Headhunter Skills

By Frank Mulligan - Recruit China

A few days ago I dealt with the issue of bringing candidates on board and how the speed of online hiring systems is a big advantage.

But one other advantage that I did not mention is the reduction in administration work, and the additional time that gives you, when you use a software system to manage your hiring. This, for instance, is time you can spend assessing candidates at interview.

But you need to think through this issue because you donít simply want to spend more time with candidates; you want to spend more productive time with candidates, assessing and testing them. You want to use this time to solve specific problems in the hiring cycle.

To cite an example, what if you have a hesitant candidate and the time to turn him around. If you donít know the ëtricks of the tradeí you canít move forward because you donít know what to do, even if you have the extra time to do it.

So, for hesitant candidates couldnít we look to the skill base of headhunters?

Yes and no. It is true that headhunters have been doing this kind of work for years. They know what to do to turn candidates around when it looks like they are going to be lost to a competitor. But there are good headhunters and there are bad headhunters.

Put simply, the bad ones lie like crazy and tell the candidate whatever they want to hear. This is trap you have to avoid at all costs.

The good ones do their very best for their client and candidates within an ethical framework. This framework is of their own choosing and is guided by their personal beliefs. They tell candidates what they need to hear.

The Candidate Hesitates
This is the nightmare scenario that we face in China all the time. The candidate talks with others and begins to have doubts about your position. It looks like he is going to refuse the job and it feels like there is nothing you can do about it.

If we are going to turn him around there are certain basic principles that must govern our communications with him/her. These are the principles that in my experience are used by ethical, and successful, headhunters.

Trust - When you talk to a candidate you have to create a balance between your need to do the best job for your company with an essential fairness to the candidate. Firstly because he will not trust you if he thinks you are being too pushy. And secondly, you will lose out if you oversell your position and he is not happy with what he gets on the job.

Rapport - You have to build the trust by building rapport with the candidate. You donít need to attend his wedding but you definitely need to engage him so that he feels some sort of a connection to you.Bad headhunters tell great stories. Lots of great stories. They create enthusiasm in the candidate based on their ability to persuade, not by accurately describing the candidateís likely future in the new job. Good headhunters build trust by building rapport and being honest about how the candidate will benefit by taking the new job.

Truth - This is the baseline for every communication you have with a candidate. You have to tell the truth about the positions you have to fulfill. If you oversell the position, the candidate will be unhappy with his new job, and if you undersell you will not get him onboard in the first place. Honesty is still the best policy. This is enlightened self-interest at work but it will also make you feel more comfortable in your job.

Time - Candidates face an important decision when they look at taking a new job. There are layers of conflict in their mind and they often need to just talk to someone. The time that you take with candidates will increase your rapport so it is worthwhile doing it just for this reason alone. But it is also a major contributor to successful hiring.

So I would say, go out and buy that Applicant Tracking System, or
Talent Management System, what ever it is that the vendor is calling it now. But donít see it as the solution.

Itís a strategy that will lead you to a solution if you take the time.

Email frank.mulligan@recruit-china.com
Frank Mulliganís blog - english.talent-software.com