Not long ago, I was speaking to a General Manager of a recruiting firm about our services. He said to me, “Clay, if you put enough Chimpanzees in front of a typewriter, eventually one will type a paragraph from Shakespeare!” His analogy about recruiters being placed at a desk was a funny one, but very costly since his turn-over hovered around 75%. So something really wasn’t working. He had to invest huge amounts of time into training people who never stuck around to generate a profit. He went on to tell me that only 1 in 50 recruiters lasted 12 months. This attitude and approach left him no other choice than to constantly hire new classes of 10 to 12 newbie’s (recruiters) at a time. It was wearing him out.

The reason I was meeting with this General Manager was to offer him solutions.
But honestly, he needed a philosophy lesson more than a training lesson. Over the past 20 years he was able to develop 25 SUPER Producers who were true-blue professionals. But wow, talk about doing it the hard way! How many of you can really identify with this pain?

Are you looking to increase the number of recruiters in your operation? Do you want to avoid the “Groups of Chimpanzees” that require processing through your training program? Do you even have a training program? Well, you do have a new option. It’s called the 1-3-3-1 Recruiter Training Program offered through the Academy of HealthCare Recruiters.

The Academy develops SUPER Producers from scratch everyday with 7 specific steps:

First: I protect MY production! I have invested huge amounts of time in breaking down what makes me successful as a recruiter. I then produced a comprehensive, step-by-step workbook supported by an 80 Hour CD audio program that trains recruiters without pulling me away from my desk. The biggest reason……I will always be the most productive recruiter on staff. But that is also why I’m the most capable person to train people…a bit of a quandary, don’t you think? Consequently, I have had to duplicated myself……..a scary thought to my wife and those around me, but I’ve found that the company cannot spare one extra minute of my time while I train a large number of people who may or may not make it.

Second: I give the Newbie’s a Philosophy to Live by! The biggest problem I see with struggling recruiters is that they’ve never been given a vision or philosophy as to why they do what they do. Money won’t work! It has to be much bigger and better than that. I mean, the good Lord said it first in Proverbs 29:18…”Where there is no vision, the people perish.” A newbie will perish long before they can get their arms around a placement, so we assist our newbie’s in developing a personal mission statement to live by. It may sound trite, but it really works! We give them something that they can take with them where ever they go.

Third: They start with the hardest parts! I strongly test and sometimes wash out a student in the first 5 days on the job. If you’re a slacker, I want you out. So we pour on the coals, get them all stoked up, and separate the wheat from the chaff quickly in the process. Our techniques have graduated 100% of the newbie’s. And one huge bonus is that the newbie’s have confidence like you wouldn’t believe after their first five days. Since they slay the dragon first, they feel like the wind is at their backs. You and I know that’s not always the case ….but momentum is huge with newbie’s, and our newbie’s get it quick.

Fourth: They are talking the language on Day 6! Fear, call reluctance, and the phone growing fangs dripping of poison, all come from many factors. But the largest of these to newbie’s is not knowing the language of the titles they’re working. They imagine themselves being eaten alive or humiliated in front of thousands of on lookers and this freezes them in their tracks. After a few days of that, we end up with a one week wonder…and they are gone.

Our newbie’s are equipped with a candidate interview form which provides the questions and teaches them the language. After the first candidate interview, the newbie feels they know more about what makes these people tick, so they gain speed into the process and this continues to build momentum.

Fifth: They get to show their Expertise to the Experts! We’ve all run into the great candidate recruiters (importers), but one of their greatest weaknesses is that they melt down when they’re required to talk to an employer. And if they did talk to an employer, they’ll give away their services for a 20% fee.

Well, in the 16th day our newbie’s charge into battle like Mel Gibson in Braveheart. They have no question as to the result; they are the best of the best representing the best of the best. In just 16 days! Confidence and Momentum can create some amazing results.

Sixth: They see themselves handling the process from start to finish! Are you tired of holding hands with recruiters who should be self sufficient? By the 27th day our newbie’s have the bull by the horns. They can’t image not being in this business to stay. They have accomplished what few have been able to accomplish. Now it is just a matter of duplication. They have learned that if they plan their day, each and every day, and work the 1-3-3-1 system as designed, they will experience a balanced mastery of this profession. They know they can “Act their way to feeling, much easier than they can feel their way to acting.” They see themselves in control of their future in the first month.

Seventh: They learn the SUPER Producer mentality! SUPER Producers are everywhere. I feel that it is a learned mentality and a lesson most people are excited to learn. Our newbie’s learn from the very beginning that they are SUPER Producers. They see themselves accomplishing super results and this reinforces the thought process. It becomes a reality as they progress through the training. Consequently, by the end of their training program they have no doubt, because it’s real. As their balanced production of hard to find candidates, high fee job orders, and excited employers grow, it fuels this mentality. Then this mental momentum continues lifting them to higher levels of success until they know nothing else.

It’s not that easy, right? Well, I want to challenge you that rethink that question. Maybe the lack of results you see in SUPER Producer recruiters is more about you than the newbie’s you train. It’s easy for me because I am confident that Super success is within me. When ever my newbie’s come to me for coaching, I have a mentality that success is there, and they already have the tools to find it…so it’s not about my greatness it’s about their greatness. You will never hear me saying to my recruiters, “So how much money are you going to make me today?” But many general managers start out their day that way.

The 1-3-3-1 Recruiter Training Program delivers to each student a hard charging, take no prisoners, whatever-it-takes mentality that breeds confidence, tenaciousness, and commitment. Honestly, it may not be for every operation, but it has definitely worked for most.

I really want to challenge the trainers out there to lose the high turn-over mentality that has plagued our industry. It doesn’t have to be that way. So what have you done to change things within your operation? We’d be glad to help.