Saturday, August 13, 2005
Finkel - One seminar worth taking
Continuing the topic of influencing hiring managers, Steve Finkel has a lovely approach. In his seminar for executive recruiters, he says it is important for hiring managers to treat your time with the utmost respect. If they don't return your calls promptly, he says, "make them bleed". Here's what you say when you answer a late returned call.
“Yes, Mike, glad you called. The reason I called was that after we spoke, I went out, did the search, and called you to present an exceptional candidate. This individual was top of his class in -----, had cutting edge experience in----, and was the top ---- at his firm for the last 3 years. He was earning only $---.” (Great! When can we see him?) “Well, as I’ve indicated, I conducted the search, called you to present him, and you never got back to me. I assumed the position was filled, so I sent the candidate to another firm. I don’t mind saying, a fairly large competitor of yours, and it looks like an offer will be extended. By the way, how are you doing at filling that position?” Make him hurt for the candidate. Do not present candidate. Do not reward poor behavior or it will continue.
Now, nobody is going to confuse me for Finkel, but he knows how to get things done. Clearly, this isn't in the HR manual. My feeling is the HR influence is one of the biggest obstacles in things done. While we need to treat candidates fairly, we need not extend the same even handedness to internal managers acting as obstacles to a recruiter's productivity. Unless we can get things done, we don't deserve a seat at the table.
“Yes, Mike, glad you called. The reason I called was that after we spoke, I went out, did the search, and called you to present an exceptional candidate. This individual was top of his class in -----, had cutting edge experience in----, and was the top ---- at his firm for the last 3 years. He was earning only $---.” (Great! When can we see him?) “Well, as I’ve indicated, I conducted the search, called you to present him, and you never got back to me. I assumed the position was filled, so I sent the candidate to another firm. I don’t mind saying, a fairly large competitor of yours, and it looks like an offer will be extended. By the way, how are you doing at filling that position?” Make him hurt for the candidate. Do not present candidate. Do not reward poor behavior or it will continue.
Now, nobody is going to confuse me for Finkel, but he knows how to get things done. Clearly, this isn't in the HR manual. My feeling is the HR influence is one of the biggest obstacles in things done. While we need to treat candidates fairly, we need not extend the same even handedness to internal managers acting as obstacles to a recruiter's productivity. Unless we can get things done, we don't deserve a seat at the table.
