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Recruiting: It's Not All In The Name

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By Derek Zeller

It’s true. In fact there is an interesting perception that because you’re big, you are better. Everyone wants to work for you.  Who wouldn’t want to work at Google, Amazon, and Apple?  Apparently there are a few.  How can I back up this statement?  Well, in my best Jim Carey voice “LET ME SHOW YOU SOMETHING!!”

The reason I know this is that ALL these companies have recruiters, ALL of them.  Now why would that be? They have a great brand, everyone knows who they are. Why do you need recruiters? You need them to get the people.

Although they know of you, they are:

1)      Afraid of the machine

2)      Wary of the process

3)      Been burnt before

4)      They just aren’t that in to you

We are the agents of the company we work for. We are RECRUITERS. The very definition of recruit is “someone who supplies members or employees”.  Having a big name may be part of the picture but relying on it is silly. We need to, yes I am going there, SELL our company to the candidate.  I know there will be multiple postings on recruiting is not sales etc. but get over it. It just is. I know that a stellar candidate is going to be chased after by Google and Microsoft.  Both great companies so who wins?  IMO the company with the better recruiter does.  I know, I know, there are many variables but at the end of the day the recruiter is the final voice the candidate hears and trusts. If you were doing it right, you were closing them from the very beginning.

I don’t recruit for a large company.  I recruit for a medium sized Government contractor in DC.  I recruit for some of the most difficult to find, capture, and retain talent in the world.  These folks are Cyber and IT and all have clearances.  There are a lot of “Big Boys” here Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, etc.  They all have a brand. They are all well known.  I compete against their recruiters with 10 times the budget that we have and guess what? I beat out the big companies almost every time when it comes down to winning the talent. Why?  I SELL my company with all that I have to get these folks. My method is simple. I know what they do. I listen to what they want. I make the match.  I pre-sell the opportunity and am listening to them all the way through the process. I don’t rely on a “Big Boy” reputation with the arrogance that they MUST want to work for my company because blah blah blah.

This rant is really for my brothers and sisters in the corporate world and was not written to chastise you or your company. In fact a few folks, Amy Ala, Cathy Anderson, and Will Thompson are some of the most passionate and talented recruiters I know. They work for large very well-known companies and they use that to their advantage. They never take it for granted and neither should you. No matter who you recruit for do it with passion. Do it with honesty and credibility. The candidate will know it. #truestory

Derek Zeller is a Senior IT Recruiter with ARTI, Inc. You can connect with Derek on LinkedIn or Twitter

He Never Met a Stranger; the Life and Times of Sean Lyons

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By Conor Nicholson “When a great man dies, for years the light he leaves behind him, lies on the paths of men.” –Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Sean Pic 1
How do you write a tribute about a guy who had his best years ahead of him? Nothing I write can truly give him his due or come remotely close to relaying the tragedy that has befallen upon his family. How can you accurately portray the size, scope and breadth of his heart? The fact that he literally had hundreds of friends, all of whom loved him?

In the 8 years I knew Sean Lyons, I never heard a bad word uttered about him. That isn’t the case for the vast majority of us; myself included. The man loved life and his friends and family meant everything.

Sean Lyons was a recruiter and a damn good one at that. Like many of the better recruiters out there, he got his start at Aerotek in 1997 after getting his Bachelors in Communications from West Virginia University. We didn’t meet until early 2007 when we were both recruiting consultants at ESC/Beeline under Charlie Eye. In fact, the last time we hung out, Charlie and I were hanging out at Sean’s place in Reston. We cracked jokes and were amazed at how far we all had come. Sean never took himself too seriously and was genuinely proud of his friend’s accomplishments. That night, he told me how happy he was for me and my wife Jessica and I had to remind him that he played a major role when he ran some payroll deals through us. He was a friend in the best sense of the word as he truly enjoyed helping people and never expected anything in return.

Sean had so many friends that he was given the unofficial title of “The Mayor of Reston”. If you were having drinks with him at Jacksons, person after person would come up and say hello. We all scratched our heads thinking “How does this guy know so many people?”. It was undoubtedly his big heart. DC isn’t the friendliest of cities and quite often, you deal with folks with an inflated sense of self-worth. Sean was the exact opposite as he was down to earth and always had a smile on his face.

