Headhunters are in it
for the money. They are overpaid recruiters who don’t care about the candidates
they’ve placed. They are a glorified group of modern day slave traders armed
with corporate buzz words they don’t even understand.
Familiar? It shouldn’t be. But it should be
alarming that, unfortunately, clients and candidates think of some of us this
way. One rotten tomato spoils the whole bunch, let me tell you. I haven’t been
in the business long enough to see how much has changed since it was first
done. But I could deduce as much as you do, and here’s my two cents. The influx
of information and engagements has delegated us as automatons whether we like
it or not. We see a pipeline of pending jobs, what’s next? We call people,
endorse to clients, and wait. Waiting for judgment day, for the almighty job
offer to come, and have our candidates sign on the dotted line. But, then
again, is it that simple? What happens in between?
In my almost six years in recruitment, I have
abided by three simple rules: Prepare, Proceed, and Politeness.
Prepare. Know your clients.
What do they do? They’re not simply cash cows we’d milk! Don’t go barging in,
prospecting for new clients to service, brandishing your firm’s name to drift
onto the laps of approving officers to sign your proposal. Know their business!
Never speculate about what they do because their company’s name sounds like
something you’ve heard before. Research! With multi-faceted means to gather
pieces of information, what would keep us from knowing? Only ourselves, I tell
you. After knowing about the company, are we prepared to meet head on with what
their requirements are? If we’re not, we’re majorly screwed and dipped in God
knows where! Excuses should not matter on why were not able to send candidates.
I know I’m guilty of that from time-to-time. But, it should be farthest from
our minds and vocabulary. We can do it! A hefty check year-end for a job well
done, how’s that sound? A good thing about what we’re doing, we’re segmented
into specializations. The assumption is industry expertise. How much of an
expert are you if you start learning only when a job order comes. Mind you, it
will only be worth too much that it doesn’t even matter. Be your clients’
partners. They’re need is as pressing as yours. What if we turned the table?
You’re in this together.
Proceed. So, you got a new client? A new headache
perhaps? Challenge anybody? What do you do with this new pen pusher? Go back to
the first one: PREPARE! Do you have people in mind to tap or people in your
network who could assist you in the search? Maximize your connections. Don’t
ever, ever approach a candidate you’re not prepared to meet, they’ll eat you up
and spit you out! I learned it the hard way. Noob. The relationship you build with your candidates will be
beyond the requirement. Your candidate is your gateway to the industry and his
job family. What you establish as a common ground between the two of you will
never bog or fumble. It is a gold mine of opportunities.
Politeness. I know you have some
client in mind you’d rather forget who pressures you to send a whole shortlist
of candidates you’ve pre-reviewed only to be caught up in the quagmire of red
tape and then everything’s held up, fumbling blindly in the corporateness of the whole engagement left with
nothing or that persistent candidate who follows up even in the wee hours of
the night and early hours of the morning. Guilty? Guilty? So am I. But that is
how it is. This is something we’ve agreed to unconsciously when we took the
job. But eventhough this sounds so much disinteresting or something that will
drive you to the edge of sanity: KEEP CALM! It’s part of the job. Maturity
kicks in when you think of how to manage it beyond how much you think you could
hurt these people. Smile and know that tomorrow’s always another day. Deal with
your clients professionally. Get back to your candidates who haven’t been
shortlisted, you owe them that much. They entrusted you with their time and
effort. Do the same.
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