They use all the hiring strategies available, formal and informal, to increase their chances for hiring the best workers, while reducing the risk of committing to inferior workers. They use the hiring process itself to begin the integration process. And when they bring the best workers on board, they listen and respond to their needs and offer them opportunities to share in the growth and success of the business.

Smart employers realize that employees are their most valuable asset – human capital that will sustain businesses for years to come. The key to hiring and keeping the best workers is to begin with an honest assessment of the situation: the business environment, your company’s place in it, and the real needs of your company, now and in the future. A thorough assessment will help ensure an effective search.

With all that in mind, keep these ten things in mind during the hiring process:

1. Begin with an honest assessment of the company’s real needs – now and in the future.

2. Use the actual process of writing a job description that is not just a grocery list – really clarify the talent your company needs.

3. Use all appropriate channels to find the best candidates. Don’t forget to ask those already working in your company – especially if they are doing well.

4. Carefully match company criteria with the candidate’s characteristics. Make sure the candidates have a high level of skills, high personal standards and are compatible with the company culture.

5. It’s generally better to promote from within the company. The benefits of gaining loyalty and boosting morale are significant, while the disadvantages can be managed.

6. Watch how candidates present themselves. Resumes should be neat and well-organized and candidates should communicate well during the interview.

7. For a company seeking new employees, the short-term technical requirements and the longer-term leadership/managerial skills called for, determine the best candidate for a given position.

8. An employee who communicates well in other languages and cultures is a vital asset, a global ambassador for any global company.

9. Pay attention to Equal Employment opportunity laws. Ask candidates only appropriate questions and do not discriminate illegally.

10. Some positions can benefit from permanently hiring an effective temporary. Make sure you cooperate with the agency’s hiring policy or the company’s relationship with the agency could be damaged.

Many companies are being extra careful in hiring new direct staff. The emphasis is on quality. But that also means competition for the best people will get increasingly stiff. Companies that take too long in their hiring process will be left without the best employees.

Just my random thoughts.

Enticement

First decide how to attract the right person. Where do we look? Do we use ads on our website, on the internet, or word of mouth? Host a career day? Offer a bounty to fellow staffers? Word of mouth to our bankers, auditors and attorneys? Use an outside headhunter/recruiter? Are we using our network within our company? Do other departments receive resumes that are not of interest to them but might not be shared with us? We want to make sure that the story is the same wherever it is told. Each and every ad writer, recruiter, employee, banker, etc. should know how we want ourselves positioned in the employment marketplace and should tell a consistent story about our company, our department, the position, the future opportunities, etc. The same story should be told each and every time. We want to be in control of what our reputation or brand is in the employment marketplace.

Mutual Attraction

They share their resume with us and we see something of interest. Often the resume can make or break the relationship before it gets started. We need to look for more than just the grocery list of qualifications. How are their writing skills? Are they able to articulate their accomplishments? (Remember, the best “story” they’ll ever write is their own) also check out their presentation skills – how does their resume physically look? Now, what do we do when there is a mutual attraction?

Dating

We meet – often more than once! We put on our best show to get them to like us and (hopefully) they are doing the same. We have our best interview people in the dating game. The best interviewers are those who can tell our story with enthusiasm and show the success of others in our organization. They are our cheerleaders and can sell the great opportunity of coming to work with us. They can make the candidate think, “Yes, hire me, and hire me now!” Our interviewers must be enthused when they meet our candidates – no one wants to date a “sour puss”.

We are prepared for every meeting with our candidates. We want to show our desire for them to come here and work. Is the interview area (your desk or conference room) clean, tidy and comfortable? Are there enough chairs in the room ahead of time so we are not fumbling at the last-minute (worse; in front of the candidate – making it appear as if we were not expecting them or that something else is more important than they are)? Do we have a copy of their resume handy and have we reviewed it ahead of time? Do we have questions ready – that are not duplicated by everyone else on the interview team? Are we all telling the same story about our potential future together? Do we have information material ready to give the candidate to take with them after the meeting? This should include a short description of benefits, some kind of brochure describing our products – new and upcoming – and additional information about our company, people, locations and products offered around the world.

