Most recruiters are great story tellers. Whether I’m at a Pinnacle Society meeting, a state conference or hanging out with my own team of recruiters, the one thing I can count on is the stories. The story of “the one that got away.” The story of “my biggest fee.” The story of “the client who tried to rip me off.” The topics fall into predictable categories. I visualize a big Jeopardy board. Alex, I’ll take “The Craziest Interview Story Ever” for $800. I love the stories. It’s part of what makes the business fun. But here’s the problem. Most of the stories are completely untrue. I don’t mean that the person telling the story is a frank confabulator. These are not the tales of the truly deluded. These are stories told from the protagonist’s point of view in which the recruiter is always the good guy, the wrongly accused or the innocent victim. Let’s review the elements of any great story. In addition to the protagonist (the hero), there is always an antagonist (the bad guy). They enter… Read more
It’s Not About You
Mar 30
Chris Rock joked once that if you have to call something VIP, it isn’t. He’s right. You know a VIP experience when you see, taste and feel it. There are certain things that have to be experienced to be believed. If you’re having fun, you don’t have to tell someone. If it was “good for you”, your partner would never need to ask. If you’re telling the truth, you shouldn’t have to point it out. If you have integrity, you never have to use the word. So, dear recruiters, this is why it’s so important to pay attention to what people do and not just to what they say. I just got off the phone with a candidate who accepted an offer earlier today and tonight I followed up to discuss her resignation. I asked, “are you excited about your new job?” Her answer was “yes” but her tone told me she was terrified. “You don’t sound excited.” “I’ll be excited once I get past the my resignation. Honestly, right now I’m feeling nervous and guilty.” These are normal emotional responses to quitting a job of… Read more
I Almost Saved a Life Today
Jun 13
Fair warning: If you get squeamish at the sight or thought of blood, you may want to skip this post. On the other hand, if you have vampire tendencies, this should be a treat. They say a pint of blood could mean the difference between life and death and since I figured I had a pint to spare, it seemed like an easy contribution to make to the greater good. Plus, my church was holding a blood drive. At church. On Sunday. It really couldn’t have been easier to get on board with such a worthy cause. After filling out a bunch of paperwork and certifying that I hadn’t had a corneal implant in the past 12 months, ever had Hepatitis or exchanged sex for money or drugs in the past 30 years, I was ready to give. I had some reservations about having a needle poked in my veins since I am a notoriously “difficult draw.” When I go in for my annual physical, I always request the most experienced phlebotomist (fancy title for a blood sucker in a lab coat) because apparently it’s difficult for most… Read more
Here’s a Bold, Offensive Prediction for 2010. I’m going to predict your future… Forgive me in advance if this hits a little too close to home. It’s not meant to be offensive, but it is meant to be objective. (I’ll explain in a second.) 1. You will break your resolutions by the end of January. 2. You will make the same amount of money as the average of your last 2 years’ total income. 3. You will struggle with the same habits, patterns, and behaviors that you always have. 4. You will get to the end of the year and have made very little progress but reassure yourself that next year will be better. Why do I make these predictions? Well, statistically speaking, that’s what will happen to almost everyone. So, it’s a safe bet that the same will happen to you this year. That is, if you don’t make some necessary changes. I know … I know … What nerve? Who the heck am I to say such things? Exactly. No one can make accurate predictions about an individual. Only about populations. The fact… Read more
You learn interesting things when you’re stuck in bed with the flu watching daytime TV. For example: Did you know that Gretchen Bonaduce married Danny on their first date. You know Danny Bonaduce, right? Red-headed kid of “The Partridge Family” fame. That little boy grew up into a human trainwreck with a made-for-reality-show propensity for drug addiction, alcoholism, infidelity, steriod abuse and all other forms of debauchery. Gretchen stayed with him for 18 years before she finally called it quits. She seems like a reasonable person, but how does a sensible person marry someone on their first date and then endure nearly two decades of living hell? She says a psychic foretold it. She met Bonaduce when she was working for a radio station booking guests for the station’s different shows. She booked a psychic for Bonaduce’s show who read his fortune and told him that he would marry Gretchen. Within a month that prediction was made reality. I don’t believe in psychics. I think Jerry… Read more
The Magic Numbers
Oct 12
As I write this I am on a flight headed home from the Fall 2009 meeting of the Pinnacle Society. Pinnacle is an honor society of 75 of the top producing recruiters in the country. Every meeting I attend leaves me inspired and challenged and this one was no exception. While my list of takeaways is long, there is one image in particular that will stay with me a long time. I facilitated a roundtable discussion on increasing personal production. The ideas that the group offered up ranged from the highly strategic to the very tactical. There were discussions of brand building, referral marketing, time management, technology tools and more. Carl Coco sat across from me and took it all in before he spoke. Now, if you haven’t met Carl let me tell you that he is a man that has absolute credibility with me. He has been a top producing recruiter for 40–that’s right, 40–years. He didn’t get into Pinnacle by stringing together a half dozen solid years in a hot economy. He has been putting up… Read more
Grateful or Entitled?
