Question: How do I prepare for new hires? Stacy – Virginia 

Step One: How Do I Know I’m Ready to Hire

You are ready to hire when you have too many openings to fill, or you know your year looks outstanding. We discussed this in detail in our last blog post, How To Know You’re Ready to Hire.

Step Two: Find Scratch and Dent Openings:

If I hire a new recruiter, I want to find a couple of “scratch and dent” openings that I am not wholly accountable for, meaning nonexclusive contingency. Maybe there is an individual with whom you have had wonderful conversations, and the company has an excellent story to tell; however, they only pay 18%, or they will not do an exclusive. I kept a list of about a dozen of those.   

Step Three: The Script

I would call the hiring manager, and the conversation would sound something like: 

Hey Mary, we have never been able to come to terms. I love your company, and I love your company’s story. I have a new guy starting in a couple of weeks, and I need something for him/her to work. Do you have anything you need help with?    

Usually, they say: 

Well, yes, but I cannot agree to your fees.    

No, no. I will agree to all your terms. The only thing I need is 100% in your control. I need your commitment to 24-hour verbal feedback when we talk on the phone, have a  Zoom meeting to go over the people we present to you, debrief after the interviews,  and during the offer process.  

The one thing I can guarantee you, Mr. or Ms. Hiring Manager, is quality, not quantity. I may hire this person, and they might quit in a week. It may take them a bit longer to catch on.

Since this is nonexclusive, I am not promising that I will have three or four candidates within a few weeks. I am promising that the candidates we surface will be of quality because I will personally vet them myself when I present them to you, and they will be of the standard you are looking for.    

Because the candidate market is so tight right now, companies with these horrific fee policies are dying for good recruiters to work on their assignments. If you have companies you are trying to break into, it is a great opportunity. Hiring managers are not expecting this type of conversation.   

If they say: 

Well, I am not sure if I can give this to you. I want quantity…   

Well then, let’s change the conversation and talk about terms that I can live with where  I can invest the time and the money in the search to get it done the right way. I will put together a list of 80 individuals in the geographic area where you have a need.

I will have this new person go through that list seven times, a combination of email, text,  voicemails, until they get a hold of them. And, we will generate a list of three or four people for you to interview. Again, I cannot promise any of that because I do not know how quickly the new person will take to the role.    

Step Four: Timing

From a timing standpoint, you want to hire months before you need to. As it relates to hiring, recruiters get all hung up that it is expensive. I even had somebody in training a couple of weeks ago that talked about the burden of providing them a living. I never looked at anyone I hired as a burden for me to provide them a living.

I provided them with a small base salary and a tremendous opportunity. If they executed the exact targets I gave them, they would make a great living for themselves and their family. If they do not execute and fail and have got a husband, wife, kids, whatever, I do not take that burden on. They chose not to execute.   

Metrics make success and failure black and white. You do not need placements to know if someone will be successful. If they execute to the right targets, with my past metrics and clients’, it has been a 100% track record; when new hires execute to these exact standing targets, they are 100% successful. That way, hiring is not expensive. It is an investment. 

When you implement strict targets for new hires with metrics, you are making a 90-day loan to your business. You will need to invest in three or four months of their salary, payroll taxes, etc. because you know it will take some time for them to make a placement. Still, I will know if they are on track to make placements based on their activity from the very first day on the phone.  

A great question. I so appreciate it, Stacy.    

For a deeper dive on hiring and scaling, watch this case study with RecruiterU client and coach, Bill Gibbens.