Meeting the Parents

We check them out. We like what we see and hear but are they for real? In dating we introduce them to our friends, family and co-workers and get (even if we don’t want them) comments and opinions. As we spend more time with them we learn more about their personality, their likes and dislikes. We can’t always do that in the interview process so we check their references. We talk to people they suggest we talk to and we talk to people we know who may know them (casual references) and can share insight into their strengths and weaknesses. Casual references are often the best references because they are from someone we already trust and are usually more candid. We want to reach the conclusion that “we want to share our life with you”.

We meet their parents and they should be meeting ours. They should also be checking us out. Talking with people in our company that they know – talking with people who used to work at our company that they know. Asking more questions – asking questions is a way of saying ‘I am interested, but need more in formation’. They should be checking our website, reading our information material and getting very comfortable with us as a match. They need to reach the conclusion that “till death do us part”.

Marriage Proposal

If we like everything we now know about the candidate we extend an offer of employment. How we handle this is as important as how we handle the interview process. This part of the process needs to be orchestrated. Think of your own marriage proposal. The setting has to be right. The candidate has to be ready for the offer. If we extend it too soon it could scare them off – if we wait too long we could lose them. If we are using an outside recruiter they should be able to tell us when and who should make the offer. Sometimes it is best for the recruiter to extend the offer. Sometimes it is best for the hiring manager to extend the offer.

An offer of employment should be something the candidate will be excited about. Never try to undervalue or low-ball the compensation package to the candidate. It leaves a bad taste that can not always be fixed and usually will end up costing much more than we planned.

Honeymoon

We’re now together. For a few weeks (honeymoon period) everyone is excited at the newness of our “marriage”. How do we keep that sense of excitement in our new person? Do we have an orientation program? Not just the company plan but our own department or section plan? Is someone assigned to buddy with the new person for the first few days to acclimate them to our routine? Is there someone to give them a tour of our building, our floor, our parking area? Have we planned for someone to have lunch with them for the first few days to check on how they are adjusting to our world and family? The first few days and weeks are crucial for setting the foundation of our “marriage”. This is also the best time to ask for referrals. For other possible new employees.

The Honeymoon Is over

The honeymoon is over and now we’re doing the day-to-day work. The newness has worn off. Now how do we keep them challenged and motivated? Send flowers/candy on their anniversary? Is a raise every year enough? What do we offer for career development for our high potential people? What do we offer our “steady eddies”? They also need career development. Have we talked with them regarding their goals? Their goals may have changed since joining us and learning about all our opportunities – have we checked with them about any changes in their career goals? Do we offer a mentoring program for the first couple of years? What kind of outside networking and/or development opportunities do we participate in? What kind of communication vehicle does our company use to keep everyone in the loop regarding new products, open positions, staff changes, etc? Is it company wide or just department wide?

The End

Even though we make fun of the enticement, attraction, dating, meeting the parents, the marriage proposal and the honeymoon period, the hiring process is more important now than ever. The company that plays the Dating Game best will win the best candidates – the best employees. And live happily ever after; or should we say they will have the best people in place to make their future growth a reality.

If you take the extra time now, before you begin the search, to do a thorough assessment, it will help orchestrate an effective search process. It may even point you in the right direction to find the candidate quickly. The following thoughts are to assist you in formulating the desired candidate profile.

BUSINESS CLIMATE AND EXTERNAL CONDITIONS

What is the business climate now? Is the job market picking up? Is your area starting to boom a bit, with new construction all around? Are residential subdivisions being built to support industrial growth? Alternatively, are there several empty facilities? Are people moving out of the area? Are there half- finished residential developments? How about the retail climate? New restaurants and store openings within a short distance; or are they closing up shop and taking loses? Take a drive around the community (if in a smaller community), talk with people who know what is going on (real estate brokers, township and city managers, local newspaper reporters) and see what the climate is for business in your specific area.

