‘Sorry, they are already on our database’ (Part 2): The solution?

My Lead Article in last week’s InSight #179 ‘Sorry, they are already on our database’: The lazy corporate rip-off generated a flood of emails directly to me as well as numerous comments on my blog. In less than one week it became my #6 most viewed blog post of all time (out of a total of 137 blog posts).  Here is a small selection of the emails and blog comments I received (slightly edited for

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‘Sorry, they are already on our database’ (Part 2): The solution?

Tags: Blog, Database Solution, Emails, flood, Insight, Lead Article

Subscribe to my blog – and everyone else’s spam list !

Has anyone else had this experience?

I’ve recently signed up by “subscribing” to some blogs and did so with a new e-mail account that I had used for nothing else. I was intending just to use this e-mail to get the latest news on things happening in the employment market.

I logged in today and have discovered that I now have 24 e-mails from various companies selling their crap. I have not used this e-mail address for anything else so it must have come from 1 of 3 of these blogs.

Of course I can unsubscribe to all of these spam e-mails but the truth is that seems like a total waste of time. I personally find this really frustrating and believe that if people are going to sell/send my e-mail address to spam lists they should have to tell me before I hit the “subscribe” button.

Tags: Address Lists, Blog, Blogs, contest, crap, E Mail Account, E Mail Address, employment-market, greatest, Mail Lists, Mail Spam, New E Mail Account, onerous, participate, people, probably, search, Send Mail, Spam List, Spam Lists, speaking, suggest, thanks, Truth, Unsubscribe, Waste Of Time

Recruiters, some great tips to leverage your PR

Guest blog from Sam Woodward , BlueSky PR First of all, thank you to Greg for letting me infiltrate his brilliant blog. If you ever need a success story for Twitter this would be it – engaging with Greg online led to some great PR success for Aquent and a new client for BlueSky ! But that’s another blog post. Investing in PR is key for recruiters who want to boost their brand in the eyes of their clients, candidates and even potential employees for themselves – however that’s really only half the story. What should recruiters do to really leverage that PR coverage and make sure that great article isn’t quickly forgotten? We’re always saying to our clients that using PR coverage is essential. Why make that investment if all you do with the coverage is send it to your proud mother or maybe tuck it away in a folder on reception? PR can establish you as a credible and respected commentator in your field – so make sure you shout about it! And not only that, the chances are that whatever you are talking about in the media is going to be of interest to your audience, so sharing this information will be of benefit to them, and they’ll remember you for it. With the boom in social media it’s easy to spread information at the touch of a button, so maximise on this. Put the coverage and/or a link to it onto your blog, tweet about it, Facebook it, put it on LinkedIn – not only will all your connections see it, some may pass it on to their network too. There are plenty of examples of how stories can spread virally and your news is no exception. And don’t forget to put it on your website too (just be aware of copyright rules). But don’t just share coverage amongst management and marketing – make sure it is shared with everyone in the team. It can boost motivation and arm everyone with some useful collateral. If a recruiter is in contact with a client or candidate and the company has had a nice mention in the press, they should flag it up. Email the link or mention it over the phone – it will be informative for the recipient, whilst boosting your credibility. In the same way, PR can be key when it comes to winning new business. One of our clients was pitching to recruit for a big Financial Director role, however he was last in on a Friday afternoon so the odds were against him. Nevertheless he began the meeting by showing the client an article we had ghost written in his name in one of the heavyweight publications in his sector. The client had in fact read the piece the day before, it automatically boosted the tone of the meeting, he won the business and made the fee – that’s a direct return on investment. Turning PR coverage into media packs that consultants can use is therefore another great idea. So all in all, PR isn’t just nice for your ego – if used properly it can lead to increased credibility, more business and to future PR opportunities which you can use to start the process again!

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Recruiters, some great tips to leverage your PR

Tags: Aquent, audience, benefit, Blog, Bluesky, Boom, Collateral, Commentator, half, Half The Story, Industry Chat, Investing, Led, Management And Marketing, Maximise, motivation, Proud Mother, recruiter, recruiters, recruitment agencies, result, story, success, Success Story, tweet, twitter, Woodward

NGA.Net Acquires Acelero for Performance Management

Last night at around 5.30pm I received a call from Penny Elmslie, the marketing manager at NGA.Net about two topics that they were very excited about. First was they had started a blog , second they had purchased a company. While the first piece of news is not that earth shattering for some, I personally feel it is great that another Australian vendor has entered the blogging space. Hopefully NGA.Net will use this as an opportunity for people outside the organisation to learn a bit more about what makes them tick. You can find the blog at http://blog.nga.net/ , the RSS feed is also available. The second piece of news is far more exciting, well in my mind. NGA have acquired Acelero, the Sydney based Performance Management vendor. The acquisition fills a much needed gap in the NGA product line and to be honest allows them to meet their marketing claims: “Software that helps large organisations to connect, recruit & develop their people” Good news for Acelero staff as it seems 14 of them will be joining NGA, with Managing Director Ken Sheridan remaining as the head of the new NGA Performance Management division. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to fully integrate the product lines so that NGA.Net customers have a true integrated talent management solution. I am not aware of the technical platform that Acelero was using, however it is good to see NGA were sensible and purchased an existing SAAS vendor so at least architecturally they are somewhat aligned.

