One of the most influential ways to approach a job search is through networking.  But how and why invest your time in networking?

“In 2012, networking accounted for more than one in four hires at major companies, the most of any strategy used in job hunting,” says David Vander Does, President of the National Search Advisory and a Recruitment Consultant with Gore Medical Products and CBI Group.  “And if a candidate has a referral from inside a company, he/she is 70 times more likely to be hired than a candidate without this connection,” Dave adds, referring to a finding published by Career Xroads.

So how do you network?  Where do you start and what are the tools to help you?

“Networking is all about relationship-building.  It’s who you know and who they know that can really make the difference in your search” Dave says.

The first step is to make a list of current and prospective contacts.  “Think about the relationships that you already have (family, friends, previous co-workers, etc…) and add them to your list.  Then do your research and identify others that you need to know (company contacts, business leaders, others in your profession) and add them to your list.   Think beyond the obvious, be strategic,” Dave advises.

There are lots of tools to use in building your network with www.LinkedIn.com as one of the best places to start.  “If you don’t already have a LinkedIn presence, establish one,” Dave says.  “This serves as your professional profile for recruiters, hiring managers and all the current and potential people in your network.  Think of it this way: if you don’t have a presence on LinkedIn, you don’t exist.”

Once you’re on LinkedIn, you can conduct searches by company name, industry, through current and former co-workers and through your network of LinkedIn contacts that you should be continuously growing.  Similarly, using search engines like Google can provide great insight into your field, and help you identify prospective companies and professional associations.

Dave says your next step is to divide your list of contacts into three groups: warm (people who know who you are and can give you a good reference), casual (people you may need to reconnect with) and cold contacts (people you haven’t met yet, but you need to meet). “This will help you prioritize and maximize your efforts as you begin to work your network”

Develop a database or a spreadsheet with of course names, titles, e-mail addresses, etc. but then leave a column for “Notes” where you can track of your progress with each networking target.

Now you’re ready to get out there and network. Dave says to practice these four steps with each person you meet:

1.  Make them aware that you are looking for your next “adventure”

2.  Guide their thinking about what that “adventure” could be

3.  Be confident and specific

4.  Give them permission to share your name or resume as they see fit

Dave also encourages job hunters and net-workers to develop a script and practice in your home or office.  “For most, networking can be overwhelming and frightening.  But remember, it’s really nothing more then the act of building relationships one contact at a time.  The more you do it; the easier it becomes.”  Keep these elements in mind:

1.  Intro- who am I and why am I calling or e-mailing?

2.  Your mission- I’m pursuing my next best adventure and thought you could help…

3.  Give them permission to say “no.”

4.  Provide something of value in return.

5.  The sensational close- share your plans for follow-up and ask if you can keep in touch.

“Most people will encourage you to stay in touch… do-so, you’d be surprised at how many people never get in touch with these prospects again,” Dave says.

When reaching out to a networking prospect you haven’t met, start with an e-mail introducing yourself and making a connection (Our mutual friend Sam Jones suggested I contact you; we attended xx college at the same time, I’m also a member of your professional association…). Then state your purpose and tell them when you’ll follow-up.  Then when you call, say “I’m following up on the e-mail I sent you on…this process helps to eliminate the “cold call””

Remember to say thank you. “People in jobs today are busier than ever and even if they only give you five minutes, it’s important that you acknowledge their time,” Dave points out.  “And if they help you make a good connection, let them know how grateful you are.”

And remember; always try to provide value in return.“Good relationships are not one sided; do what you can to help others in your network in return for the help they provided to you. It makes all the difference and will help to strengthen your network for the future.”

CBI Way blog spot by Lisa Van Ess, Recruiter On-Demand and Managed Staffing Practice Leader

So as a recruiter your #1 goal is to find the best fit for a position. You assess the position requirements, responsibilities, team and company cultural fit and interpersonal interactions with the manager and the team, you begin recruiting against all these hard and soft responsibilities, and find the perfect person. How’s that for a happily ever after?

So what happens when this top candidate gets in front of the hiring manager and the message back to you is: I want someone younger/older/male/female? We all have or will have to face this at some point. Below are three suggestions on what to do when the inevitable occurs:

1.      Ask why - There are sometimes valid (and lawful) reasons to ask for an otherwise protected characteristic. For example, if the job requirement is to model women’s dresses, the most ideal candidate may very well be a woman, or if a job is to design apps targeted for the under 30 market’s use, a Millennial may be the most qualified candidate. It never hurts to ask questions to gain clarity.

