ve threatened to quit and decided to stay.
3. Any situation which causes an employee to seek outside offers is suspect. For example, if money is your issue why does it take a full court press for your employer to realize they need to pay you more? If you’re worth more money now, why weren’t you worth it 15 minutes earlier?
4. The reasons for you wanting to quit will still remain, even if they are temporarily shaded.
5. Quality, well-run companies won’t give counteroffers…ever! How would you feel if one of your employees forced you into something? ”If you don’t X, then I’m quitting.” I know I’d be angry. I’d be more than angry. If they don’t like working for you then they should go.

If you do get the urge to accept a counteroffer, just be prepared for the consequences whenever they do show up.

One CEO characterized it by saying “our ship rises, while the competitor ship sinks.”

This Is the Best Time in Decades

The bursting of the housing bubble and credit crisis, which makes capital for acquisitions harder to come by, combined with the growth of social networking, which offers unprecedented visibility into the talent networks of competing organizations, make this an ideal time to grow your organizations through “lift-outs.” As more and more work inside modern enterprises has become project-oriented and mission-critical tasks have been consolidated, it’s easier than ever to recruit intact teams capable of dramatically increasing your organization’s capability in new areas or expanding your capacity in existing areas. The approach brings all of the positive aspects of an acquisition without all of the headaches that emerge post acquisition as the acquiring company seeks to identify synergies and pare down redundancies (layoffs). It’s also possible to conduct lift-offs where a team is recruited away from organizations exercising mass layoffs (one team recently put itself up for auction on eBay).

But That’s Stealing

If your initial thought is that this is large-scale “stealing,” you are simply out of touch. Salespeople don’t have ethical issues when they proactively “poach” away a large number of a competitor’s customers. In recruiting, is not illegal or even unethical to offer individuals new and more exciting employment opportunities. In fact, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission recently ruled that companies like Google and Apple that put together secret agreements restricting the free movement of employees between companies were unfairly restricting worker freedom. Since employees are not owned, you are free to make them offers and they are free to accept or reject them. It is also true that in a global marketplace, many countries (for example India) have no restrictions on the practice.

My Heroes Are Aggressive Recruiters

As I have said in previous articles, Michael Homula is the undisputed godfather of lift-outs. But some degree of recognition should also be given to the recent breathtaking results produced by PrivateBancorp. Using a lift-out strategy, PrivateBancorp proactively recruited away more than 160 employees from LaSalle Bank. In one of PrivateBancorp’s current teams, 23 of the 26 team members came from LaSalle. The benchmark effort successfully recruited away the competitor’s CEO, CFO, chief strategy and marketing officer, and chief risk officer. In order to know which LaSalle players to recruit, it also hired away a top HR executive from LaSalle.

Action Steps for Executing a Lift-out

If you are still reading at this point, you are an extremely aggressive recruiter or executive who is willing to undertake this ultimate challenge. Since there are no books written on how to conduct a lift-out, I have provided a list of the most important action steps that will at least get you started:

1. Get an executive committee member sponsor — find a senior manager who is part of the executive committee to champion and own the process.
2. Show CEO support — make it clear to the small group that is involved that the CEO, the CFO, and the General Counsel are strongly behind the effort.
3. Create a recruiting team — develop an ad-hoc recruiting team (put together more than one if the targets are from multiple functions) to focus on recruiting these individuals. Include an aggressive recruiter and a lawyer to advise the team and the potential recruits. Provide the team with a budget and an incentive if they meet or exceed your goals.
4. Get outside help — although few corporate recruiters have any experience in this area, there are executive search professionals with lift-out experience who are more than willing to help guide you through the process.
5. Conduct benchmark research — the highest number of lift-outs and thus the best opportunity to learn occur in financial and high-technology firms. Other notable lift-outs have occurred in advertising, law firms, real estate, and healthcare. Use your benchmark research to put together a list of factors that differentiate successful lift-outs from unsuccessful ones.
6. Identify possible target firms — although you can target any firm, it’s much easier to succeed at firms that are currently having or are anticipating major problems. Develop your initial list of firms by putting together a list of “corporate negatives” that would drive even your own employees away. For example, look at firms that have recently lost their CEO, those that are rapidly losing market share, those with corporate scandals, and those that analysts note are in for a long decline.
7. Determine your likely success rate — even though a potential target company is in trouble, you cannot assume that the best are ready to jump ship. Instead, you need to do some preliminary research to identify the actual probability that key individuals would leave. There are a variety of ways to assess the likelihood that top people would leave, including direct sourcing calls, running blind ads, hiring third-party recruiters to make an assessment, and searching job sites for an increase in resumes from the target company. As a general rule, if more than a third of the people you contact say they’re interested in further conversations, you should move forward.
8. Secrecy — after you have identified your target firm keep the process and the goal as secret as possible so that your targeted firm doesn’t get wise prematurely. Set a deadline of no more than three to four weeks, because you probably will not be able to keep the process secret any longer.
9. Identify potential problems — put together a list of potential problems that you should anticipate running into during the process, and have at least an outline of a solution for each one.
10. Shrink the normal recruiting time — put together an expedited recruiting process (keep the same steps that you normally use but shrink the time between them).
11. Recruit offsite — wherever possible, avoid contacting these employees directly at their firm. In addition, try to interview them outside of work hours and at a neutral site, where they are unlikely to be seen.
12. Target an HR person first — consider recruiting a knowledgeable HR professional from the firm first, so that they can advise you on who is really good and who is only okay.
13. Identify a leader — Use your contacts to identify the one employee who is most likely to be “looked up to” as an informal leader among the target group. Try to convince them first and then use their influence to convince others to accept.
14. Prioritize your targets — rank order your targets (A+, A, B) so that you focus your resources on getting the most impactful individuals first. You might also consider bringing on some support people who could add tremendous value.
15. Identify their “job-switch” criteria — during interviews or in conversations proactively identify the specific factors that would cause each individual to leave their current job and to accept a new one. If you can’t identify the factors for each individual, develop a list that covers the entire group. Also, put together a list of potential “deal breakers” and avoid each of these. Use these two groups of factors to craft your offers.
16. Identify what you have to offer — identify the best things that your company has to offer as an employer and use that list to convince candidates. Put together a list of frequently asked questions with answers. Prepare a counterargument for each possible negative that others have offered about your firm. Make a list of the potential projects that each individual will likely be able to work on within the first year, because that is likely to be the most important decision factor after their manager.
17. Involve key employees in the sales approach — no one is more effective in building relationships and selling an individual on a new job than a respected peer. As a result, supplement the efforts of your recruiting team with the periodic help of a few well-known employees who also have a passion for the firm and strong sales skills.
18. Set a target closing date — rather than hiring individuals piecemeal over a period of time, instead you set a target closing date when you will ask most of your targets to formally accept your offer. Even though you have informal agreements, holding off any formal acceptances until a single closing date may help to keep your operation a secret and prevent any premature blocking strategies.
19. Offer an exploding sign-on bonus — offer an exploding sign-on bonus that “expires” in order to provide an extra reward for those who agree to your offer right away.
20. A group sign-on bonus — offer an added sign-on bonus to each individual if more than the targeted percentage of the entire group agree to come on board on a certain closing date. This will incent individuals who have decided to accept to actively recruit others to also come on board. You can also offer a “bring along your buddy” bonus for individuals who bring along a high-priority colleague within a set time period.
21. Reward competitive intelligence – reward and recognize the individual who initially identified the lift opportunity after the hiring process has been completed.
22. Develop counteroffer strategies — develop individualized counteroffer strategies in advance, because the very best are likely to be provided with one or more counteroffers from their current manager. Set reasonable limits to avoid “overpaying” for the talent, but keep in mind that an intact team may be more valuable than the sum of its parts.
23. Avoid legal issues after hiring — work with Legal to develop a process to ensure that the employees you recruit away don’t directly “steal” and use company secrets (concepts are okay but there are some limits).
24. Retention efforts — if there is a clear leader of the group, realize that if they are unhappy and leave the firm, many others will also. In order to prevent that unnecessary turnover, you must work closely with this individual to keep them excited after joining your firm. Also consider signing that individual to a multiyear contract or offering them a retention bonus if they stay with your firm for a reasonable period of time. Stay-on bonuses for others might also be considered, and don’t forget to include processes to smooth the transition and integration of the new team.
25. Do it again — put together a “how-to” guide and then target other firms capitalizing on what you have learned.

Final Thoughts

Nothing affects the capability or capacity of an organization to succeed more than the talent it has access to and how it takes advantage of it. There are only two ways to augment an organization’s inventory of talent: acquire new KSAs or build them internally. It’s time for strategic talent functions to step up and demonstrate that highly targeted talent acquisition efforts can be more impactful than expensive, time-consuming, and potentially disastrous corporate acquisitions. Hiring intact teams can bring most, if not all, of the needed capability in a shorter period of time and at a lower cost. In addition, intact teams can come up to speed faster and face fewer cultural integration issues versus blending two larger organizations.