Are other companies looking to hire at all levels? Are companies continuing to downsize? Is there a shortage of quality candidates? Where are the candidates that are being hired coming from? Are local people looking for positions? Why? What kind of resumes are you receiving? Are you receiving un-solicited resumes every week of candidates that are unemployed?

The answers to these questions will tell you the difficulty you may have in finding the desired candidate or attracting a candidate to relocate for your position.

INDUSTRY AND INTERNAL CONSIDERATIONS

What is going on in your company? Are you steadily growing or maintaining at the same level of revenue? Are you a leader in your industry? Have you been in second place and about to make a push for number one? Do you have new and innovative products and services that are about to go on the market? Will you benefit from taking someone from one of your competitors?

Are you looking to build overseas? Which countries? Will you need foreign language skills? Will you need experience living and working in a foreign country? Are you currently a private company considering going public in the future? Would it be a plus to hire someone now with some SEC accounting experience? How about a candidate that has taken a company through a public offering? Do you need experience from a larger company; because you are growing at a fast pace? Are you positioning the company for a merger or sale; and do you need someone to see you through that process?

Do you need someone with firsthand experience with a specific software package that is not widely used? What are the special needs or problems within the company that this new position will be fixing – or could fix? What projects need to be done? Do you need someone to integrate the systems of the companies you are buying or have bought? Do you need a troubleshooter that can go to a problem and fix it before it becomes a disaster? Even more direct, do you need someone who can tell there is a problem before it becomes a problem?

What role will the new person take? Are you ready to allow someone else to take over the position’s responsibilities? Do you want a business advisor or someone to just do their work and keep quiet? Are the entire senior management team (or family members) in full agreement and ready to accept the ‘outside’ person as part of the decision-making team? Does everyone believe this is a necessary position? Has everyone agreed on the authority, responsibilities and level of involvement for the position? Is this a temporary position until a family member (or another person) can grow into the slot? Are you ready to offer a compensation package necessary to interest outside candidates to consider your position and company?

MANAGEMENT AND SUPERVISORY SKILLS

Do you need someone who had a staff of 50+ and mostly managed the department; or do you need someone who had a much smaller staff and was hands on. Is your support staff at the clerical level or professional level or a mixture of both – so you are dealing with many personality and career levels? Do you need someone who is comfortable in a factory setting? Will they need to travel to your other facilities and interface with the personnel there? Will they have a working relationship with you facility management?

Do you want and need a superstar? Do you need a candidate that wants to move up quickly and needs to be constantly challenged? Do you need an “octopus” that can juggle several projects at the same time with ease? Are you ready to give the new hire the authority to go with the responsibility? Are you looking for someone who will share opinions and comments about the workflow? Do you want a “yes” woman/man? Are you looking for someone to just sit at their desk and crank out work papers? Are you looking for you replacement? Do you know where the most likely next career move would be in your company?

Do you need someone who can communicate – with senior management, peers, and staff? Do you need someone who is comfortable giving presentations to others – whether a group of over 200 or their immediate staff? Do they need to be able to present to the Board of Directors or outside analysts? Consider these issues as you interview a candidate.

COMPANY CULTURE

What is your company culture? Are you formal in your business structure? Do you shoot from the hip and make decisions on the fly or do you submit proposals and make several presentations to address an issue? Is the work style of your company fast paced with long hours and lots of weekends? Do you work pretty much a forty hour week with an occasional Saturday morning? Do you have a true open door policy or does everything follow a set chain-of-command? Do you have informal meeting around the coffee station or preset daily, weekly staff meetings with graphs, slides and presentation?

Is your dress code business attire, business casual or casual? Do you socialize with your co-workers or are most friendships outside of the workplace? Is your firm civic-minded – do you participate in food drives, blood drives and clothes drives? Is it fun to work at your company?