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NGA.Net Acquires Acelero for Performance Management

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Tags: Acquisition, Article Url, Blog, earth, Gap, hr management, management, Management Division, Management Solution, manager, managing-director, marketing, Marketing Manager, opportunity, organisations, people, performance management, recruiter, recruitment agencies, result, Sheridan, sydney, talent-management, Technical Platform

Recruiters, use your ‘necktop’ when engaging with clients (video)

The savage truth is that most recruiters have no idea how to build relationships with their clients, nor how to develop business opportunities through their day-to-day interaction with customers. It’s an ironic tragedy, but the more technology we have available, the less recruiters actually use that technology to connect with clients and candidates in a meaningful way. View video on YouTube Walk into most recruitment consulting offices now days, and its like walking into a typing pool. Everyone bashing away at emails, texts, and social networking updates. Now here is the point. About 70% of the e-mails we send are unnecessary, or at least the message could have been better delivered verbally. Sending email is a missed opportunity much of the time. It’s also supremely unproductive. Recruiting is about relationships. Selling is about hunting, persuading, seducing and consummating. Email is bland, annoying and often not read by our clients. Please do not misunderstand my message here. Email and the newer technologies and communications platforms have incredible application and I use them all the time. I am after all engaging with you via a blog and via a video too, right now.  But I keep asking myself “what outcome am I trying to achieve, and am I more likely to achieve it by phone or face-to-face?” Our job as recruiters is about compelling people to action. What we do, or should do, is create outcomes and facilitate decisions. Email does not do that. Your job is about selling, understanding and building trust. Email does not do that. Success in recruitment is about connecting. Technology is an enabler. If you want to compete, make sure you and your team talk to clients and candidates on every possible occasion. Ask questions, listen actively, and solve problems. Challenge people in your office. Why send an email?  Why not pick up the phone or even go and see the person? Less email, less typing, less laptop, less desktop. More talking, more listening, more asking, more necktop!

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Recruiters, use your ‘necktop’ when engaging with clients (video)

Tags: Blog, Building Trust, business, Business Opportunities, client skills, Communications Platforms, connecting, Connecting Technology, consultative selling, decisions, Enabler, Interaction, Job Recruiters, Networking Updates, Newer Technologies, people, recruitment consulting, recruitment skills, relationships, Savage Truth, sending, Sending Email, social-networking, technologies, technology, Texts, Tragedy, Typing Pool, updates

Coaching Recruiters. Shut up and let them talk!

This is the fifth blog in my series on great coaching for managers of recruiter teams. Previously I expanded on the importance of ‘live feedback’ , ‘real life coaching’ , as well as the tactic of ‘plugging in’ new recruits. Today we look at ‘role swapping’. Many managers I have worked with feel that if they are not doing the talking or showing the consultant how the job is done, then they are not providing valuable input. This is not always true. From time to time, it is highly effective for the manager or coach to reverse roles, providing feedback after the event. For example, once you have a consultant up to a certain level of competence, or even with your more experienced people, take them on a client visit with you where they lead the discussion, where they take in the job, where they do the selling and you play a secondary role. You may be surprised how difficult this is to do! Many managers simply cannot help themselves on a client meeting and leap in to take control. I understand why, but look at the bigger picture. When is the recruiter ever going to learn if you always take control? In fact you are setting that person up for disaster because the first time they actually get to run a client meeting, they really will be on their own. i.e. when you are not there. So sure, be ready to leap in if it goes totally off the rails, but otherwise let the recruiter run it. Then afterwards in the cab back to the office, or in a coffee shop, do a full, immediate de-brief, pointing out missed opportunities or where things could be handled differently. The same role swapping should be applied to interviewing candidates. Your consultant interviews, you observe and feedback afterwards. The most powerful coaching you will ever do.

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Coaching Recruiters. Shut up and let them talk!