You may resist developing a lift-out methodology, and protest “that it is against the law” even though you have no law degree, but in the end it will be to your detriment. If you are striving to be strategic and to demonstrate major business impact as a recruiter, there is no higher calling than this. It is aptly described as … a recruiting effort on steroids.

There is a dark side to a company’s ability to identify and recruit high-potential fully-employed passive candidates. The problem: the fully employed people they’re identifying, recruiting, and hiring now work for your company.

So as LinkedIn’s “auto-connect your employees with every job posting” feature becomes more pervasive, and Doug Berg at Jobs2Web figures out how to get everyone in the world into your talent community, and Monster makes sure your employees see that your competitor’s opportunities are better than what they’re doing now, expect some ugly consequences.

Here’s what I consider the domino effect of what on the surface appears to be a good thing — identifying great people and offering them what appears to be better career opportunities:

Short-term and Narrow Domino Effect

1. Increased employee turnover at the professional level.
2. Increasing use of counteroffers to retain key employees.
3. Across the board salary increases to minimize the “grass is greener” mentality.
4. Hire more recruiters to assist filling the open positions.
5. Increase salaries and signing bonuses to attract key people.
6. Develop aggressive retention programs.
7. Turnover rates at all companies increase as employees proactively seek greener pastures.
8. Aggressively negotiate offers to compete for people who have multiple offers.
9. The use of outside recruiters increases and fees escalate dramatically.
10. Ask for increases in your recruiting budget for 2011, now.

Long-term and Broader Impact

1. Wage inflation at the company and national level accelerates sharply.
2. Succession planning is thrown for a loop as key employees depart.
3. Turnover trends worsen as companies hire people for 2-3 year stints. This becomes the new normal for tenure.
4. Lack of experienced and capable leaders causes shortages at the mid-management level within 4-6 years, with comparable shortages within 5-10 years at the executive level.
5. The U.S. world competitive position deteriorates further.

Some might call this the good old days. But whatever it’s called, external recruiters are having a field day.

Some of these deleterious effects can be mitigated by implementing the Larry Clifton (CACI’s VP of Talent) counter-measure, aka his unspoken seventh law of motion: react first and faster before the other side knows what you’re doing, or be proactively proactive.  I call this the “Clifton Rule.”

Geoffrey Moore offers some critical strategic advice on how you should implement the Clifton Rule in his classic marketing book Crossing the Chasm. While the book is geared toward developing marketing strategies for high-technology products, his definition of customer behavior is useful as you increase your level of proactivity. Moore categorizes buyers of technology into these five groups:

1. Innovators who try stuff out the moment it’s available. Have you seen the iPad with camera and GPS yet?
2. Early-adopters who wait until the beta proves out. They create the buzz. These are the people who bought their iPads earlier this year.
3. The Early Majority who recognize a good thing when they hear the buzz. These are the people buying iPads now.
4. The Late Majority who wait until the buzz is so loud they’re embarrassed into proceeding. They’ll be buying their iPads for Christmas 2011.
5. The Laggards who never hear the buzz, or they’re convinced it’s a passing fad. They’re thinking about getting a cell phone with SMS and maybe email.

With this in mind, and for all of those talent managers and leaders out there, here’s how I’d go about becoming proactively proactive.

Become an innovator and early adopter for every new idea that comes up. Be part of the beta program. If you haven’t yet bought into LinkedIn’s talent suite of products or Jobs2Web’s talent community programs, you’re already too late. These products are changing the face of recruiting today and you need to be using them. At best you’re still in the Early Majority, if you act today. (For the sake of disclosure, I work closely with both of these companies, primarily because they’re leading edge.)

Implement PERP. Employee referral programs (ERP) need to be expanded to take advantage of LinkedIn’s auto-matching capability. Get your employees to proactively connect with the best people they’ve worked with in the past, so they’re identified with your open jobs as soon as they’re posted. This is PERP. But remember, other companies are now starting to connect with your best employees, so act yesterday. I’m sure LinkedIn has a heat map that demonstrates your vulnerability, or if not, will soon have one.

Implement robust retention programs. This must be a multi-pronged strategy to prevent your best employees from leaving. As a minimum it needs to consist of these measures:

• Determine if your compensation if competitive. If not, pull a Google and give everyone an immediate increase. This will buy you 3-6 months.
• Increase your internal mobility efforts. Your workforce is tired so you need to do something about this. A recent survey we conducted with LinkedIn indicated that 78% of your fully employed professional workforce was either looking for another job or open to talking with a recruiter about new opportunities. Giving people different lateral positions will buy you an additional 3-6 months. If they’re stretch jobs you’ll gain a year or two. You’ll gain even more than this, if you implement some type of continuous stretching. You’re already doing this for your high-potential group, so it makes sense to broaden this to the top-third of your workforce you can’t afford to lose.
• Sample your workforce satisfaction levels on a monthly basis. On the LinkedIn survey mentioned earlier, we measured employee satisfaction levels in comparison to job-seeking behavior. Surprisingly, those who were most active were not overtly dissatisfied, just more neutral about their future prospects. By tracking satisfaction, you’ll be able to implement corrective active programs once you observer a change from satisfied to neutral. (We’re holding a webcast with LinkedIn on Dec 7, 2010, to review these survey findings.)
• Energize and upgrade your employee satisfaction programs. Your employees are at the starting blocks just waiting for something different to do. Don’t wait for them to leave before you implement all of the great ideas your OD people are now considering.
• Establish a quick-response task force to address those now pursuing other jobs. Figure out who’s ripe for leaving, figure out why, and put in some aggressive programs to stem the upcoming rush to the exit doors. Have a well-thought counter-insurgency plan in place before people start turning in their resignations. Reacting with a competitive counteroffer is the worst thing you can do. By then it’s too late. It still might be appropriate, but if you don’t do all of the above in parallel, you’re just postponing the inevitable.

Stop using skills-based job descriptions to attract, screen, and hire people. I wrote a rather contentious article on ERE recently — “A Zillion Reasons to Eliminate Traditional Job Descriptions“ — that made a convincing case that job descriptions emphasizing skills and experiences are the root cause of turnover. The big point: people who accept lateral transfers, generally active candidates, based on some economic need, do so until something better comes along.

Hire people using the same criteria you’d use to retain them. Top performers tend to like the work they’re doing; there is some intrinsic long-term motivator that keeps them highly motivated; they are respected; their managers support and develop them; and they are provided with continuous growth opportunities. It makes sense to offer new hires these same opportunities. This is the primary reason why I suggest using performance profiles with strong EVPs, rather than skills-based job descriptions for sourcing, screening, and recruiting purposes. A performance profile defines the work the person will be doing defined as a series of projects and performance objectives. Candidates should be screened on this from both a competency and motivation standpoint. The EVP, or employee value proposition, describes why a top person who is fully employed and not looking would want the job. This should represent the core of all recruitment advertising efforts. This approach attracts the best and ensures they’re hired for long-term career rather than short-term economic reasons.

Emerging social media tools like LinkedIn and Jobs2Web are providing early adopters an opportunity to find and recruit everyone else’s best talent. This represents a fundamental shift in the balance of power, and more hiring turmoil can be expected over the next few years. The post-and-pray model of yesteryear is rapidly being replaced by a new version of “poach and prey.” Since everyone will soon have access to the same tools and the same people, the difference maker will be the implementers — recruiters and front-line hiring managers — and companies who have established themselves as early adopters of systems integrating their hiring, retention, and performance management system. However, until internal talent development becomes more important than hiring, our economy is in for a rocky ride.

Before answering that you might want to take a look at the collection of posts talking about counteroffers. For sure, read Dr. John Sullivan’s advice on recruiting a game-changer. He wrote that shortly this summer’s remarkably chronicled — and dissected — campaign to recruit NBA star LeBron James. He announced his decision (in a one-hour TV special no less!)  to leave his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers and join the Miami Heat and fellow NBA standouts Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. Money was not the driving force. Winning a title was.

Back now to the original question. What would you do to keep your star from bolting?

The Google answer is to throw money. Lots of money. One mid-level developer already earning a handsome $150k was offered a 15 percent raise PLUS a cool half-million cash bonus PLUS a four-fold increase in stock not to leave for Facebook. TechCrunch reported he left anyway.

In another case, TechCrunch says a Google engineer accepted a $3.5 million stock offer to stay.