I’ll never forget the night we went to the Nationals game. We had a blast. It was a beautiful night and I was cranking dance music on the drive home. I look over and there’s Sean, dancing his face off and pumping his fist out of the sunroof. The guy was over 40 years old and had the zeal of a guy 25 years younger. You can’t make this stuff up.

When Sean first met his wife Christine, he was head over heels. I met one of his college friends at a bar after the funeral and he said Sean had never been happier. After tying the knot, Sean told people that if he had a son, he would name him Sean Jr. Sure enough, their first child was a boy and Sean Freddie is as adorable as they come. I’m sure their second child will be just as beautiful.

Everyone that knew Sean misses him dearly and we have pledged to be there for his wife Christine, their son Sean Freddie and their unborn child. Attending his funeral was one of the hardest things we’ve ever been through. If you looked around, all you saw was young, vibrant people that cared about him. For those of us with young children, his passing is even more unimaginable. The only thing we can do is keep his spirit alive and surround his family with love. There isn’t a doubt in our minds that Sean would have done for the same for us.

Sean, we love you, we miss you and we will always be there for your family.

Sean Pic 2 If you’d like to contribute to the Sean Lyons Memorial Fund, please visit the site here

Sean Lyons Memorial Fund

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Please take a moment to read about one of our fellow DC Recruiters, Sean Lyons.

On March 9, 2014, our friend and fellow DC Recruiter Sean Lyons passed away at the young age of 43. He is survived by his wife, Christine; his 11 month old son, Sean Freddie; and expected baby. His passing is truly a tragedy, as he had his whole life ahead of him, and a young family to care for. This fund will go to support his children’s future.

recruitDC has pledged a $500 donation to the fund, and we hope you will be able to contribute to helping a fellow recruiter in the DC community.

To contribute, click here.

Thank you for your support,
The recruitDC Board of Directors

Poll Results: Is It OK To Contact Candidates At Work?

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Two weeks ago, we decided to ask you, the recruiting audience, about how you felt about contacting candidates via email at their work address. There was enough chatter in the recruiting arenas about the subject that we wanted to know what you think. Thanks to all those that responded, we appreciate your input.
The Results

In total, we had 45 respondents weigh in. Over 70% of those who voted were open to emailing candidates at work to make first contact. Within that number, 31% of recruiters thought that it was permissible, but only if all other avenues had been exhausted already. About 30% of those who voted were definitively opposed to making first contact at the candidate’s place of employment. [Read more…]

How To Think Like A Marketer

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By Lexi Gordon

It all comes down to marketing. When a political candidate is lobbying for votes, he’s campaigning. I would argue he’s marketing. When a lawyer makes it to partner, she’s no longer practicing law, she’s marketing the firm’s services to bring in new business. When a recruiter is seeking out candidates, he’s recruiting. I call that marketing. [Read more…]

recruitDC Poll: Should Recruiters Contact Candidates Via Their Work Email?

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There has been some discussion in the recruiting community over the last few months about the best way recruiters should reach out to candidates. You can read a sampling of the articles here.
With the wide array of tools like SellHack, LinkedIn, Entelo and TalentBin available to recruiters and sourcers today, we wanted to know what you think.  Do you take whatever info you can get and make your move from there, or do you work to dig for more personal contact info. With the price of some sites today, gathering whatever information that you can – at a low cost – can be an appealing option.

What are your thoughts on emailing candidates at their work email address? Feel free to leave us some comments on why you voted the way you did, and what other things have worked for you.  We’ll compile the results and have a follow-up post to share them, along with any interesting comments readers share!

[polldaddy poll=7987294]

Paying It Forward – It's The Little Things

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By Pete Radloff

Ask a recruiter why they do what they do, and you’re likely to get a wide variety of answers. Among them may be:

  • “I sort of just fell into recruitment”
  • “I’m an extrovert, this was a good fit”
  • “I didn’t want to do sales”
  • “I like helping people”

The fact is, most of us got into this business because deep down we love helping people, just as much if not more than making money. Yes this is true. Fortunately, we’ve picked a profession that allows for both. Career choice FTW!

[Read more…]

Veterans: Sell Your Talent, Not Your Title

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ed. note: This post was originally published here on December 8, 2013.  It was republished here with permission from the author.
By Bob Wheeler

There’s a lot of PR going on right now around the topic of veteran hiring.  Private organizations are picking up on the terrific talent pool coming out of the armed forces and many even have specific outreach programs designed to attract recently separated military personnel.  Let’s be clear though, no one will hire us because we are veterans, they will hire us because we have something to offer their company.