2.      Educate – In the absence of a valid reason, it is always recommended you educate (teach don’t preach!) your hiring management about non-discriminate hiring and most importantly the value to the organization of having diverse teams. (Start by reminding them their clients are diverse!)

3.      State your purpose and get back to the first sentence – your job is to find the best fit for the position — to enable the new hire’s, team’s and company’s success! If the first two suggestions don’t yield any traction from your hiring manager, it might just be best to go back to the drawing board and find the best fit!

The CBI Way blog series explores the tools and practices used in Talent Acquisition. CBI Way is CBI Group’s recruiting approach and methodology – it’s how we do what we do! Check in with CBI Way for insights around workforce education and training, the latest trends in recruiting technology, and how to best utilize these tools towards improving your own recruiting practices.

CBI Way blog spot by Glenn Koetz, Search Practice Lead and Lisa Van Ess, Outside-In® Group Lead

We have all had those days when we are sitting with our trusted colleagues talking about the nightmare candidate who came to the interview with a bulls-eye tattooed on his forehead, or the one whose answer to “Why would you like to work for us?” is “I am eating dog food at this point and will have to change to cat food if I don’t get a job”, or the one whose interview turns into a disaster right from the start. We all chuckle and agree that if we wrote a book on what we have seen throughout the candidate management process, we would make millions and could all retire… Yet sometimes in that same conversation we actually get to the, “Well, how did you handle that?”, and the wisdom shared at that point is a rare gift.

One of my favorite sayings is “You can’t manage crazy.” Unfortunately, if you have chosen a career in HR or recruiting you are called upon to do just that. Here are some proven tactics I have found helpful in managing Candidate Crazy.

Remember, as a recruiting professional you have the ability to say No.

This means you can tell the person who comes in for the interview with the bulls-eye on their forehead, “No, you are not meeting with the hiring manager.” It is up to you to screen out candidates and not waste your hiring manager’s time. In this case, I took the time to meet with this individual and tell him that the position required the quick building of face-to-face relationships in a very conventional firm and that he would be better suited to work in a more casual environment; mentioning both he and the company would be happier. The candidate thanked me, we parted ways and all lived happily ever after…

Educate, coach, and use a personalized No Thank You letter if needed.

For my dog food gal…she was a really talented, experienced candidate who made it beautifully through the phone and in-person recruiting interviews. When she got in front of the decision makers – the dog food versus cat food answer was the one she gave when asked why she wanted to work for the company. I called her to let her know she did not get the job and specifically why. I will tell you that I was very sympathetic and agreed to present her to another hiring manager with the coaching, even direction that she answer the question with why working that job for that company was important to her – we even rehearsed her answers. (File this under no good deed goes unpunished).

Fast forward to interview number two: Interviewer: “Why do you want this job at our company?” Dog food Gal: “To keep me and my kids from living in a refrigerator box in an alley.” This is when the call explaining to the candidate she did not get the job (and why) is followed by the specific No Thank You Letter to ensure that they understand they will not be coached any further and that the official rejection is required.

Maintain control when an interview starts to unravel.

And then, there are always those interviews that are complete disasters right from the start. The candidate comes in an hour and a half after the scheduled time and fails to communicate that they’re running late…or the candidate becomes emotionally unstable halfway through the interview because they realize they are not going to make it through to the next round…or maybe, the candidate becomes desperate and starts to beg you to review their resume credentials when both parties know the damage has already been done.

In these situations, it’s important to communicate to this person that the mistakes they’ve made, can be used as lessons learned or motivation for their next job interview. If they’re going to be late, they ought to communicate it! There’s nothing worse than a no-show, without any reason for it, right? When emotions get out of hand, its important to remind them that this interview is not the end-all be-all, and that the reason they are not moving forward is not because of something they lack. And finally, when it comes to credentials, (this scenario is often found most with recent college grads or young professionals), tell them that its about their potential value and capacity to grow within an organization that’s important, not always what they’ve already accomplished. Reinforcement is key to managing this type of nightmare candidate.

I am sure we have all been on either or both sides of this, the moral to the story is to take a proactive, openly communicative position with all your candidates to ensure the very best time, energy and matches among hiring managers and hire-ees!

What do you say to new employees about your culture?

I hope it involves stories, fables, and anecdotes.  Stories stay in the mind long after the first day on the job. After all the introductions, product overviews, and orientation meetings, people remember the stories in the end. What’s more, the messages in the stories are what really stick. I have some favorite stories that I use to bring our cultural values to life. I’ll share one powerful story with you today.