With Facebook the latest darling of Silicon Valley, Google has been battling to keep its engineers, often winning, but, like the Cleveland Cavaliers, not liking to lose at all. (LinkedIn says 137 former Googlers are now at Facebook.) Then there’s also the issue of morale. TechCrunch said back in September that even contented Googlers are becoming active seekers, interviewing at hot, pre-IPO companies like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter in order to get a counteroffer.

A post by Mark Spoor mentions the psychic message sent by counteroffers:

“To the employee a counter offer is an acknowledgment (and sometimes a public acknowledgment) that you have been under paying and more importantly under appreciating the importance of this person to your organization.”

So here you are. Battling to keep staff from running off to other tech firms, who, if not exactly in your specific sector, are competing for ad dollars, just like you. And these companies are growing, exciting, and when they IPO, may make their ground-floor employees rich. Very rich.

Google’s answer came late Wednesday. The company announced it will give every one of its 23,000 employees worldwide a 10 percent raise. They’re also getting a minimum $1,000 holiday bonus.

CEO Erik Schmidt circulated a memo saying in part:

“We’ve decided…to give all of you a 10% raise, effective January 1st. This salary increase is global and across the board–everyone gets a raise, no matter their level, to recognize the contribution that each and every one of you makes to Google.”

Then the company committed another of its famous PR faux pas and fired the person who leaked the news of the raises. The firing is now taking top billing with the raises.

Meanwhile, over at Yahoo headquarters, which is bicycling distance from Google’s, layoffs, not raises, are being discussed. The Wall Street Journal says the 7,000 worker consumer products group is looking at cutting up to 1,400 staff in the next several weeks.

So I could leave it at that, and make this officially the shortest article I’ve ever written on ERE in 10 years. But what’s the point then? Under the low probability chance the market for top talent is finally starting to heat up a bit, recruiters might soon be faced again with the challenge of recruiting candidates with multiple offers. And, if not, they can bookmark this article for that exciting day.

So for recruiters who don’t remember what it’s like, and for those recruiters who are too young to remember the golden olden days when top candidate supply was less than demand, a little history is in order. Whenever the economy is expanding more than a few percentage points, labor shortages in certain job categories frequently occur. Under these circumstances, companies aggressively compete for this scarce talent by bidding up prices (i.e., salaries and signing bonuses) and increasing the speed of decision-making. In this hyper-heated market, mistakes are made, recently hired candidates are pursued by ultra-competitive recruiters who are paid for making placements, and hiring managers are pulling out their hair. For third-party recruiters this is what’s referred to as “the good old days.”

There are some things recruiters can do to minimize the bidding wars and increase their chance of landing the star players.

1. Be first. Employ an early-bird sourcing strategy. Whoever gets the best candidates first has the best chance of closing the person a week or two later. Everyone else has to play catch-up, with a significant comp increase used as the primary lure. Of course, as you’ll discover in a moment, while being first has a huge tactical advantage, employing a career maximization recruiting strategy is required if you want to actually hire these people. This will minimize the need for paying ever-increasing compensation premiums.
2. Don’t take no for an answer. Once the market for a certain job category heats up, the best people in this class get bombarded with emails and calls from recruiters. In the hustle for face time, recruiters often stumble over their own feet, hoping to attract the person’s attention with “the best job ever.” To avoid the used car sales recruiting approach, good candidates use a number of ploys to dump said recruiter. These are typically of the form “not interested,” or “not looking,” or “happy where I am,” or something similar. Don’t believe it, especially if your job truly represents a positive move for someone. In this case, you’ll need an attention-getting statement that prevents the candidate from throwing said recruiter into the dung-heap of clichés. One of my favorites is to say something like “Are you aware you’ve just made a major decision with minor information. On the chance the position I’m handling represents a true career move, wouldn’t it make sense to talk 5 or 10 minutes?” Then go into my favorite recruiting technique of all time, the “time is your most critical asset, don’t waste it,” technique.
3. Convert the conversation from compensation to careers. One primary goal of the first call with a passive candidate is to get the person to think about your job as a career move rather than a compensation increase. As soon as you sense that money is the topic du jour, describe the differences between a career maximization vs. a compensation maximization strategy as the key decision-making process the candidate needs to consider. The idea behind this is that compensation will grow faster in the long term if the person maximizes career growth instead of money in the short term.
4. Create an opportunity gap to begin the career move discussion. Make sure you use the “candidate talks first” technique to get the person to provide a quick review of his/her work history. During this phase, look for gaps in the candidate’s background your job fills in or expands. Consider factors like team size, scope of the effort, budget impact on the company, company growth rates, learning opportunities, and the like. When you describe your job opening, mention these points as representative of growth opportunities for the candidate. Then ask if the person would be interested in considering what you have to offer in more depth. Go slow here. Your goal as a recruiter is to sell the next step, not the end game.
5. Formalize the candidate decision-making process. As part of the initial conversations, ask the candidate what criteria he/she will use to determine if the job represents an appropriate career move. While these factors vary depending on the function and job level, they typically cover items like technology challenges, company growth, the scope of the project, learning and career opportunities, the hiring manager and quality of the team, and compensation, among others. I add any that are missing or specific to the company, and ask the candidate to prioritize these in some formal way, usually in an email. The idea behind this is to make sure the candidate obtains all of this information during the interviewing process. If the candidate has multiple offers to consider, I then suggest that all opportunities be evaluated based on the priorities initially provided.
6. Be last. Don’t make an offer until the candidate says yes. As part of maintaining applicant control and using a “stay the buyer” approach to recruiting, it’s important to not enter into a bidding war. Key to this is to test all offers before making them formal. This involves a sequence of tests throughout the interviewing process. Start by asking the candidate how interested she/he is in the open opportunity after the first set of interviews. As the pursuit progresses continue the testing by asking when the person could start if a fair offer was presented. As you get closer to the end, ask the person how your position compares to others the person is considering, using the comparative decision-making process mentioned above. Finally, ask if the person would accept your offer if formally presented under the terms negotiated. Only when the person says “100% yes” should you make the offer. The idea behind this is to negotiate the offer before it’s formalized, getting agreement in incremental steps.

These recruiting strategies and tactics are useful whenever you’re recruiting a top person who has multiple offers. This is more common during periods of economic expansion, but it’s also quite prevalent whenever labor shortages by certain job classes exist. Under these supply/demand constraints, the idea is to present your position as the one offering the best career move, not the one that just offers the biggest comp increase. Of course, you have to prove it, but that’s the whole point, isn’t it?

“Game Changer Recruiting” Is Needed in All Organizations

You do not have to be a sports nut to realize that for the last two months numerous NBA teams have been pulling out all the stops and spending unlimited amounts of money to recruit basketball star LeBron James to their team. Simultaneously, almost-as-intensive recruiting efforts have targeted other game-changing stars including Dwyane Wade, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Chris Bosh.

Sports teams and corporations alike need all the game-changers (individuals who can change the entire direction of an organization) they can get. While you might think that sports recruiting is not comparable to corporate recruiting, that notion would be erroneous. This sports-superstar recruiting effort is ultimately an illustration of world-class “game-changer recruiting.”

If like most organizations, yours could use a few more “game-changers,” innovators, or exceptional performers, consider the lessons that can be gleaned from the events of the past eight weeks.

Lesson #1 — Calculate the Economic Value of a Game-changer

The first lesson to be learned is to calculate the dollar impact a game-changer can have on revenue. Most recruiting managers focus on the cost of recruiting individuals (i.e. cost per hire), ignoring the potential return or the economic impacts that recruiting a game-changer will have. The LeBron case study illustrates a superior approach, one focused on return on investment.

Historically the largest economic game-changing recruit was Michael Jordan. One study conducted by Fortune estimated that Michael Jordan had a $10 billion dollar impact on the NBA. LeBron will have a similar impact, not just on team revenues, but also on complimentary businesses in the greater metropolitan area. One economist recently estimated that impact could be as large as $3 billion.

Unfortunately, few corporations invest in calculating the dollar impact of recruiting a game-changer on their organization. Those that do, often find that focusing solely on cost to recruit is silly. Google for example has estimated that a top performer generates three hundred times more revenue than an average performer. What would be the dollar impact if Warren Buffett joined your investment firm or Steve Jobs joined your technology firm? On a less-grandiose scale, can you imagine the impact on your organization if the inventor of the iPod or the iPhone were to join the organization?

When doing calculations, remember that the economic impacts of acquiring a game-changer are not limited to their direct contributions, but also include the attraction of investors and other high-caliber recruits that will also impact the performance of the organization. In addition, recruiting a game-changer from a direct competitor may significantly impact their ability to compete. Once your executives understand the startling economic value, they will support the use of a game-changing recruiting approach.