If you’re still on active duty, look around your unit (if you’ve recently separated think back to your last one).  Do you believe everyone in that group was equally talented?  We as veteran job seekers can be quick to point out things like “NCO’s make great managers”, which is true.  But can you really say that every NCO you worked for was great? Can you even say that all of them were even adequate?  The same goes with every job and billet in the military. Not every Commanding Officer is an awesome leader. Not every Supply Officer can handle logistics in an exceptional manner. Not every technician is trusted to work on the most critical of equipment.

By definition, everyone in your unit is a veteran.  But not all of them are talented.

Veteran (adj) Talent (n)

In the military we focus on mission accomplishment for the unit, not necessarily the individual. This is why you may see a unit or staff function succeed even despite the obvious inadequacies of certain individuals.  I’ve seen officers that would never survive without their subordinates going above and beyond their job description. I’ve also seen officers put in ungodly amounts of extra supervision (and sometimes even hands on work) to make the mission succeed because they were dealt a lousy hand in terms of NCO’s.

In order to succeed on the job market then, we need to ensure we sell our talents, not our titles. When recruiters are tasked with finding veteran talent, the word veteran is the adjective, not the noun.

The following are some tips on how to do just that.

1 – Make sure your resume (and LinkedIn Profile) lists actual accomplishments, and understand that being responsible for something isn’t an accomplishment.

2 – Learn about industries that you would like to work in after the military to understand what types of metrics they use to define success. Seek to put yourself in positions to do the same type of measurable work while still on active duty.

3 – Keep steady and accurate documentation of your success.  If the success metrics for the civilian world don’t exactly line up with the success metrics of your current billet in the military, so be it. Just keep parallel documentation.  In the end, your performance evaluations can help you build a civilian resume, but they can’t replace it.

The ability to demonstrate our talents is critical to success on the job market.  The best advice is to start early in your career to find ways to put yourself into positions to learn, grow, and ultimately perform, at the tasks valued by private organizations. It’s only when we demonstrate the talent that the adjective “Veteran” gets a chance to work it’s magic.

Bob Wheeler is currently on active duty where he recruits physicians for the US Navy.  He will be retiring from the service in June of 2014 and has been blogging about his transition process at http://veterantransitiondiary.wordpress.com/. You can find Bob on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter @sailordoc.

Tech Shoppers Beware: Don't Buy Candidates From This Guy!

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By Susan Strayer LaMotte
I often talk with HR vendors, staffing agencies and RPOs about how to sell into HR and I’m continually amazed by the tactics people use. I’m not a career salesperson, but I have spent quite a bit of time in the buyer’s seat, and now that I run a consulting firm, new business is constantly on my mind.  So I understand quarterly goals, year-end stress and pressure to make numbers. But I’ll never understand why people think the mass contact strategy will work.

Sales = relationships. But some recruiters still don’t get it.

Earlier this year, I got this InMail on LinkedIn:

Subject: quick question…. I am a Tech recruiter from [company redacted]. I am representing an especially gifted Lead Software Engineer with a Master’s, who recently moved here from the Silicon Valley. He currently works for innovative media titan [company redacted] and previously led teams while at [company redacted] and [company redacted], respectively. He is more than proficient in several languages, but specializes in custom mobile, web, and software application development as well as Amazon Web Service and API management. His high quality code has scaled and supported over 600K in Daily Active Users in the past but his objective in his next role moving forward is to introduce and evangelize the process of continuous technological integration. He will prove an immediate and tangible asset to any Tech environment. If you are looking to do any hiring these days, let me know and I can send you his resume right away. I promise I will not waste your time.

But here’s the thing. You just did.

I’m not a recruiter. I don’t have any open tech positions. So the 30 seconds it took to read your InMail was a waste of my time.  And I certainly wouldn’t connect with you or recommend you to anyone (and I know many recruiters in the space) given your approach.

Now, I’m from Philadelphia. And I’m Italian. That means I’m brutally honest. I could have hit delete, but instead, I sent back the following response:

I appreciate you reaching out but mass messages don’t work. Here’s why: my company wouldn’t be hiring someone like this or any tech professionals quite frankly. You do yourself and the profession a disservice by recruiting this way.

And his response?

I disagree but thank you for your feedback Susan.