Oct 8
I’m a lucky person. I was born to wonderful parents who nurtured me and provided me with a safe and loving home. I have been blessed with good health, a sharp mind, and unlimited drive. None of these things were “earned.” Before I wake up in the morning, I start off ahead of the game because of the many ways in which I have been blessed. I know that others have faced far greater challenges and overcome much more significant hurdles and I stand in awe of them. I am enormously grateful and give thanks to God for all the things I have been given–literally given. Now it’s your turn? How have you been blessed? Why do I ask? Because the answer is so important to your success. Gratitude turns all you have into enough and more. Recognition of your gifts is the first step to leveraging them. Your good fortune is not just the prologue to your story, it’s the overarching theme. Successful people acknowledge the good things in their life, expect more good things and then determinedly move… Read more
Did I Really Say That?
Sep 27
“Don’t let it end like this. Tell them I said something.” -Pancho Villa (1877-1923), last words In everyone’s mind there is a film quietly running. In this film, we see the version of our best self. In this film, we are the hero of the story. We are wise, we are witty and we are powerful. We always know what to say and do. It really is a wonderful and inspiring story. It’s too bad it’s all fantasy. I can confidently say that no recruiter in our firm has ever failed for lack of training. They all know what they should do. Recruiters who fail in our company, most often do so because they know what to do and yet do something entirely different. Let me give you a real example. Recruiters in our firm are trained on debriefing candidates after interviews and provided with a debrief form with scripting included. They all know, like they know how to breathe, that at the end of every debrief they should ask: “So money aside, if they offer you the job will you accept?”… Read more
“The essence of commerce is self-interest.” I first heard those words very early in my career spoken by a much older man with a strong New York accent. I don’t know why that phrase struck such a chord with me. Maybe because I was younger, more naive and felt the statement was very brash. Maybe even a bit cold. At the time I took the statement to be a sophisticated way of saying, “Screw you.” And maybe it was, but the comment took on a new meaning to me when I heard it again. This time the phrase was coming out of my mouth. It caught me by surprise in the same way I nearly pass out when I catch my reflection and see my mother’s face. I mentor other recruiters and as part of the coaching process, they record some of their phone calls and send them to me for critique. Several of these pups were getting dismal results from their marketing calls so I specifically had them send me a half dozen live connects with prospects so I could understand what was going wrong in the… Read more
I stopped into a boutique stationary store last week to pick up a last minute gift for a friend. The woman who helped me with my purchase had operated the store for 25 years. She corrected me when I asked her how long she had “owned” the store. “I operate the store. To say you own something is such a passive statement. Operate is a verb–it implies action.” She’s right, of course. Owning a house is different than making a home. Owning a car is not the same as taking a scenic drive. And we all understand that owning a treadmill is not necessarily synonymous with running. Best-selling author, Sue Grafton once said, “A writer is someone who wrote today.” It’s the act of writing that makes you an author. It’s the same for recruiters. Just calling yourself a recruiter doesn’t make you a credit to the industry. Being a professional recruiter requires a commitment that is brought to life through a certain set of daily activities. The most important of those activities is to recruit. If a… Read more