Lesson #2 — Realize That Game-changers Are Different

The second lesson to learn from the LeBron case is that game-changers, innovators, and top performers truly are different and must be recruited in a unique manner. The traditional corporate recruiting and executive search models will not work when recruiting most game-changers because those models do not accommodate superstar personalities, unusual expectations, and an unbelievable array of decision-influencers. To get the attention of a game-changer, you must understand exactly how they are different. While game-changers are not all alike, in general, they exhibit the following characteristics.

• Not looking for a job — they are probably currently employed and they are almost always well treated where they currently work. As a result, they are not actively looking for a new job and if they did hear about an ordinary opportunity, they would not pursue it.
• Power — they fully understand their value and their importance and as a result, they expect to be treated differently than the average applicant. They know that they hold the power in any potential new relationship or recruiting opportunity, so they expect to be courted.
• Difficult to approach — they are incredibly busy and there is a constant demand on their time. As a result, most erupt numerous barriers that would prevent strangers from even approaching them with opportunities. In order to make an initial recruiting contact, you will probably need direct assistance from someone who influences them.
• Trust is required — experience has taught them to be cynical of strangers and promises. As a result, you will need a strong relationship built on trust before they will seriously consider any offer from you.
• A triggering event required — because they are successful and well treated at their current position, they are generally satisfied with their current situation. As a result, it will likely take a major negative career-impacting event at their current firm to shift them into job search mode. In the absence of a negative event, it will take a major “WOW” jaw-dropping positive opportunity before they would even look at a job opening.
• A game-changer recruiting approach is required — the final thing to understand about recruiting any individual who is in high demand is that they almost always have an intense dislike for standard recruiting processes. Instead, they expect and require a “tailored” or personalized recruiting process that requires little of their time, that meets all of their expectations, and that contains not a single turnoff or “dealbreaker” element.

Lesson #3 — Shift to a “Game-changing Recruiting Approach”

The primary differentiator between a game-changing recruiting process and all other recruiting processes is the level of effort that is put into truly understanding the candidate and their needs. Most recruiters would argue that they already understand the needs of their candidates; however, heavy workloads force most recruiters to generalize and make numerous assumptions about what candidates need and expect.

In direct contrast, the game-changer recruiting approach is tailored to the individual who is being targeted. It is a market research/sales-driven approach that puts together a sophisticated candidate profile that covers the candidate’s job search process, how best to contact them, and their job acceptance decision criteria. This in-depth profile takes a significant amount of time and resources but is necessary if you want to have a realistic chance of success. There are 10 activities involved in developing a deep understanding of your target and creating a candidate profile. They include:

1. Identify factors that trigger a job search — a job opportunity by itself will not be enough to trigger a game-changer into job search mode. Instead, a combination of a positive job opportunity and the simultaneous occurrence of a negative factor that makes the target uncomfortable in their current situation is needed. To time your recruiting effort precisely, you need to be aware of what negative triggering events could arise and when they are most likely to occur. You must conduct research and interviews with those who know your recruiting target extremely well in order to compile a list of the specific events likely to trigger a desired change. Such events might include a corporate merger, management turnover, corporate scandal, or a significant cut to their budget.
2. Map their job search process — whenever a game-changer does begin to consider change, you need to understand and map out the process they will use. If you fish using bait, you understand that to catch a trophy fish you need to understand how a trophy fish searches for food. Likewise, recruiters must find out how their target found opportunities in the past, how and where they research opportunities, and what factors get an opportunity on their “short list” of opportunities to consider. Once you fully understand how, when, and where they find opportunities, you need to customize your approach to mirror their activities. Additionally, there must be a process to reevaluate the quality of your recruiting process against world-class standards, because a game-changer will likely judge your entire organization based on the experience they receive. It is quite common for recruits to assume that their candidate experience is a direct reflection on how they will be treated when they become an employee.
3. Determine who must do the recruiting — in many cases, game-changers expect to bypass traditional recruiters and instead be contacted and recruited by professionals of similar stature (or even by senior executives). As a result, you must identify their expectations and shift the initial contact and much of the recruiting to individuals who they respect and trust. Leading off with the wrong person can result in your opportunity being filtered.
4. Identify the best way to communicate and to reach them — if you want prospects to respond to your messages, you need to understand their communication preferences. That means you must research their most-favored way to communicate (i.e. in person, telephone calls, text messages, e-mail, on Facebook, etc.) and what must be in a message for them to respond to it. You must also identify other opportunities to communicate with them, including events they attend, publications they read, and websites and blogs regularly visited. If you do not know precisely where they “lurk,” you dramatically reduce the chances on reaching them. It is also important to note that the sites game-changers frequently are likely to be learning on content sites related to their professional growth, rather than job or career-oriented sites.
5. Identify the factors that will grab their initial attention — due to the volume and level of competition for their attention, if you expect to get on their short list, you need to identify the factors that would cause them to initially consider your opportunity. Once you identify the factors that will get their initial attention, you must make sure that compelling information on those factors is clearly visible on the sites they routinely visit. You may also have to educate their friends and colleagues about your organization, so that they will know about you and as a result, may speak highly of your organization during their interactions with your recruiting target. If you are an unknown organization or if you have a weak employer brand image, this step is even more important in order to prevent them from immediately ignoring your opportunity.
6. Identify the decision criteria they will use to accept an interview — game-changers routinely turn down opportunities to interview for new positions, so understanding what it takes to excite them about a particular interview invitation is a critical factor in the game-changer recruiting process. Identifying interview acceptance criteria requires extensive research and benchmarking and some guesswork. In the end, you must develop a ranked list of the criteria that they will use when deciding whether to accept an invitation and make sure that you convincingly communicate each of them in all of your initial recruiting and interview-related communications.
7. Identify “deal breaker” or knockout factors — in addition to positive criteria that game-changers will use to filter opportunities, there are also negative factors that will influence their decisions. Your research must identify each of these “deal breakers” (i.e. a weak boss, no budget, restricted decision-making, a lack of control, etc.,) and ensure that there is not even a hint of one of them present within the organization.
8. Identify their decision criteria and the information they need to accept a job offer — this is without a doubt the most critical step in the overall process. Consider the recruiting process similar to the sales process for big-ticket item. In both cases, successfully making a sale requires understanding a customer’s buying criteria and a product that meets that criteria as closely as possible. Some identify a candidate’s job acceptance decision criteria by asking them directly at the beginning of the interview process, or by interviewing friends and colleagues. Typical decision criteria include their degree of independence, the extent of their authority, their ability to build their own team, their ability to select projects, and the availability of ample resources. The entire interview process must be geared toward convincing them that this job meets every one of their acceptance criteria. It is also important to periodically ask them during critical points in the interview process if you are successfully meeting their criteria.To ensure that the target candidate remains engaged in the process, give them some input into it, so that they do not view it as inflexible. Ask them what specific information they need and what questions they need answered before they can make an affirmative decision. You should also ask them who they must meet and talk with before they can make a final decision on your offer. The overall interview process should provide them with an excellent candidate experience and you should use it not just as an assessment tool but also as an opportunity to provide a comprehensive sales pitch.
9. Identify who will influence their decision — game-changers are much more apt to consult with and seek the advice of friends and colleagues than the average candidate. As a result, make an attempt to identify and then proactively “sell” those individuals who will influence the candidate’s final decision. Incidentally, the process of identifying and educating “influencers” on the powerful selling points of your firm needs to start at the very beginning of the interview process.
10. Develop a counteroffer strategy — it would be highly unusual for a game-changer not to get a compelling counteroffer from their current organization. Because the normal reaction of a game-changer is to “stay put in a known environment,” you need to proactively research what that counteroffer is likely to be and to prepare a compelling strategy to overcome it. In addition, you should anticipate that the game-changer will get several external offers, so you need to do your research and benchmarking to ensure that your initial offer is clearly superior and most closely aligns with your candidate’s dream job.

Final Thoughts

Some people viewed the recruiting process used to attract LeBron James as a circus. However, on closer examination, it was unique, targeted, and comprehensive. There were numerous WOW factors, including the city of New York crafting a customized video including a message from the mayor, and several cities organizing mass public recruiting parties to show their commitment. Teams used high profile individuals including Jay Z and even the President of the United States to influence the process. Numerous websites were created, blogs were written, and literally millions of tweets were shared on the topic.

To further highlight the importance of this recruiting effort, Lebron’s offer acceptance was televised in an hour-long TV special (a first). During the special, his decision criteria were disclosed, including the probability of winning a championship, a new coach, a choice of teammates, team chemistry, supportive owners, a large fan base, broader media exposure, and lifestyle considerations including the interests of his entourage, and of course hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.

While millions were spent to recruit him and millions more will be spent to pay him, the economic return (likely to be in the billions) will far outweigh the costs. Believe it or not, the same dramatic results can be obtained by recruiting a single game-changer in the corporate world, although the fanfare would likely be less dramatic! If you are not landing your share of game-changers, the process that corporate executives must follow has been spelled out, all they need to add is … courage.