Company culture and department culture are very important factors to consider for your candidate profile.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE AND EXPERIENCE

What exactly will they be responsible for day-to-day? Do they need some hands on experience with certain tasks/duties that are specific to your industry? What about college degrees? Do you need for them to have an MBA and/or be a CPA? Will they need foreign language skills? Special training in specific areas such as crisis management, turn around and restructuring skills, valuation experience, due diligence, acquisition and divestiture strategy or IPO experience? Do you need a candidate that has both public accounting and industry experience? Will they need excellent (write code) or very good computer skills? Do you need someone who has supervised a system conversion? Think about your background, would that work for this position or do you need different skills to complement your skill set? Think about what you want this position to accomplish.

WRAP UP

Remember that no two companies are alike and no two positions are the same – even when they have the same title. Each company has specific needs that are dictated by the confines of their location, their culture, their industry, their future plans, the internal skill set already in place and the senior management team. When you tailor your candidate profiles for the specific needs of your company and you make an effort to set this groundwork before you begin to hire, you increase the success of finding the perfect and best candidate that will have a positive impact on your company’s future.

This is the process and questions I use each time I conduct a search for candidates for my clients. We discuss the external and internal factors, the management style and lastly the technical skills. Every company is different and has different needs so there is not a single profile that fits every situation. It depends on the company, industry, the “wounds” within the company and the future plans of the company – acquisitions, divestitures, sale, IPO, turn around situation, and the list goes on. No two company profiles should be close; similarities maybe, but very different profiles for each company and each search.

_____ MY INDUSTRY: Is this a growth industry or is it a shrinking industry? Do some homework on the company, competitors and industry. Know where your company ranks in the marketplace. Also, is this an industry you want to be in?
_____ MY COMPANY: Is this a company doing well and is it a stable long-term player? Is this a company going through some challenging times and you are learning something new every day at work? It is important to feel good about the company you work for – you should feel proud to say you work for them – whether it is a stable environment or a challenging one is OK as long as you are learning and feeling good about working there. Is the company liable to be acquired or split up in the short-term? Do you hear and read good things about the company?
_____ MY CURRENT POSITION: Is it challenging and forcing you to develop new skills? Do you get to step out of my comfort zone? Is your boss someone you can learn from? Could s/he be a mentor? Will this position help you r career marketability?
_____ JOB ENJOYMENT: Is it fun to come to work every day? Do you really enjoy the work you are doing? Do you dread the beginning of each day and/or week?
_____ GROWTH POTENTIAL: Specifically what position do you think you can be promoted to, in how many months, etc? Where are you going and do you want to go there? What is the record of accomplishment of the previous people in your position? Does that meet your own growth expectations?
_____ CHEMISTRY: Do you really enjoy this environment? Do you ‘fit’ in well with the group of, people you work with? Do you have a mentor who is assisting you with your career (can be inside or outside your company)? What is the Method of Operation (MO) of Senior Management? Do you agree with their MO?
_____ GEOGRAPHIC IMPACT: As you predict your growth with your company, what will be the relocation requirements for you and your family in the future? Does this fit with your career plans and your family plans? (It is helpful to be flexible to relocate; especially early in your career) In today’s global environment, career growth may depend on relocation for a period of time.
_____ SPOUSE’S CAREER: Does your career and your spouse’s complement each other, or will one of you have to make a sacrifice for the other? If considering relocation, can my spouse find a comparable position?
_____ COMPENSATION: Will your compensation growth enable you to enjoy the lifestyle you are looking for? Will you be losing ground in the future? (This should be a lower priority, especially earlier in your career)

Your career is your “business”. Manage your business well, provide proper growth management and make improvements when necessary. Review your progress at least annually and plan for the future – your future.

“Yes, it is a great opportunity with a lot of growth potential.”

Would you believe the words or the vocal message sent by that voice?

In contrast, the same words spoken in a vibrant, clear, enthusiastic manner will be enhanced by the sound of your voice. The sound of the voice – the music behind the words – frequently conveys the meaning. Our voices provide additional meaning to the words we speak. We add a vocal message to the verbal message.