Tags: Blog, coach, Coffee Shop, Competence, Disaster, employee engagement, Industry Chat, Interviews, job, leadership, life, Life Coaching, Management Skills, New Recruits, people, postings, Providing Feedback, recruiter, recruiters, recruits, result, Savage, Savage Truth, Tactic, Truth

‘Plug-in’ your new recruiters for fast learning

Please subscribe to ‘The Savage Truth’ for alerts on new postings, recruiting information and more. It’s free and takes no more than 20 seconds to do. Subscribe now ****************************************************************************************************** This is the fourth blog in my series on great coaching for managers of recruiter teams. Previously I expanded on the importance of ‘Live Feedback’ as well as the ‘Real Life’ approach to consultant coaching. Today we talk about effectively inducting new hires through clever coaching. If you spend all your time training consultants in a one-on-one situation, your own productivity will suffer dramatically, plus we agree ‘classroom learning’ has limited effectiveness. A neat solution to this problem is to plug new recruits into your own desk. Assign one or even two new people to literally follow you around and listen to every conversation you have for an entire morning. Let them listen to you taking job descriptions, let them come with you on client visits, let them sit in on interviews with you. This way you expose new people to the full variety of consulting situations, they absorb your style and ethos, and after all they are getting it from the best consultant in the team (hopefully). You can also plug new recruits into other senior members of your team. One word of warning. If you do plug consultants into yourself or your colleagues, it is very important to have regular debriefs where you ensure that they understand what has been happening and they have the opportunity to ask questions. Three or four times a day, stop and ask them to tell you what they have heard and learned. Then refine their perceptions and explain dynamics they have missed. Maybe set them follow up tasks. At the very least it tells you where they need more input. You can’t limit your new hire training to this technique, but you can certainly liberally plug new recruits in during their early weeks. It’s much better than have them sit there and read a training manual! Plugging people in is a highly effective way of getting on with your job, while at the same time providing exposure to the fundamentals of the role.

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‘Plug-in’ your new recruiters for fast learning

Tags: approach, Blog, coaching, coaching recruiters, colleagues, consultant, Consultant Coaching, consultants, desk, hires, Interviews, job-descriptions, leadership, Life Approach, Management Skills, Members, Neat Solution, New Recruits, new-hires, Perceptions, postings, productivity, recruiter, recruiters, Savage, Savage Truth, Sit, Time Training, Training Consultants, Truth

Coaching Recruiters. Doing your job while teaching them their job!

This is the third blog in my series on great coaching for managers of recruiter teams. Last week I expanded on the importance of ‘Live Feedback’ as a coaching tool, and today we turn our attention to the sadly under-utilised ‘Real Life’ approach to consultant coaching. One of the major learnings for me about effective coaching is that telling people how to do things is only fractionally as successful as showing them how it’s done. Neither is as good as having consultants actually try the task to perfect it. Real life situational coaching is best done on an individual basis, and can involve simply sitting down next to the consultant, listening to the way they make phone calls and providing feedback and guidance. Occasionally, it is important to reverse the roles, and you can make the phone calls, allowing the consultant to evaluate the way you are approaching the task. An excellent example of this type of coaching is where you have a consultant whose approach is selling a job to candidates over the phone is lacklustre or generally poor. Instead of lecturing the consultant on how to sell the features of a job to a candidate, you pick up the phone, call that consultant’s candidate yourself, while the consultant is sitting there, and brief the candidate on the job. It only takes a few minutes and the learning is substantial.  And you earn huge credibility by actually doing the job ‘live’. And of course you are being productive, because you are executing a task that could well lead to revenue. You are doing the job while teaching the job! It’s beautiful, beautiful thing. Where possible, make your own recruitment consulting visible to the team, so they can learn from real situations as they occur. Instead of locking yourself in a room when you have to make those difficult phone calls (e.g. fee dispute, counter offer) gather your team around you. Explain the issue, brainstorm with the group how best to tackle it… and then make the call right there, in the spotlight. Yes, its nerve wracking. But the learning is intense, and so is the respect you garner but putting yourself out there. You will certainly never be accused of not ‘walking the talk’. Real Life. Nothing like it when it comes to coaching recruiters to greatness.

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Coaching Recruiters. Doing your job while teaching them their job!

Tags: beautiful-thing, Blog, Brainstorm, coaching recruiters, Consultant Coaching, credibility, Effective Coaching, Fee Dispute, few-minutes, Guidance, Industry Chat, leadership, Learnings, Life Coaching, Phone Call, Phone Calls, postings, Providing Feedback, recruiter, recruiter training, recruiters, recruitment agencies, recruitment consulting, recruitment skills, result, Savage Truth, Teaching Job, Truth

Integrating Facebook Connect in your job site is not rocket science

Just over 12 months ago I wrote a blog post titled Integrating Facebook Connect with your Job Board on the pros of doing this. Since then, I have only seen a handful of job sites with Facebook Connect integration. Why? apparently it’s too hard to do.

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Integrating Facebook Connect in your job site is not rocket science

Tags: 12 Months, Blog, board, connect, facebook, facebook-connect, Handful, integrating, integration, Job Connect, job-board, job-site, job-sites, months-ago, pros, Rocket Science, the-pros, too-hard