They craft powerful employment value propositions that lay out the selling points of the company, group, and position — as well as the present and future opportunities for growth.

They communicate clearly, asking direct and purposeful questions, listening critically to responses (spoken and implied), and remaining nimble enough to respond to unexpected issues as they arise.

They set clear expectations for candidates and hiring managers on process steps, compensation issues, and potential roadblocks such as counteroffers.

They are persistent, consistently reconfirming the primary issues throughout the process with candidate and hiring manager, and continue sourcing efforts even when a good candidate is in play.

They have a keen sense of timing, knowing when to move quickly and — just as important — when to slow the pace to accommodate a candidate’s decision-making.

Unfortunately, too many recruiters view closing as a standalone process that kicks into gear only after the interview team identifies its front-runner. In fact, the opposite is true: successful closing begins before a candidate has even been identified, and it touches every step of the process.

Let’s examine (and I’ll go into more depth at my breakout session this September) some of the ways you can bring a closer’s mindset to each step of recruiting:

Role Definition

Develop a compelling employment value proposition that focuses on your company’s advantages, emphasizing selling points your competitors for talent cannot match.

• Make the case for your company’s stability by pointing out steps the firm is taking to thrive in today’s economy.

• Don’t lose sight of intangible advantages which are important to many people, including on-site exercise facilities, proximity to public transit, or continued education programs.

Resume Review

Carefully examine the candidate’s history for potential obstacles — and address them during the interview process.

• Geography matters. Someone who has spent a lifetime in Little Rock may have a tough time adapting to living in New York City. Be prepared to probe how realistic the candidate is being about their ability to adjust to the move.

• Organizational culture matters. You may be familiar enough with a candidate’s current organization to know that a move to your company will demand significant adjustments. Don’t shy away from discussing these issues.

• Resigning is tough. A candidate who has been with one employer for a long time may have difficulty overcoming company loyalty and ending valued working relationships. What’s more, specialized expertise that makes a candidate attractive to you may foreshadow a relentless counteroffer from the current employer, who also values that expertise.

• Little things matter, too. Even “trivial” changes such as giving up an impressive title or shorter commute can become barriers for a candidate weighing a major career and life change.

Phone Interview

Your phone interview should be comprehensive enough that the rest of the process simply adds footnotes to the candidate’s file. If you later find yourself surprised by the candidate’s motivations, strengths, weaknesses, concerns, compensation expectations, etc., you probably need a more thorough phone interview.

You can guide the process by asking the right questions. For example:

• Don’t end the call until you have a clear understanding of why the candidate is interested in making a change, and what it will take to secure the move. And be sure to revisit this issue with the candidate throughout the process.
• If the candidate hasn’t made a compelling case for change, don’t shy away from posing direct questions such as “Your company is the leader in our industry: why would you consider joining us?” or “Why would you leave a firm that has provided you such good career and compensation progression?”
• On the pivotal topic of compensation, shift the burden to the candidate. Ask: “Do you feel your employer compensates you fairly?” (and follow up with “Why/Why not?”). Play to your company’s strengths with questions such as “Do you feel your company effectively rewards good performance?” or “Does your current firm encourage career advancement in a structured way?”
• Explore whether the candidate has sought other people’s perspectives. Ask questions such as “What does your family think about relocating to Austin?” or “Have you sought any advice about the prospect of changing jobs?”

Finally, ask if the candidate has been inquiring about “inside” opportunities with the current employer that meet their career objectives. (If not, you have a counteroffer waiting to happen.)

Interviewing

Once the candidate is ready to meet your interview team, take time to prepare the interviewers:

• Assign each member of the team one or more of the selling points from your employment value proposition. This will give the candidate a rounded view of your company.
• Tell the interviewers what you’ve discovered about the candidate’s motivation, and encourage them to discuss it further with the candidate.
• Prompt the interviewers to address potential deal-killers. An in-person reaction to a question such as “What might your current company do to keep you?” is invaluable.

Perspectives and impressions can evolve. Check in often with the candidate throughout the interview process, to make certain the role matches the candidate’s professional, financial, and personal goals.

Offer Development

As you prepare a formal offer, avoid unwanted surprises by thoroughly outlining their current compensation in greater detail than you may have done earlier in the process. Take note of anything the candidate might consider remuneration: pay, benefits, parking, stock, perks, and the like.

Conversely, identify anything the candidate might consider a financial sacrifice or takeaway: additional commuting costs, taxes or distances, waiting periods for benefits, potential “paybacks” for leaving an employer, etc. Even if you don’t make up for everything, the candidate needs to know that your offer is based on a thorough analysis of all available information.

Finally, before you test-close the candidate, check with the hiring manager to get a clear understanding of how far they are willing to stretch the scope of the role, compensation, and any other issues that might matter to this particular individual.

Test-closing

Test-closing offers a final opportunity to eliminate unwanted surprises, while creating a “cushion” between the candidate’s expectations and your offer. Advise the candidate that your firm extends offers only when there are no open issues, and the candidate is fully prepared to make a decision.

Focus the candidate on the non-financial components of your offer. Remind the candidate they already know most of the offer — the company, the job, the opportunity, and co-workers. Take the candidate back to the motivations you discussed during the phone interview, and reaffirm that this role represents the best opportunity for career growth.

Next, talk through the remaining variables — everything except salary. Share details on benefits, time off, relocation, continued education programs — and even target bonus. Find out if the candidate has unanswered questions, additional people to meet, or follow-up with or other concerns.

After you’ve covered everything else, let the candidate know your objective is to make one financial offer — and to do it right. Refer to your earlier conversations about compensation and pose direct questions such as “If the offer is $X or above, are you accepting?” During this critical step, your goals should be to:

• Eliminate ambiguity: If the candidate tells you “I was hoping for a little more than $X,” respond with “Does that mean you would reject an offer at $X?” or “If we were able to come in at $Y, are you accepting?”
• Gain the candidate’s permission to accept an offer at a specific dollar amount. That amount should be what the candidate wants, but below what you believe your offer will be. This “cushion” is crucial to maintaining excitement at the point of offer.

Finally, help the candidate anticipate a possible counteroffer. Ask questions such as “What happens when (not “if”) your boss says she will expand your job duties and beat our offer?” Close with the direct but open-ended question “Is there anything that can stop you from joining us?”

Offer Extension

On the heels of your test-close, the offer extension is simply a matter of calling the candidate to congratulate them on landing their new job. The only surprise to either party should be that the compensation is a little higher than the candidate expected.

Of course, there will be times when you won’t have an immediate acceptance. In that case, ask questions such as “What is holding you back from making your decision?” and “Are you planning on speaking with your boss or other companies about our offer?” or “Should we still expect your answer by Friday?”

Too often, at this stage, candidates tell us to “try again” — and we do! Never revise an offer that has been extended without a firm commitment that the candidate will accept without condition. If a candidate asks you to adjust an offer in any way (compensation, start date, title, etc.), your response should be “I’m not saying I can do anything, but if we make this change, do I have your assurance that you are accepting?”

Resignation

We all know there is a big difference between an acceptance and a hire. Even after a candidate accepts, there is still work to be done before you can call it a “close.” In a sense, the resignation is the most crucial step. This is because if it does not go well, you not only have an unfilled role, but have wasted a lot of your company’s time and effort. There are some things you can do to get past this final step which build on your past conversations about the resignation.

• Help the candidate control the resignation. The candidate needs to understand and embrace the idea of notifying the boss of a decision, as opposed to starting a dialogue.
• Role-play with the candidate. Discuss how the boss might respond. Pose questions such as “What happens when (not “if”) your boss asks what she can do to keep you?” and “What will you do when she asks you not to tell anyone until she has a chance to speak with management?” or “What happens when she offers to allow you to work from home two days a week?”
• Create a sense of accountability. Have the candidate call you immediately after resigning, to let you know how it went.
• Maintain contact. In addition to your own outreach, schedule “spontaneous” calls for interview-team members to contact the candidate during the important time between resignation and start date.

A Few “Closing” Words

Strengthening your closing skills allows you to directly contribute to the performance of your company by landing their most desired candidates. The best way to improve your technical recruiting abilities in this area is to experiment with new methods. Start by working some of these techniques into your standard approach to each step of the process. The effectiveness and value will show up in your acceptance rate, days-to-fill rate, and best of all, the appreciation from the business you support by contributing to their next outstanding hire.

Our skills need to be sharp — even sharper than ever. It’s more important now that we bring in the best candidates possible, and actually get the candidate to accept the offer. No room for errors. We need to go through our recruiting process and make it perfect.