There are five vocal aspects which accompany the verbal message and affect how the words you say with your voice are perceived. These are:
1. Pitch
2. Rate
3. Volume (or Intensity)
4. Quality
5. Enunciation.

Together they affect your voice and your verbal message.

1. Pitch is the highness or lowness of the sound of the voice. People tend to respond favorably to relaxed, controlled, well-pitched (neither too high nor too low) voices. Tension and stress affects your pitch – the more stress and tension the higher your voice. So relax! But don’t stay at one pitch – monotone is boring – let your voice rise and fall in varied patterns of pitch like it does in normal conversation; when you show some excitement or happiness and even concern. If you are reading from a script often your voice will flatten out and become monotonous in pitch. The secret for improvement is to make reading sound like conversation – create the music behind the words!

2. Rate is the speed and timing in which the words and sounds are spoken. Each person has a normal rate of speaking which is adjusted to various situations. Some people think and speak slowly. Others use a rapid overall rate. It is important that the timing of spoken words are consistent with the message delivered and with the listeners for whom the message is designed. Remember, words are not encoded one by one; but spoken in phrases – groups of sounds – separated by pauses of different lengths. Some phrases spill out rapidly, others move crisply. Some sounds are drawn out and the whole group of sounds is delivered slowly. This variety is easy to listen to and variation in rate and timing helps you express meaning. You do this naturally and beautifully in ordinary conversation. You can carry this over to recruiting with some practice.

3. Volume or intensity is the loudness and softness with which words are spoken. It is annoying to be unable to hear a speaker through the telephone or across a table. An effective voice should be as loud as the occasion demands. Not all phrases are delivered with the same intensity because they would tend to sound the same. Some words or ideas are spoken with greater force or intensity; some with less. This contrast keeps the listener’s attention. Variety in volume is very desirable in recruiting. Dropping to a quieter tone, building to an intense climax, or emphasizing important ideas (by saying them louder or pausing before or after them) creates listener interest.

4. Quality is those characteristics of a voice which make it unique to the individual. Can you answer a telephone and identify a client or candidate by voice alone? Can you even identify the mood of the person by the sound of the voice? The same is true for you. Your physical condition, your vocal mechanism, your feelings and emotions and the way your voice resonates give you a unique vocal quality. If you are careful to use your resonators (throat, nose, and mouth) openly and let your tones be relaxed and pleasing, your voice will add positive dividends to your marketing and recruiting calls.

5. Enunciation is the clarity which the sounds are produced – how clearly you pronounce or articulate the words. Pronunciation is the acceptable sound of the words and Articulation is using the intricate adjustments of organs in the mouth that changes the voice sounds into intelligible sounds. The primary organs used are: lips, tongue, jaw, teeth, hard palate (hard roof of the mouth) and soft palate (soft, back roof of the mouth). When vocal sounds are slurred or faulty it is difficult to understand the message. Consonants that supply crispness and punch are lost. Vowels that add richness and melody are distorted.

Try listening to your voice recorded. Do you like the way you sound? Does the resonance seem balanced and rich? Or does it sound thin and flat? With practice you can improve your voice quality and become a great speaker.

And selling is something I have always been comfortable with. One of my banking positions was selling $1Million certificates of deposit (or collecting $1 Million from everyone I could). I had to bring in $12 Million new dollars every week by 5:00pm Friday or pack up my desk and be unemployed!  It was fast paced, very challenging, every “man” for himself and people tried to steal accounts from others all the time – I loved the competition and stayed with the company until they closed the Detroit office. It played to my desire to win.  The money was good – it was a commission paying position and you got a percentage of what you brought in.

So telephone selling wasn’t new and discussing career opportunities is a way easier than trying to get $1 Million out of someone or some company, which made marketing for clients not all that scary – again, I’m not trying to get $12 million out of them! I thought this is a piece of cake – with icing.  Was I ever wrong.