I often start by saying that there will be No Strings here.  I am not a Puppet Master, and you are not a puppet. The strings are a metaphor for tangible tools that managers use to yank us around as employee puppets.  Strings are threats, one-time contests, or traditional leader behaviors that create the typical reward for the right kind of behavior.  This management style is not evil or wrong. This style is just not our culture. No Strings describes freedom of expression. No Strings  means that your motivation is within.  You’re responsible for your own career and development. You’re driven by our set of 20 Outside-In® values.  Your actions and behaviors are congruent with who you want to be and how you want to live your life.

All in all, No Strings is the difference between internal or intrinsic motivation (things like learning, challenging work, respect, fun, growth) and alignment or extrinsic motivation (money, title, power, benefits, company perks, or fancy trips).  Don’t get me wrong,  all of us are motivated to some degree by financial needs.  But, all things considered, they don’t stay that way for long . Given the choice, most of us will choose the learning and fun over some short term performance based threat or bonus to hit a production number.

So, if you’re a leader are you a Puppet Master? If you’re an employee, are you a puppet with strings?

What stories do you tell your employees in their first week? Share them, I dare you! I have told this story three times this week, and hundreds of times in my leadership career. I know that No Strings empowers and creates equality in our flat, ever evolving set of companies.

Guess blog post by Lisa Van Ess, CBI Group team member

OK, we’ve all done this. Admit it, we all have this story. Sometimes it stays hidden away, locked in the closet: the embarrassing ’lesson learned’ that we diligently strive to never, ever repeat again. Other times, we share the story with others to try and save them from making the same mistake, but shockingly, history does sometimes repeat itself! Some of us, when we share the various responsibilities of HR, Recruiting, and Team Leadership, may still be painstakingly unraveling all the fun that comes in the aftermath of making the bad hire, the gift that may keep on giving for weeks and months to come…

Most commonly, the reasons I have seen or (gasp!) participated in making a bad hire under duress, fall into the following categories:

Recognize any or all of the above? Yeah, me, too!

So, what can we do as recruiting leaders? The solutions really are simple:

1) Slow down. Slow your client down and reset time-to-fill expectations. This means not settling, this can also mean making the call to say, “I need another two weeks to do this right. I don’t want to do it fast and risk presenting or making a bad or inferior hire.” It is important to get in front of this one early, don’t miss a delivery deadline THEN tell your hiring manager or client it will take longer. Engage in the conversation as soon as you see the issue arise. We often agree to challenging, even impossible deadlines (as recruiters we are a competitive, fast-paced bunch) with the intent to quickly help our clients and solve problems. Being candid and informative with your clients to allow the time to hire the right talent goes a much, much longer way than the I-beat-the-impossible-time-to-fill-deadline by 5 hours! Ever start someone pending the last 24 hours of a background check being complete? (C’mon, admit it, we all know that story – classic example of do it right vs. do it fast.)

2) Offer a contractor or consultant. Help this poor hiring manager manage their work and life with an interim solution while the search for full time talent continues! Oh, and if you negotiate a nice ‘contract-to-hire’ deal, the contractor just may be your hire.

3) People change. Really, they do. Sometimes they change for the better, sometimes for worse, sometimes they’re just different. Even if the potential candidate used to work for you, you worked for them and they taught you everything you know, was at your wedding or college graduation party and is a wonderful person (and they still are). Interview them anyway. Not only is it a great opportunity to catch-up, but you need to take the time to make sure the journey they have been on since you last worked with/for/near them is a match for the next stop on their journey: your current opening. Don’t deviate from your proven successful, consistent recruiting and hiring practices no matter who the candidate might be, and last (but not least) do make sure to complete your background check process and check current references.

By Kelly Murray

When Linkedin arrived on the social media scene in 2003, many of those in the recruiting and staffing industry did not anticipate how much it would impact the way they recruited. A whole new way of networking had been introduced and candidates could quickly be found literally at one’s fingertips. Nearly a decade later, recruiters are taking advantage of another medium to meet job seekers and network with them: the virtual career fair.

Just last week, CBI Group’s team of recruiters attended a virtual career fair sponsored by the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS). I sat down with CBI Group’s Recruiting Guru Dave VanderDoes to discuss his experience with the recent fair and get some insight on what he foresees in the recruiting industry’s future.

Kelly: Thanks for sitting down to talk with me, Dave. Can you tell me a little bit about CBI Group’s experience with virtual career fairs?

Dave: Sure, no problem. This is the second career fair sponsored by RAPS, and the third virtual career fair overall for the team.

K: Tell me about this one in particular – the RAPS Virtual Career Fair.

