No Blocking… No Wimping… No Hogging

I was lucky enough to attend (and speak at…yes… I just blatantly self-promoted), the RCSA Conference last week. It was… ummm… about…. ONE MILLION TIMES better than I thought it would be! Brilliant, in fact… life changing…epiphany producing…

It was a combination of industry intelligence, inspirational speakers and some cheeky techniques that will make me a better person… and a better recruiter… no, that’s not a contradiction in terms to all you cynics out there!

And… I also picked up some very juicy goss about some of my colleagues in the industry… but I won’t divulge that here… those stories are safely filed away under ‘B’ for Blackmail…

I could bore you with a blow by blow of some of the amazing speakers, but if you weren’t there I don’t think I could do it justice… and if you were there HOW GOOD WAS THE SUPERMAN RIDE?!!!

Anyway, one of the best, and easiest takeaways for recruiters came from the Improvisation Troupe Spark.

These guys are amazing… funny, witty and extremely clever. (For those of us who watch Aussie TV… one of the guys is the dude from the iselect ads).

During their presentation they shared the 3 rules for improvisation… and to be honest (or TBH for all you cool cats), these 3 rules apply directly to recruitment… So… without any further ado… I present to you a blog post inspired directly by a presentation I was lucky enough to attend. So much easier when I don’t have to think up something for myself!

3 Golden Rules

1. No Blocking – You know the feeling… you’re having a bad day… Maybe tired, hungover, had a fight with the girlfriend… or boyfriend… and you really don’t want to be at work? We’ve all had those days… Not only that… you also have to face your worst nightmare…you have an interview scheduled first thing that you really can’t be arsed doing… the candidate arrives… on time and dressed appropriately… no, this is not a dream sequence… it does happen… occasionally. The candidate is enthusiastic and actually pretty qualified, but you… yes you… are not feeling up to it. The candidate tries to give detail on an answer… tries to ask you valid questions… tries to engage… but you… yes you… keep blocking. You cut them off, give one-word responses, and find excuses to wind the interview up. Sound familiar? Well you my friend are guilty of blocking! And you have broken the first of the Golden Rules.
2. No Wimping – OK… you’ve been trying to get this Client meeting for months. You know that they have a HUGE recruitment spend, (one of your mates from a rival agency let it slip at the pub last year that they had made 17 placements in the past 6 months). And they’ve been ignoring your approaches ever since. But somehow… miraculously… they have agreed to meet. You rock up to the meeting ready to blow them away… but… you choke… They ask you questions like ‘We only want candidates that tick all the boxes, can you find me those candidates within the next week?’… You nod your head weakly, and squeak a barely audible ‘Yes…’ They tell you ‘Your fees are too high. We only work with agencies at a flat 12%. Are you willing to work at those rates?’ This time you feel yourself choking on the words, but can’t control your head from nodding… and hear a voice… that sounds like yours… repeating the answer ‘Yes…’ That is wimping… and may I say you are very good at it!
3. No Hogging – Unfortunately, our industry is full of people who love to hear the sound of their own voice… you know the ones… you are at a client visit and the Client tells you that they have recently returned from a trip to Thailand with their wife and kids… ‘Oh Thailand,’ you hear your colleague (damn, boss and her insistence on doing joint client meetings…), interject… ‘I’ve been to Thailand 5… no 6 times. Did you manage to get to Damnern Saduak floating market… or stay with the hill tribes on the Mae Kok River… or see Phang Nga by speedboat? When I was in Thailand the third time I actually completed a 5 day Thai massage course in Chiang Mai… happy to give to a demonstration if you like… blah… blah… blah.’ Don’t forget it’s not all about you… in fact, unless the client or candidate ask, it’s not about you at all! Stop hogging!

There you have it! 3 very simple, but very important rules for recruitment success:

• No Blocking
• No Wimping
• No Hogging

Thanks Spark!

My presentation was well received… thanks for asking… Filtered results (relevant to your business and sector) from our Consultant Census (1116 responses) are available at a small cost by contacting me directly.

Also, if you believe your business can benefit from a unique Consulting solution, based on data, trends, and success models derived from Recruitment Consultants contact me for an initial discussion. You will be impressed!

Until next week then…

Craig Watson