I thought that marketing for clients as a recruiter would be pretty much the same as building a client base in a bank branch or lending department. You call companies up and tell them who you are and that you want to meet with them to discuss whether it would benefit them for us to work together.  It’s either yes, no or not at this time.  I can live with that – besides it always gave me something to put on my “to do” list.

Then the recruiter training began.  Did you know that there are companies out there that do not like having recruiters call them?  And, of course, every one of those nice people I met during the interview before I came to work in my new recruiting firm – a franchise of the largest recruiting agency in the US – gave me index cards (did I just date myself here?) with the names of companies that LOVED to be called.  So I called them and got hung up on again and again.  I got yelled at, again and again. I got cursed at again and again.  This was my first day on the telephone!

At the end of my telephone time on day one I watched a video on choosing clients and initial telephone calls to them and then had training time with the owner.  He asked what I had learned today.  I replied ‘not to trust anyone sitting out in the bullpen’ (dating myself again!).  He laughed and asked did you learn anything of value today that you can build upon for tomorrow?  I thought about my morning and everything that happened and said ‘recruiting is not as easy as it appears; you have to understand what you’re trying to accomplish and work hard at sounding like the expert that I clearly am not’.  He laughed and said that’s pretty good for your first day.

He talked about the four stages of learning:  #1 you are unconsciously incompetent.  #2 you are consciously incompetent.  #3 you are consciously competent.  #4 you are unconsciously competent.  He explained each of the 4 stages but I am not going to go into all that – Google “unconsciously competent” and you can probably get the whole learning/training idea.

He said I was in the first stage – I was unconsciously incompetent.  I did not even know what questions to ask to get the answers I needed.  I had no idea of what I should know and what I needed to learn. Yep, after one morning of me on the telephone he nailed it!  He also said by the time my training was done I would be at stage #3 and be consciously competent.  I would need to concentrate and think in order to be a decent recruiter.  I would be able to be a decent recruiter without assistance and that I would not be able to continuously be a good recruiter unless I was constantly thinking about it – nothing would be ‘second nature’ or ‘automatic’.  After working more time on a desk and practicing my delivery and using my common sense I could be at stage #4 unconsciously competent. If I wasn’t there in what he considered a reasonable timeframe I would not be there anymore. I asked ‘what is a reasonable timeframe?’  He replied that it was different with different people – I translated that to mean whether I like your work ethic or not while you’re going through training or whether I just plain like you while you’re going through training, whatever, it was different for different people.

So after several training tapes and tons of paper for the note taking (which I still have); I realized that I was moving through the stages.  Getting to stage #3 was cool – I knew what I was doing and why and how and thought I was so smart.  But if I didn’t keep focused all the time on my plan and on what I was trying to accomplish I blew it – every time.  But I was starting to get it and getting good at it.  People were taking my calls, people were calling me back.  Not just people looking for a better opportunity but companies wanting to hire people from me. I made my first placement when I had been there 3 weeks and thought I was a big deal – if you have ever worked in an office with 12 other recruiters with years more experience than you, you know what they did – they let me know I was NOTHING.  There was no ‘good for you’ or ‘way to go’; it was ‘what have you done today?’ They taught me that what’s done is done and keep moving forward because you have to keep your pipeline full.  Marketing, getting complete information from clients, sourcing, recruiting, interviewing, evaluating and screening, presenting, arranging interviews, negotiating salaries and benefits and closing the deal.  Full cycle recruiting, everyone did it all.

Eventually I got to stage #4.  I just worked my practice without realizing I was doing it.  Calling from the plan and making the deals work.  What a rush!  When I was in my zone I heard no one and nothing around me.  I didn’t put the telephone down just kept it in my hand and kept dialing for two to three hours at a time.  Then I got up walked around the building, ate lunch, did some stretches and went back to it.  I had a little stand up desk (3’X4’) made because I was always standing and pacing when I was talking and it was uncomfortable to constantly bend over to make notes or dial the telephone.  The other recruiters teased me and told me I distracted them but, hey, I think better on my feet and I believe it improved my voice quality. I noticed some of them starting to stand when they were on the telephone too!

