Many of us were raised in this business hearing some version of “persistence pays off” ringing in our ears. Maybe it was “persistence shows them you’re serious” or “we must persevere” or “nothing can take the place of persistence”.

Persistence might look like calling the same person over and over. And, leaving the same voicemail message over and over. And not getting a call back.

Or, sending email after email after email. To no avail. 

Or, scrolling through profile after profile on LinkedIn passing each of the by because they’re not perfect. 

Or repeatedly sending resumes into the internal recruiter and never hearing back. 

You’re being persistent, but you are not seeing results. 

Einstein reminds us that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.

Persistently doing the same things over again without stopping to evaluate whether they’re working may not be your ticket to success.  In truth, it might be insane. 

When I’m coaching high performing Recruiters, I work with them to trade their persistence and upgrade to consistency. We start by defining the exact strategies and tactics that will advance them toward their goal, and connect regularly to refine execution, always focusing on doing the right things right, consistently. 

Upgrading your game to focus on consistency means:

Identify the right things to do.

Identifying how to do those right things right.

Do the right things right, consistently. 

Focus on the “right” things and execute on a planful, intentional and regular basis.

Marketing – EVERY DAY 

Make contact with decision makers in your niche to understand how their business challenges translate into hiring needs.

Initiate contact with 10 NEW contacts or decision makers EVERY DAY..

Execute multiple strategies to make contact and connect with decision makers, including candidate marketing, content marketing, email marketing, referrals and/or regular 

Ask about talent needs and pain points in every conversation, even if you didn’t make the call as a marketing call

Planning – EVERY DAY

Define the target you’re shooting for: Send-Outs

Know where and why you’re initiating every call:  to connect ‘companies with needs’ with ‘people with talent’

Act with a bias for action and create a next step before you leave each call

Block your day/week into “chunks”, scheduling and protecting time blocks for each category of important activity working in your business (marketing, recruiting) and working on your business (administrative, team management). 

Measure (Metrics) – EVERY DAY

Count what matters: Recruit Presentations, Marketing Presentations, Assignments, Submittals and Send Outs

Know your ratios

Metrics create the freedom of predictability

Trying something new for a specific amount of time, eg 100 calls or 100 emails or 2 weeks, and measure the results against your expectations. Setting expectation and counting results means you can make course corrections instead of major overhauls. y. 

Pearson’s Law: “That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.”

Persistent might get you a reputation, but consistent will get you results.