I’d love to know why he disagrees but I’m not wasting any more of my time. Whether you’re a recruiter, marketer, job seeker or you’re selling tech software, this approach is flat out wrong. 

As a candidate, I don’t want to be mass marketed. Do you?  

And as a recruiter, I don’t want my tech talent to come from a Costco-style approach. I want a boutique store that takes the time to cater to the right kind of shoppers–not one that’s selling Chico’s to 15-year old boys.

I did some research on the recruiter and the company. This recruiter is only a few years out of college and normally I wouldn’t fault someone who is still learning. But his terse response shows me he’s not looking to learn. And the firm he works for clearly isn’t coaching him. That firm has been around since 1999. So that means some people are buying (and teaching) what he’s selling.  If you’re shopping for tech talent, buyer beware.

Don’t buy what this guy, and many others like him are selling.

I won’t throw him or his firm under the bus here, but I will tell anyone who contacts me individually not to work with this firm. Ever.

The recruiter that doesn’t take the time to build meaningful and targeted relationships isn’t going to look out for you. It’s a sandwich board or apartment leasing sign-flipping strategy. And do you want to fill your skilled jobs this way?  I sure hope not.

Susan Strayer LaMotte is the founder of exaqueo. She helps startup and high-growth companies develop cultures, build employer brands, and create talent strategies to help scale and grow businesses. Follow her @SusanLaMotte.

 

Winter I$ Coming – Part 1

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This post was originally published on the ClearedJobs.net Blog. It is republished with permission. 
By Derek Zeller

The theme is prevalent in the HBO show and book seriesGame of Thrones. It’s a prophetic thought that is set by these three words.

winter-is-coming

“Winter is Coming” is the motto of House Stark. The meaning behind these words is one of warning and constant vigilance. The Starks, being the lords of the North, strive to always be prepared for the coming of winter, which hits their lands the hardest.

In the DC metro area we have seen winters come and go with only minor irritations. However the mood has changed and like the rest of the United States, the great recession looks to be upon us. The first thing we saw was furloughs. Then a shut down.

As a recruiter in the security-cleared community for the last 10 years, I have seen my share of ups and downs. The winter that is coming will force a change due to several factors.

More Qualified Job Seekers

Firstly, there are more qualified job seekers. Twenty years ago it was difficult to find qualified candidates in newer technologies and roles because they had not been needed previously.

Things needed to be built, upgraded, and protected in ways no one had thought of before. The internet was young but growing at a rapid pace. There were a handful of people that knew how to grow it. Those folks were swept up by the West Coast and its tech monsters such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. To have people with clearances that were in this market was a rare commodity. They could ask and charge a great deal more for their services.

Companies took note as did the Government and the promise of delivery at a higher cost was accepted. Over time however more people with clearances in hand entered the market through traditional means such as colleges and also from the military. People took note of the better paying positions and trained themselves accordingly. This started the influx of talent to the area. As more and more people with in-demand skills came in to the market, salaries became more competitive.

More Competition

Secondly, Federal contracts that were traditionally battled over by the largest contractors have been faced with a slew of smaller, cheaper, and somewhat more efficient small business contractors. Their overhead being less, these smaller companies are able to offer the same services at a greater cost savings to the Government. Contracts now more than ever are being scrutinized by cost of staff and performance.

To compete, larger contractors have cut salaries or reduced staff. When contracts come up for competition or re-compete, typically after 3-4 years, the contracts are being revised, maintaining the more cost effective staff and replacing the more expensive staff with lower-salaried personnel.

How Do You Prepare

Brace for the change and understand that it’s coming. Salaries are likely going down or are going to stay the same with little increase. The most affected in these cases will be managers that are not hands on. When a contract is won by a non-incumbent, typically the first thing replaced is management. The second is the higher earners that the winning bid underbid.

Contractors who are on staff are usually given right of first refusal for the position, but not necessarily at the same salary or benefits. You need to take in to consideration how this will affect you. Leaving without a new position may cost you even more. A new contract may pay less than what you are currently making.

Certifications

DoD and other Federal branches are requiring new certifications on top of clearances. Some are not presently required under the current contracts. For example Information Assurance is on the list with the 8570 training certificate. If you can obtain other certifications within your field, you have a better chance of retaining or acquiring a better salary and position.

Derek Zeller is a senior corporate technical recruiter in the cleared community, recruiting for both agencies and government contractors. Follow Derek on Twitter @derdiver.  Derek-Zeller

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