It was great fun until the day I shockingly knew I had to leave this firm and go off on my own.  That’s for next time – see if you agree with me on why I left.

I got into recruiting by having a recruiter try to recruit me from my loan officer position with a major regional bank back in 1989; apparently another loan department at another bank was interested in talking with me.  I had never heard of recruiters or headhunters and was confused and puzzled by the call.  I went to my boss and told him I just had the weirdest call and went on to explain that some guy wanted to meet me about a job with another bank!  He laughed and said ‘you’ve made your mark; you’re now getting calls from headhunters’.  I still didn’t understand.  He explained that recruiters found and stole people out of companies that matched what their clients (other companies) were looking for.  He told me that someone at one of our competitors had heard about me and must want to talk with me and that the company had hired the recruiter to find me and entice me to talk with them.  I wasn’t sure I believe this and wondered if someone was playing a joke on me.

During the next few days I received three more calls from those so-called recruiters.  During the last call I asked the recruiter what they did all day.  You know: is this what you do all day, call people up and try to entice them to leave a perfectly great job where they have friends and are happy to go work for some place where they don’t know anyone and don’t know if they’ll like it or not?  The guy (uh, recruiter) replied ‘yeah, and I talk with companies too about what type of person they’re looking for that would make a great addition to their company and I believe you would be a great asset to one of my clients’.  I thought what baloney – he doesn’t even know me other than my name and he won’t tell me how he got it.

As I thought about this the next few days an idea was beginning to form in my brain – or was it in the pit of my stomach?  I was intrigued by what the recruiter said he did and was interested –not in another banking job – but in being a recruiter.  I researched and found five recruiting firms that – according to those I spoke to – were good firms.  I then called each firm to set up an appointment to talk with them about me being a recruiter with them.  And yes, I was still working as a Loan Officer at the bank. The first three firms were all over me about taking another position with a different bank; I took my resume with me when I left their offices.  The fourth firm said they worked with the largest and most profitable companies in southeast Michigan – this while I am in the waiting room where magazines worked as a leg for a broken table and the recruiter wore a nylon t-shirt with nylon balls sticking out of it, polyester pants that were too short for him and socks with obvious holes.  I’m there in a suit, white shirt, little tie (it’s the 1980s) and heels – this was not the place for me! Luckily I did not give up and went to see the
fifth and last recruiter firm.

What struck me as I walked in the door was that the receptionist (dressed in a suit) stood up and said ‘Welcome, you must be Cora, I’ll let the Dennis know you are here. Would you care for some coffee or water’? WOW!  Very different from the first four places I went!  Dennis came out and greeted me and took me back to his office.  On the way I noticed that everyone was wearing a suit – not sport coat and slacks, but a suit.  Dennis asked why I felt I would make a good recruiter and we were off on the interview. After speaking to him I spoke to everyone else in the office – found out that suits were mandatory and they answered all my questions about what a typical day of a recruiter entailed. There were recruiters recruiting in different niches so I learned different views on an average day from each.  But one thing was common throughout the conversation – they were committed to being the most professional and the best.  I was thrilled when I was offered a position to work with them.

I went back to my boss at the bank and told him I was leaving.  He replied ‘to be a recruiter’?  I said yes, it is everything I love about business development and sales without the banking politics.  He reminded me that were politics in all companies and that in recruiting it was every man (woman) for himself.  If I could survive the environment in banking I figured I could in recruiting.  My banking boss than laughed and said ‘You’ll be good. You have the interest in people, the tenacity to stick with it, a thick skin and the commitment to do what’s right.  Enjoy yourself’.  Then he said you know it’s a commission job and you won’t have 5 weeks of paid vacation anymore – I replied that he didn’t pay me that much and if I made what I thought I could make I would be able to till have 5+ weeks of vacation.

It’s 2011 and I still love recruiting!  I ran to it because I saw the fun and challenge of the game and of course the money is what you make it to be.  The only change I have made is that I opened my firm in 1993 – more about that later!