D: Six other companies were in attendance including some healthcare and manufacturing companies. The fair lasted from 10am to 6pm. Three recruiters from our team, Colleen, Karesa, and myself, attended through out the day.

K: How many people came into your booth?

D: There were 800 people registered to attend the fair. Two-hundred people stopped by our booth. Attendees had the option to not go into the booth, but were able to just look at the jobs posted and could submit their resume if they were interested. Last time, they could “drive through” the booth without submitting any information – not the best feature. But this time we had the option of getting their information.

K: Wow, that’s a ton of people. Any luck with the resumes you received?

D: We already have one candidate submitted for Regulatory Affairs that [our client] is interested in speaking with. From the last Fair, we had a candidate hired within three weeks of contacting them at the fair for a position that had been open for a few months.

K: Any likes or dislikes?

D: Yea, the first thing I liked about the fair is that it allows you to brand the company by building an actual [virtual] booth. Attendees can come into the booth, see our logo, see videos, company literature, employee testimonials, look at all our openings, and apply directly through the fair. It’s a great way to see the company.

Because it is virtual, it allows individuals to come in from all over the country, and its something they can do from their desk at work, or their Iphone/Ipad. It’s a much easier way to get in. I had the ability to initiate some chat conversations, gauge interest, and schedule follow-up conversations.

K: How do you feel about this type of recruiting – the virtual aspect – do you embrace it?

D: This type of recruiting is good. In a chat session its hard to get a lot of depth but its a good way to make initial contact. Overall, its a great way to recruit.

K: How do you feel recruiting will change in the future?

D: I think there will be more recruiting events like this in the future. It’s another tool for recruiters and it will probably catch on quickly. The key is, if its sponsored by an association [such as RAPS], it will likely be more successful.

For more information on the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society and their upcoming events please visit www.raps.org.

Guest blog by Lisa Van Ess, CBI Group team member

Hi Everyone! It’s me again, still hanging on to the catch phrase Talent Acquisition. Most of us, whether we are corporate or agent recruiting professionals, spend the vast majority of our time practicing “Fill-the-Open-Job” recruiting and often, in doing so, stumble across some really great talent.

Hmmm…so you stumble across a Wildly Talented Individual and don’t have the open requisition. What to do?

Those of you in the retained, engaged, and contingent search space may dust off your “Most Place-able Candidate” hats and begin to market this person to your favorite partner clients, and/or start researching companies who just might have the opportunities for this unearthed treasure. On the corporate recruiting side, do we do the same?

Many of us are still realistically dealing with an economic and employment market where approved requisitions are carefully managed, perhaps resulting in an avoidance or difficulty in marketing talent to internal or external clients when there is not a direct fit to that super-duper, triple confirmed, approved headcount detailing the exact requirements of the recruited talent.

I’ll offer some thoughts and techniques to use in any market under any hiring condition:

1. My last blog focused on determining whether or not a person can and will do an open job, so the first item of business is to offer to your hiring management how wonderfully this talented candidate will culturally and behaviorally fit with the team, company, or client.

2. Have your homework done on what exactly they can do! Can they perform a ‘hard to fill’ job that, when open, takes forever to fill but just isn’t open right at this moment? Can they do two different jobs or portions of responsibilities needed to ’round out a team’? Do they possess the specialized industry, competitive, or technical experience needed?

With these thoughts in mind, don’t pass up on the pleasant surprise of finding ‘Will Do Talent’ – in fact, plan for it! Engage, market, and explore the opportunity to make your clients and candidates even happier and even more effective!

Entrepreneurs are quite popular today (especially good ones). Politicians want to know how to make more of them. Government and other associations want to encourage more small business. Students of all ages are being exposed to entrepreneurial curriculum at all levels. Famous entrepreneurs, Trump, Jobs, Gates, and Branson to name a few, appear larger than life to most and are constantly featured in the media.
 
This is an interesting phenomenon considering that most of us grow up in family units where we are told to get good grades, pick a good school, study hard, choose a profession and work hard to get the best job in the best company in our chosen field. This is the way it has been for the last 50 years. Unless you grow up in entrepreneurial family like I did. Sure, I was tempted by the “ideal” path expected of my generation but being a part of an entrepreneurial family means so much more to me.
 
