Saturday, April 02, 2005

Recruiting or MLM?

In my daily search for interesting recruiting blogs I ran across an article by Tanner Larsson called, “Keys to Recruiting.” Initially I wasn’t too interested because I knew the article’s focus was MLM. Then I got to thinking about how we could benefit from his advice…my comments are in italics and follow excerpts from Larsson’s article.

Keys to Recruiting
Copyright © Tanner Larsson

The first element to fully understand is that this business is not for everyone.

Now that’s an understatement! Read on, it gets good ~

Too often, amateurs look for people who “need” the business, rather than people who “want” the business.

Again, he’s talking here about MLM. Nevertheless, this is a terrific segue to our role as recruiters.
Don’t we often find ourselves looking a bit too hard for the “active” - those candidates who “need” a job rather than those that are happy & content (passive) because they are kickin’ butts & takin’ names & makin’ $$$ for their company!
Homula blogged recently about the reality of the “active” candidates and their place in recruiting. And I agree. However, this is a good reminder that we’re not adding full value to our customer’s business by seeking only those who “need” a job.

Speaking of Homula, his team also knows how to go after the passive ~ and they are 2nd to none.

Focus your mindset on finding those people who want what you offer. Don’t waste time trying to convince a negative prospect to join, especially considering that time would be better spent in talking to ten positive people. Commit to memory: Leaders Sort, Amateurs convince.

I don’t completely agree with this one ~ we spend a lot of time “convincing” in our role as recruiters. But I do like his one-liner: “Leaders Sort, Amateurs Convince.”

Never burn your bridges with any negative prospect.

This one should be in the first chapter of the Recruiter’s Bible.
Remember, when Cortez got to the new world, he burned his ships, not his bridges.

Many times negative prospects will watch and return, based on your success.

I spoke with a recruiter yesterday who told me about a senior-level sales candidate that rejected his offer seven months ago because they could not match a competitor’s offer ($20k difference). The candidate spent the last seven months agonizing his decision as he’s watched the spurned company’s stock skyrocket.
Guess who called the recruiter last week looking for a 2nd chance?

A fundamental principal to remember about recruiting is: No is for now not forever.

Ditto the previous paragraph.

When sorting new recruits, always recruit up. Look for the “Center of Influence” in any group. There is usually a person who the others look to for guidance and support. In any group, family or organization there is a person that attracts others. Find that person and take action. They will bring in the rest of their group… recruit the chief, and the Indians will follow.

This sounds vaguely familiar to a recent article written by one of our chief-article-writing-gurus (most likely the good Dr. Sullivan).
Go for the leader ~ he/she will recruit the rest of the best and they will follow. Why? Because they are willing to crawl over broken glass for their ship-burning leader.

Keep in mind; MLM is far different from the structure of corporate America. What works in their world does not work at all in network marketing.

It’s quite possible that Larsson’s never been introduced to the recruiters (Consultative Investment Bankers) that frequent recruiting.com and erexchange.com – we might need to educate him.

So, what do you think? Are we more like MLM’ers than we realized? Or, are they more like us?

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