The Recruiter’s Secret Weapon

What if I told you that for a one-off investment of $5,013.30+GST, two hours of your time, and a recurring fee of $100 per month, you could, at a conservative estimate, bill an extra $50k-100k per year? You’d think I’m either crazy or a genius right? Perhaps both. In this line of work, barring SEEK ads of old, there’s not much than can generate that kind of return. Well, having run the agency rec to rec desk here at Rice Consulting for nearly four months, and making placements aplenty (even if I do say so myself), I have found a weapon so deadly, that it’s adding at least an extra two placements per quarter to our figures. So what is this weapon of mass recruitment?

Is it training? Just for a moment, I will park my cynicism and assume that you’ve all received a level of training. Be it via the global agency you first joined who typically provide good, structured training, to the recruitment rogue who first took you under his or her wing – you’re not getting far without a bit of training. Sadly, apart from Ross Clennett‘s all-too-infrequent visits to these shores, there is next to zero independent recruitment training available here in Aotearoa. And as a rule, it either costs more than $5,013.30, or takes longer than two hours – especially if you want the tangible improvements I’m talking about.

Is it a new product from LinkedIn? Here’s the thing with LinkedIn. After being banned from the platform a few months ago, I truly believe I have never been a more effective recruiter. You lot don’t realise (and nor do your bosses) how many hours a day you are losing down the LinkedIn rabbit hole. Aimlessly scrolling through poorly staged Diwali pics and tutting at the latest self-indulgent and subsequent obsequious posts is like kryptonite to the successful recruiter. For what I loose in being able to “inmail” people who are constantly being “inmailed” I gain back in truly worthwhile interactions via more personal channels (i.e. I pick up the f*cking phone).

Is it a new tech platform or something like video interviewing? Well, I think video interviewing is flaming fantastic, and if you work the right desk, will save you loads of time and therefore make you plenty of money. If you recruit in any volume, and don’t have it in your tool kit, you really need to do it. Will it make you an extra $100k/year? I’m not so sure, but alas, it is not what I’m referring to.

No.

If you really want to supercharge your billings, go and see the lovely people at Cyclespot on Wairau Road and spend $5k on a Yamaha NMax Scooter. Then go take your learners motorcycle test (which with a lesson takes two hours), and then run the thing on $10 of petrol per week. Hey presto, an extra $100k on the books, and $30k in your skyrocket. Here’s how it works.

Almost all of us work in candidate-short markets these days. And of course this means that almost every candidate we speak to is being courted by both other agencies and internal recruitment functions. Currently, most of you find a great candidate via whatever channel gets you off, and then arrange a time to meet them. In person, this is next week. Of course the quickest way to “meet” someone these days is invariably Teams, so at best you organise a Teams chat later that day. As do your competitors. However, there is a problem with video interviewing. It’s not actually very good for building a relationship. It’s not great for rapport. It’s not the most effective medium when you want to change someone’s mind. To be truly effective at these things, face to face wins the race. And this is a problem. You are probably reading this from a major city. If you drive to work, it took you an age. You park some distance from the office. The candidate has no parking near them. It’ll take you an hour to get across town. So…you stick with Teams. I on the other hand have stumbled across a different system. As soon as I see a CV or get a sniff of interest from an experienced recruitment candidate, I ask where they are and what they’re up to right now or later that day. I then run down some stairs, jump on my twist-and-go scooter which is parked (for free) directly outside my office, and high-tail it to their location. Riding like a mad man, and risking my life but not my billings, I arrive right outside their location and park my bike for free. I am then free to persuade, cajole, and harangue the candidate to do my bidding. If I have a candidate in process and I get a sniff that they’re getting cold feet, or have been approached by someone else, again, I fire up the hog. Two beers later, and they’re back on side. I also leave my house later, and get back in time to feed and bathe my daughter (she’s thirteen months by the way – not a teenager). The only real cost is the constant risk to my life, and how ridiculous a 6ft2, 95kg man looks on a twist-and-go scooter.

And that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

^SW