I am a 4th generation entrepreneur. My great grandmother owned a corner grocery store in Wilmington, DE in an era when few women worked, let alone owned a business. My grandfather was very handy and was always repairing things like radios and appliances. His handy work soon grew to become Burkhard Hardware. My father, as a young boy, used to sweep the floors and stock the store shelves. He went on to work traditional jobs in banking and finance before starting a staffing firm, Placers. If you follow my story I have brought that brand back and Placers exists again! Today, my father is truly a serial entrepreneur with success and of course failure in many industries. (Hear Alan speak on Executive Leaders Radio, fast-forward to 13:26)
 
Growing up in an entrepreneurial family, I was taught at a very young age that being an entrepreneur is one of the only ways to be in complete control of your own destiny. As young adults, so many of us study and work hard as students. We get good grades, are active in our community, we choose the right school and then we decide what we want to be and we do our best to pick a good company. But then we stop doing things for ourselves. We put the responsibility for our futures in the hands of the company. The company is well-intended but as an employee, you are at the whim of the business. Business plans change; businesses are bought and sold, headquarters relocate and leadership changes. All of it happens to you. You are not in control.
 
As an entrepreneur, however, you can manage your own career and have the ultimate control — to be your own boss. When you are in charge, through the good and bad, at least you’re working for yourself. It does not make the act of running a company easier but you control your own destiny.
 
For now, take control of your own destiny. Trust a fourth generation entrepreneur, my family has controlled our destiny for more than 100 years and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
 

President Obama outlined a $447 billion American Jobs Act this week that would cut payroll taxes paid by businesses and offer tax incentives for firms to hire new workers. But is this simply stimulus #2? Can our government really spend our way out of the iffy economy? Can building bridges and other infrastructure projects build long-term sustaining jobs? I am not so sure.
 
Government is a partner in a successful economic environment. Government’s role is to create an environment that encourages business. If we look to history we can see periods when government was not involved enough — times of monopolies and Robber Barrons. Currently, government’s position on business is uncertain at best. This uncertainty does not bolster confidence. And without confidence, there is no demand.
 
We cannot legislate our way out of this one. Nor can we spend our way out. Confidence from business leaders will come when they feel government is a willing and equal partner. The Jobs Act reduces employer costs for hiring. Sure, less payroll taxes help, but they do not create demand. If we feel that a reduction in taxes and a change tax code will help the economy then why not change the tax for the long run? The temporary nature of the Act does not instill the long term confidence necessary for leaders to make long term investments in their business. Lack of confidence = less demand.
 
Speaking of demand, a large percentage of our economy is driven by consumer confidence — as much as 70% of it. Without the commitment from businesses, new jobs will come slower than we need. Which means the real spark that can be ignited by the consumer will be slow to come.
 
I am just an entrepreneur. I don’t have all of the answers. But it is my sole job to know what my customers want and need to run my business accordingly. I either react and respond, or I don’t. That is really every leader’s job — to know their customers, their employees, their stakeholders. All Leaders have constituents. If business leaders fail to listen, their business fails over time. Government leaders? They get voted out of office.
 
All of this is about creating confidence as a leader. Demand will follow. Trust me. I live this every day.
 
For those of you that want some of the factoids on the “Act”, I outlined some key points below from an industry report for the staffing industry. The American Jobs Act would:

Over the past few years we have all gotten quite used to operating in down times. As leaders we were looking for ways to reduce our overall costs, delay investments, or find ways to focus on being more efficient in our business. It took a while for most of us to fall in line and practice this form of tough love, but once we started it became what we know and do. And evidently, recession style leadership practices have helped many companies build cash and improve their balance sheet while streamlining their operations for future growth.
 
Unfortunately, this recession mindset impacted the “people side” of our business. It was hard to stop hiring at first, than BAM, everyone went cold turkey! Then the media continued to report rising unemployment and that the masses could not find meaningful work. At the height of the recession, there were seven unemployed for every job. I believe this perspective has seeped into our consciousness; we expect to have talent galore lining up for the few openings we have. And our people practices began to shift — we believed that:

We had unlimited choices to fill our open jobs.

Every day, my company coaches leaders on hiring around the shifting and changing realities. People are getting jobs more quickly, they have more choices and they are receiving raises again — not big ones, but compensation is beginning to increase. The reality is, despite the labor stats you may read, there are not as many talented people to go around. Having a recession mindset is dangerous because we don’t know when to change our behavior or trust that now is the time to hire or take risks again.
 
Perhaps you have been thinking that these thoughts are not your reality. I know my customers in the “ist” (scientists, biologists) and engineer category know that regardless of the reality of the total job market, some talent never went “on sale”. So as things change, we must all adapt. So how do you go about changing your recession mindset?

Gathering information and observing your company and its behaviors are good steps to start with. After all, observing and coaching people is what leaders do, right?

Bottom line — what got you here, won’t get you there! The survival instincts that got you through the recession must now shift. Are you ready to leave your recession mindset behind?