It takes all you know now, when that important search comes up and once again, you kick into high gear, ready to fill it with the best this market has to offer. What we used to do with 60 jobs on our plate at once is all different, now with only a few key positions to fill. Being in “auto pilot” is something that went away last fall. Now it’s a new game, and we need all the expertise we have to pull it off.

This is the best time to take out the book on recruiting, and don’t skip a page. (Is there really a book on recruiting? We can only wish). Every move, call, and discussion matters. We need to be at the top of our game. The stakes are high and the results need to show. We may not have a real book to turn to, but what we have is our experiences.  We need to do everything we can through the process to ensure an offer will be accepted. Which hiring manager wants to make a mistake in hiring? If they get the “go ahead” to hire, they will be very specific in what they want and how. The pressure is on the recruiter. Here is where the good recruiters stand apart from the great. Cover all the bases.

Every search has a degree of difficulty, and more often lately the difficulty is we don’t want to go all-out public with our search. Many companies have been restructuring, and “what would the public think if they found we are hiring?” We also don’t want to wave the “come and get me flag,” flooding us with calls from other recruiters who just want to help, or all candidates who are looking right now, for any opening. We want the needle, not the haystack! With all that said, we need to take the right steps and get this done.

Perfect recruiting? It means not missing a step. All along the process we must pay attention to every detail. No skipping steps. It’s by the book!

Get the Details

Take the time with the hiring manager and get a strong job description, and this includes exploring and challenging each element. How many times do our managers start off looking for one set of skills or experience, and end up with something totally different? Through strong questioning a top recruiter can sort out the “have to haves” from the “want to haves” giving a more solid game plan. Stay in tune to the manager and keep fine-tuning the job description. It will change; it always does. A great recruiter can ask the tough questions and nail down the details.

Get the Approvals

When it comes to approvals, take the time to go the distance. Get the approvals from the normal chain, and go up a level or two. But don’t stop there. If the recruiting process takes awhile, double check with the approvers that you still have a green light to hire. Our business environments change often and so does the decision to hire. Don’t wait till you are ready to make an offer to find the job was put on hold. Ask the tough questions and ask them often.

Progress Reports

Keep your managers aware of your progress and your slate of candidates. The managers need to see the effort and to anticipate the results. Throughout the process we need to keep checking, asking those questions. Each new candidate considered could bring new thought to the position. After each interview, debrief with the manager and see what’s different.

Confidential Sourcing

With sourcing: Can’t go public on a huge job board? Try strategic recruiting: sourcing just the names you really want to talk to, or those who know the people we want. Instead of broadcasting the opening to millions, find 5-50 using LinkedIn or in your candidate files, and contact directly. Here’s the step not to miss: Contact them both in writing and by phone. It takes several attempts in the market these days. An email takes the cold out of the call and the call takes the email out of the Spam. Most candidates are reluctant. Be persistent and get those calls made. I find in the most recent years, some recruiters rely too heavily on emails and seldom pick up the phone. The phone is where a relationship starts. Use it for the competitive edge you need to not only find the right person, but to get an offer accepted. The relationship starts at the very beginning. A good relationship between candidate and recruiter paves a smoother path to hire.

Candidate State of Mind

Take the time with the interview, but more than finding out everything about the candidate, dig deep with the candidate’s parameters. Why are they looking? What would make their lives better? What’s really important to them? Have they ever accepted a counteroffer before? Keep these questions in mind throughout all the steps of the process. Minds change, situations change. Stay on top of these changes. Find those cold feet, and keep them warm.

Counteroffer

Cover the counteroffer, and cover it often. Most companies who have a hiring freeze know if a key player leaves, they may not be able to replace them. If your candidate is that key player, it’s very likely they will receive a counteroffer. Start talking about the possibility during the first interview, and don’t ever count it as a “done” conversation, until the person starts and becomes engaged in their work. I have seen candidates accept counteroffers from their current employers starting from the day they give notice, or as late as two weeks after they start the new position.

Team Effort

Employ the management team in the hiring process. The more people the candidate meets, the better likelihood they will accept an offer. We are not in a market where the managers can only practice behavioral interviewing, but we need to connect to the candidate and show the welcome mat. Do both! Developing a strong rapport could easily make the difference. A candidate must feel welcomed, engaged, and excited to accept an offer. At offer time, a follow-up call from the highest-level executive to the candidate is a great way to cement the relationship. Knowing that the candidate can talk with top management will show the company has good open communication, is accessible, and implies a strong trust. The candidate will be happy to be recognized by top management and will add more comfort in making the move.

Offers need to be made in two stages. Gone are the days where we just mail out an offer letter and cross our fingers. A two-call close uncovers possible objections and details that need to be addressed. Call first, and ask, “If we made an offer would you accept it, and at what level?” Open the conversation up and listen carefully to what the candidate is saying. Hesitance, questions, problems, concerns, or misconceptions need to be addressed, and this may take time. Take the time to close the candidate carefully. Listen to the objections; confirm the objections, isolating the real reasons for hesitation. The care taken in this step will help avoid those turn-downs. If you do get a turn-down, use the ‘lost sales close’. You may be able to bring the placement back to life if the real objection is uncovered and can be answered. It’s never over.

Consider offering an exit plan for anyone who is hesitating on coming aboard. How many times have you heard candidates say they feel safer in their current company than they would jumping to a new company, becoming the new kid on the block? It’s possible that a solid exit package will show you are investing in this person and feel confident they will become a valued contributor. This offer can make the difference.

Follow up with your candidate after the offer is accepted. Never leave them alone to work out their notice for weeks before they start. This is the time counteroffers become real. Stay in touch. Call instead of emailing. Find reasons to connect and reaffirm your new relationship and don’t ever be afraid to ask if they have been asked to stay. Have them reaffirm the reasons why they wouldn’t accept a counter offer when you do talk.

Of course, the last step not to miss: have a strong onboarding program in place. Once they join, show the love; help to get established and connected.

This hire is your doing, take good care of it from start to finish. We have more time with fewer openings. Make the most of it by following every page in your book.

This article originally appeared January 17, 2007.

Agency folks tend to see the corporate world as bureaucratic and slow to make decisions; more specifically, they see most corporate recruiters as lacking the requisite skills and bare-knuckle tactics required to make things happen.

On the other hand, corporate recruiters tend to see agency people as mercenary, often unable to be trusted, and as slick salespeople who just want to close the deal.

As someone who has been on both sides, I smile as I write this, as I can assure you that both perceptions are, to a great degree, correct.

Many corporate recruiters want to compete with their agency brethren, but this lofty achievement is akin to losing weight; so very optimistic for the first few days but ultimately not doable because losing weight is so very hard to do.

Sadly, so is competing with agency recruiters, because you have to think differently if you want to be different, and most corporate recruiters will have to be very different to make this transition.

For openers, I urge you to consider the following concept as it relates to money, the ultimate driver of our behavior. If it makes you shiver to the bone, consider it your introduction to the agency way of thinking and doing business.

Forget the comfortable paycheck. There is no meaningful check to speak of, so let’s think on terms of a pay-cut to the tune of 75%. You must close deals to get paid, because you are no longer in the business of trying to make hires; you are in the business of getting it done, because that’s how agencies make money. No deals equals no money; no money equals no food. (See “Eat What You Kill: Using the Sales Model to Improve Your Recruiting” for further insight.)

Now that compensation is out of the way, consider the following tenets, presented as two categories, Attitude/Mindset and Action/Task, as tools for the change required if you really want to make this transition to more effective recruiting:

Attitude/Mindset: Change How You Think

• Push hard. If you want to compete, come to work on fire every day and be the driving force behind moving every deal forward as far as possible; every? single? day because a deal that sits is a deal that dies. If you are not making a hiring manager a bit crazy, you are probably not pushing hard enough. (Believe me, they will not fire you for getting people hired, but they just might if you don’t! Agency people make placements first and friends second! If hiring managers are not responsive, see “8 Secrets to Dealing with Non-Responsive Hiring Managers”.)
• Reject “I don’t know.” Hiring managers must know, because you can’t do your job of getting people hired without their direction. An “I don’t know” means no forward progress, and that is not good. If you want to compete, find out what the candidate is thinking as fast as possible, and then do the same with the hiring manager. Catch them both right after the interview; they are busy but so are you. I often wonder why recruiters act as though the time of the hiring manager is more important then their own. (See “Recruiters as Business Builders”.) Ask the hiring manager, “Can the candidate do the job?” If the candidate can do the job, you should be talking with the hiring manager about moving forward. If the candidate can’t do the job, determine why and adjust your recruiting as it relates to future candidates.
• Turn “I don’t know” into “I do know.” Some hiring managers simply do not know and never will until it is too late, so these folks need your help. (Ever have one come to you a few weeks after a candidate has practically died of old age asking if they can make them an offer?) Not knowing is incongruous with the reality of business, as they are managers and as such they are running a business and making decisions is part of their job. (Think Gates or Jobs can make decisions, or do you think they just mull things over for a few weeks?) However, if they really do not know, help them. Use the line I use: “Ok, let’s go through this together.” Sit with them for awhile and go over the requirements they laid out in the position profile, asking whether that person has that skill and to what degree. Next, look at the experience they requested and go over the candidate’s background from that perspective, one type of experience at a time. Lead the hiring manager in this way and you will help them to think things through in terms of what they really need, and help them to come to a decision on what to do with that candidate. Don’t be surprised if you end up with a totally different search profile, but do not be disturbed either, as it might be the first time anyone helped the manager to think through what they really need in the candidate you are trying to locate.
• No sleeping. The answer, “I just need to sleep on it for a few days” makes me nuts. There’s little to gain from sleeping on it. On the other hand, if the hiring manager needs more information to make a decision, that’s acceptable. Have they used JAVA Beans in financial applications? Did they design comp packages in a team or alone? Can they speak Chinese? What version of SAP do they use? It does not matter what they need to know; get it and get it fast. Before you run out the door, ask the hiring manager, “When I get you this information, will you be prepared to make a decision as to a next step?” If the answer is yes, get the information. If the answer is no, ask the hiring manager, “What other information do you need such that when I come back from my conversation with the candidate, you will be able to make a decision on the next step?”
• When talking to candidates, understand that “no” simply means “maybe.” This bullet alone can fill multiple articles and most books on sales will back up my statement. No is a normal reaction to the unexpected call from the recruiter. No is simply what the candidate says when they have no idea what else to say. Frankly, no is not a word I can relate to. How can you decline if you do not even know what you are saying no to in the first place? “No” is an invitation to listen, probe, and continue the conversation. Getting to “yes” is part of every salesperson’s job and the first “no” is just the starting point in the process of meaningful dialogue and the presentation of a great opportunity.

Action/Task: Change What You Do

• Ask pointed questions. It is the job of an agency person, after an interview, to find out whether the candidate is “up” or “down.” Up is ready for the next step; down is no longer under consideration. Let’s assume that the interview is over, you have spoken to the candidate, and they are interested in moving forward. That means the candidate has made a decision and now it is the responsibility of the hiring manager to do the same. To determine the next step as it relates to the candidate, ask about their reaction, the next step, and what you should tell the candidate. If they do not have the answers right after the interview, that is okay, but they need to have them within a day or two. John F. Kennedy once said, “Not to decide is to decide.” Please do not let this be your fate.
• Play take-a-way. At times, the managers will simply not be able to make a decision, and as a result, you are stuck. To get unstuck, tell the hiring manager, “I have an idea: let me give the candidate a call and tell them you are not interested.” Then get up and head to the nearest phone. If the manager agrees, you have saved a ton of time and grief. If the manager balks, there is your decision. It may be forcing a decision, but at times, it simply must be done.
• Send fewer but better candidates. In my days in the agency business, you sent three qualified candidates. More is not better, because the hiring manager begins to forget which candidate did what and loses the ability to put a face with a name. Give a hiring manager 20 great candidates and it will be a long time before you see a decision or a placement. Provide three great candidates who can do the job, and be done with it.
• Get on the phone. I know you’re tired of hearing how in the old days we had no shoes and ate catsup sandwiches without bread. But trust me, there was no Internet and no computers. As a result, we became great on the phone or we left the business. Agency recruiters are running and gunning all day long, and the phone is a big part of how to make things happen. You connect on the phone, form relationships, share a laugh, convey urgency, and establish trust. Your phone line is your life line and link to the candidates you need to reach. That will never happen in an email.
• Learn to source passive candidates. It is hard to get on the phone if you have no one to call so I strongly suggest you take a workshop to become a Certified Internet Recruiter.
• No more meetings (almost). In my days in the agency business, aside from weekly training, we had two meetings per week totaling approximately 60 minutes. First, we met Monday mornings to discuss who on the team was going after what new accounts. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, we discussed candidates in play and next-step strategies. (Heaven help the agent who had nothing new to report.) Of course, it is good to spend time with hiring managers in short meetings, but the rule of the day is simple: if the time spent in the meeting does not support coaching on recruiting issues or closing deals, you should be using your time on things that support filling positions.
• Do a great interview. Read “10 Things Recruiters Should Know About Every Candidate They Interview”. The more you know about the candidate you are representing, the more things will fall into place.
• Forget active or passive candidates. Learn to think in terms of candidates who are qualified or not qualified. Your job is to find the best candidate for the job and close the deal; great candidates come from many different places.
• Give great service. I tell clients they can call me anytime, and I do mean anytime. Respond instantly to hiring managers, always knowing the when and what of the next step in the process. Then, make that next step happen.
• Know the process or develop one. Everything goes better if there is a process in place because it removes the unknown for the candidate, gives the hiring manager a road map to follow, and helps you maintain some degree of control. According to Scott Weston, author of HR Excellence, “Having and articulating a hiring process means the recruiter needs to act as a project manager; be able to establish a rough timeline with a series of milestones for each stage of the process. This makes the process clear for everyone involved, sets reasonable expectations, and encourages joint accountability with hiring managers.”
• Sell the company. Agents start selling the opportunity and company as soon as they see that the candidate is viable. You need to do the same because if you do not create a dramatic value proposition, there is no reason for the candidate to change jobs. Read “Selling the Company” for more information.
• Be up on changes in the candidate’s life. If you think that the candidate will always volunteer this information because you have a “great relationship” with them, you are in for a surprise. Read “What Has Changed Since Last We Spoke?” for more information.
• Control the offer. Pre-close the candidate before the offer is made, and do all that you can to be the one to make the offer. If you can’t actually make the offer, try to understand what the offer is before it is made. Hiring managers will, for reasons that are all over the board, do things such as lowball candidates or change titles. This might not bother you, but to those who are sensitive to these considerations, it can kill the deal really quickly. You have probably worked far too hard to lose a deal in the 11th hour. Control the offer and you increase your chances of a successful placement. (See “Close the Deal and Land the Candidate” for added insight.)
• Prepare for counteroffers. There are few things more painful than getting that phone call on a Sunday night from the candidate declining the offer. It is even worse when you know that you did not fully prepare for the counteroffer. Honestly, it is a debilitating event that can send you spinning. Read “What Great Recruiters Do to Prevent Counteroffers” to get the full story.
• Say you’re sorry. If you are as successful as the best agency people, you will at times step on some toes in your attempt to make things happen. In the event that anyone might be miffed, tell them you are sorry if you drove them crazy. Explain that making hires can be stressful. Soon, the new candidate you hired will begin to do great work and make the hiring manager so happy they had you to make this hire happen. Bottom line? They will get over it.

The reality is that not all corporate recruiters will be able to make all of these changes. If I were not an agency recruiter in the days when my kids needed shoes, I might not be able to do it either.

However, all of us can become better to one degree or another, and I do believe it is worth a try if you really want to compete with those in the agency business. Besides, if you get good at this, you can always go over to the agency side and at times, double your income.

Regardless of where your career takes you, it is nice to know you can compete at a higher and more effective level.

This is where up-front operating agreements come in to play. When properly used, an up-front operating agreement/contract will help a recruiter mitigate the tangles that will inevitably develop throughout the evaluation and hiring processes. Up-front operating agreements are quite simple and should be used early on in a candidate relationship. The first agreement I put in place is an agreement about agreements. I always ask a candidate if he or she is the type of person who tends to honor agreements when he or she makes them with other people. Everyone says “yes” to this one; who wouldn’t? But something else is happening. The candidate is also giving you permission to ask for commitments at different points, and at the risk of sounding inconsistent or at worst, psychotic, he or she will tend to stick to these commitments. Then, I always follow up with an out clause which puts people at ease. I ask, “From time to time, I may ask you to commit to something. If you don’t feel comfortable with that, it’s okay to tell me so. One of my biggest fears is a person who says ‘Yes’ to something when he or she actually means ‘No.’ People do this because they are polite and don’t want to be confrontational in most cases. Are you able to come forward to me if something doesn’t feel right, or if you want to halt or slow down our process?” And, you reinforce this contract several times through your process, by asking again, “Are you sure you are comfortable with this?”

You’ve got to let the candidate know that you will not attack him or her if he or she starts to get a funny feeling; you have to explicitly let him or her know that in an emotionally-charged process, he or she will most likely feel uncomfortable, and when this happens, you (the recruiter) are the best person to call. When a candidate gets that funny feeling, wouldn’t you prefer to know about it as soon as possible? You’re essentially letting the candidate know that you will not use pressure tactics. You operate in an environment of truth, and you give the candidate an incentive to be truthful. You’ll be amazed. The candidate will be relieved that he has finally found someone in which he can confide. It’s quite therapeutic for the candidate because all the other recruits will be pushing and shoving him or her to “just go out on an interview and see how it goes.” You, on the other hand, are not only a broker of jobs or a conduit to a new job, but also a confidant.

If you were a candidate, to whom would you be more loyal: someone pushing you though a process, or someone in whom you hold considerable trust because you have facilitated very open lines of communication? Let’s say that one day you’re sitting at your desk, posting an advertisement on one of the major job boards, and your phone rings. The person calling you is a candidate who is about to get an offer from your client. The candidate says, “I’m having second thoughts about leaving this job for your client’s, and I want to discuss it with you. Have you got a minute?” You bet you have a minute. You have all the time that candidate needs. “Remember when you told me if I was not comfortable with something, I should call you to discuss it?” Now, you can fix the problem, if it is in fact fixable. Or, at the very least, you can prevent yourself from looking inept in the eyes of your client. You want all of the what-ifs out in the open, and when you put in place up-front operating agreements, you create a relationship in which revealing these things is not something that causes discomfort in an already uneasy person.

“I’m not concerned that you will accept a counteroffer (you don’t want the candidate to think that you don’t trust them). I just want to make this transition as painless as possible. The way that we do this is through the process of giving notice. The best advice that I can give you is to be very brief when you give notice. If it were me, I’d say, ‘I have accepted another position outside the company. My start date is _____________, so I’m happy to work out my two weeks’ notice. Under no conditions will I accept a counteroffer.’ You do not have to tell your current employer where you are going or what the job is. I strongly suggest that you do not give them any clue about your new compensation package. They will ask you a hundred questions; you do not have to answer a single one. All that’s important is that you are leaving. You don’t want to burn any bridges, so I’d just say that your new employer has asked you to keep this information confidential. Just have a matter-of-fact style and appreciate why they want to know this information (so they can use it to counteroffer you). The less information you give them, the easier this will be. When talking to your current employer, you can add positive things such as, ‘I have had a wonderful experience at this company, and am happy to have had the opportunity to work with you, but the time has come for me to move on.’ But be firm. If you show any kind of weakness or uncertainty in your voice or actions, your current employer will smell it. Most managers have been professionally trained on how to counteroffer employees. Your boss is going to be shocked that you have accepted another position and that you are leaving. The first thing that will go through your boss’ mind is how your leaving will have an impact on him or her. He or she may have to work more hours until a replacement is found; your leaving will lower the morale of the rest of the staff, and your boss may have an extremely difficult time finding someone with your qualifications to replace you. It is much easier and cheaper for your company and boss to try to keep you rather than losing you (especially if it’s to a competitor).

Expect your boss’ boss to get involved as well. Don’t be surprised if both offer to take you out to lunch or dinner. They are going to give you all the attention in the world. Expect a counteroffer. Most counteroffers that I have seen have been anywhere from a 20% to 35% increase in earnings. Enticing, isn’t it? But why weren’t you worth that much to them yesterday? Does it take you leaving to get something you should have been getting anyway? If so, is that the type of company you want to work for? Keep in mind that counteroffers come in many other forms than just an increase in compensation. Promotions are also ways for getting employees to stay.

Once you give notice, you are essentially breaking a trust that you had with your employer. If you are countered and stay, your company may feel that it owns you. You will be known as the one who caused your employer grief by threatening to quit. You’ll no longer be known as a loyal employee. Will this cause your boss to pass you over on the next possible promotion? I’ve heard of stories where companies only counter to get the employee to stay until they find a replacement and then let the employee go. Some companies feel that it’s better for people to leave on their terms instead of their employees’ terms. I promise you that in any research you do on counteroffers, you will not find anything that ever says, ‘Take the counteroffer.’ Please research this on your own, and if you do happen to find anything to the contrary, please let me know.”

I write candidates’ notice letters for them. I ask for their boss’ names and draft the documents. I also send them published articles written about counteroffers and research on what happens with employees who decide to stay. The whole purpose of this is to get candidates to understand what will happen. If you prepare them to expect the counteroffer and how it will happen, the candidates will have a heads-up on how to handle it.

1. “This deal is a slam dunk.” I think not. Fast and easy deals are usually neither. If you think you are working on a slam dunk hire, go back to the drawing board and look at everything that can possibly go wrong. Look at the candidate’s commute, compensation, title, job stretch, and everything else that relates to the candidate, the job itself, and the fit between the two. If you still think it’s a slam dunk hire, have another recruiter grill you on the details. If there is something you are not seeing, it is better to find out before the deal falls apart than after.
2. “I’ll start recruiting now and get the requisition signed next week.” If there is one thing recruiters can’t waste, it’s time. Recruiting for a position that has not yet been approved is a fool’s errand and I suspect most of us have done it at one time or another. I suggest you tell the hiring manager that you would love to help them but that you really must spend your time on what has already been approved and will be more than happy to provide recruiting resources as soon as the requisition has been signed. I suspect they will understand.
3. “Let’s only look at passive candidates.” I’d be very careful here. Passive candidates are great, but when you need to move quickly, or need multiples of the same type of employee, passive candidates should only be a part of the total sourcing strategy, not the whole thing (see my article The Myth of the Passive Candidate for more insight on this topic).
4. “This candidate isn’t worried about compensation, just opportunity.” This is big trouble if ever big trouble existed. Candidates who talk about everything from opportunity to growth to the value they can bring to the organization have probably spent too much time reading books on how to find a job. In my career, I have never had things go smoothly at offer time when the candidate told me they were not concerned about compensation. Everyone is concerned about compensation. I suggest that you consider this line of thinking a red flag and be sure to nail down the compensation issues before you try to take this deal to the bank.
5. “Trust me, I would never accept a counteroffer.” Or so says the candidate. This one is enough to make most experienced recruiters cry. Taking a candidate for his or her word on this issue is the clearest example of begging Murphy to run over your deal with a truck. I suggest that you always prep candidates on counteroffers and be sure to doubly prep the ones that tell you with a calm and professional assurance that they would never accept a counteroffer.
6. “This candidate does not mind a 90-minute commute.” Be very careful of this one. Commutes are quality-of-life issues, and long commutes get old very quickly. Unless it is a very unusual situation, I recommend you have the candidate interview at times that will have them traveling into the office and going home during rush hour. You also might want to look at past commute scenarios, because a candidate with a history of only 20-minutes commutes has no real concept of what a long and difficult commute is all about. The last thing you want is to hire the right candidate and have them leave in six months because the commute was too difficult.
7. “Let’s make Phyllis in accounting a recruiter.” Lord knows I will probably hear from some recruiter named Phyllis about this one, so let me apologize in advance. I am endlessly amazed when organizations that should know better suddenly realize they need a recruiter. They pick a person out of thin air to be the recruiter because they are friendly or have a nice personality. This is not how you choose a recruiter. See my article Hiring the Best Recruiters: An Executive Briefing for more information on how to hire the types of recruiters that build great companies.
8. “This new ATS will change our lives.” Applicant tracking systems can do great things for the organization, but they won’t make your recruiters more aggressive, they won’t make your organization look better to candidates, and they won’t help to close deals. What they can do, according to Scott Schoenick, senior consultant with Taleo, is “empower a staffing function with speed, automation, and decision-support capabilities that are integrated into the real work of staffing.”
9. “I can’t call in there; that would be stealing.” Don’t let this belief limit your success as a recruiter. I hate to open up old wounds on poaching and ethics (I think John Sullivan still has to wear a disguise when he goes out in public), but I will say this: You can’t steal employees, since no one owns them in the first place. This is a free market, and the best people are almost always open to a call that outlines an opportunity. If you know someone who can do the job, give them a call, as this is a great chance to demonstrate the value you bring to the organization. Here is a simple rule of thumb: If your sales force is trying to acquire their customers, you should have no problem acquiring their employees.
10. “My company is not a company you have to sell to candidates.” Wrong. Every company has to be sold. Candidates have many options in terms of places they can work. I do not care what company you’re working for. If it disappeared off the earth tomorrow, all of your people would find other positions, become adjusted to new organizations, and move on with their lives. I suggest that you sell the organization all throughout the interviewing process and have the hiring managers do the same. This way, the hiring decision is also your decision and not just the decision of the candidate.

Becoming a better and more effective recruiter is not as complex as it seems. It is really just about learning how to source and hire great candidates on a consistent basis. We all make mistakes from time to time and those mistakes usually cost us something. Does Murphy play a role? Of course, but he can be held at bay if you cover all of your bases and apply best practices to the recruiting process. After all, recruiting is like any other sales job: Work it easy and it tends to be hard; work it hard and it tends to be easy.