The answer is that recruiters servicing a demanding and disparate group of hiring managers, specifically managing a workload of 20-40 requisitions each, simply don’t have the time.

The unfortunate reality here is that:

• Most recruiting best practices (that remain ‘unpracticed’) don’t really take that much time
• When time can be allocated to these best practices, it will, undoubtedly, free up time in other areas. This is because the impact of these practices on recruiter productivity and the company’s overall business performance can be quite significant.

Here are four examples of recruiting best practices that organizations should consider implementing, or find partners who can implement on their behalf:

1. Proactive, continuous sourcing – Proactive sourcing, ahead of demand - versus sourcing in response to a specific job requisition. This is the well-known, less-practiced talent warehouse concept. Most organizations do not have the staff to manage/maintain a large number of candidates in a talent warehouse, which is much more than a resume database. Others try to employ this concept for the top 5 to 10 percent of candidates that would make great employees.

2. Candidate Value Capture – This refers to the practice of assigning a theoretical dollar amount to each incremental investment made in the candidate screening process. For example, once a resume is looked at ($250), after first phone screen ($750), second phone screen ($1,500), first face-to-face interview ($2,500), second interview ($5,000), etc. Once a company has invested $5,000 - $10,000 (or more) in a particular candidate, that “value” must be captured or retained until a decision has been reached on employment.

A logical implication here is that every candidate that drops out of the process before a decision point, or offer, is a major investment with limited or no return. In summary, process bottlenecks or a sub-optimal candidate experience can cost a company millions over time.

3. Candidate Relationship Management during down business cycles – Some companies find time and resources to steadily communicate with viable candidates to keep them warm until the right opportunity arises. However, only a handful of companies reach out to their competitor’s employees who are being laid off during a down business cycle. Even though a company may not be in a hiring position, a genuine and supportive communication to a displaced employee shows them that they’re well thought of in the industry. Perhaps more importantly, it goes a long way toward demonstrating you are their “employer of choice” in the future.

4. Two-Way On-Boarding – Most organizations collect benefits and other administrative information from candidates during the on-boarding process. However, a few will use on-boarding as an avenue to collect market or competitive intelligence, candidate feedback on how the company or the company’s hiring process is perceived, and/or referrals for potential business or other high caliber employees.

These best practices are foundational to the Talent Acquisition Life Cycle. Proactive sourcing and a talent warehouse will shorten sourcing time, thereby reducing cost to fill, keeping candidates from opting-out of the process, and keeping internal customers satisfied. Implementing Candidate Value Capture will highlight efficiencies (or inefficiencies) in your process and allow you to make adjustments accordingly.

Candidate Relationship Management includes much more than communicating with potential candidates to establish a rapport. It establishes a company’s reputation within the industry as a “great place to work” and helps reduce the cycle time on attracting and closing a deal with best-fit candidates.

Finally, employee’s competitive information and feedback are essential to recruiting process improvements and competitive advantage overall. Learn to leverage the perspectives of candidates and new employees as “industry operatives” versus just engaging them about their role.

Steve Goldberg

The Recruitment Blog is compilation of opinions and insights into the world of recruiting with a focus on outsourcing, people, processes, strategy, technology, and management.

The Recruitment Blog is brought to you by Q4B (Quantum Solutions for Business, Inc) - an executive and recruitment consulting firm specializing in strategic talent acquisition solutions. Through a combination of executive advisory and consulting services; on-demand recruitment solutions; and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO); Q4B helps companies maximize their return on human capital investments.

Previously, Beardsley served as Senior Partner and Co-Founder of CoolHires, Ltd., which was listed in the Austin Business Journal’s top 25 high tech recruiting firms in only its second year of operation. He has also held numerous executive positions in recruiting, staffing and operations for Dell Americas, Paranet Inc. and Sprint Paranet, one of Houston’s most successful start-up stories. His career began with General Employment, one of the oldest contingency search firms in the world, where Beardsley led a failing branch office to profitability in less than one year.

Beardsley has a B.S. Degree from University of Pittsburgh, has been invited as SME for a number of industry speaking engagements, and has written numerous articles on building successful companies.

In his current role, Beardsley ensures the success of the overall recruiting organization.

Zeigler has effectively recruited, hired, trained and managed high-performance recruiting teams to meet business and financial objectives for companies in a variety of industries, including engineering, high tech, telecommunications, financial and healthcare.

Zeigler has served on fundraising committees for a Chicago area charity that provides quality social services and opportunities for individual and family development. Additionally, she is actively involved in fundraising for cancer research and development. She has worked with local chapters of national advocacy groups for community education on genetic cancer syndromes, and provided education and training to health care professionals for hereditary cancer risk assessment and genetic testing. Her hobbies include interior decorating and photography.

In her current position, Zeigler oversees the direction and management of key Q4B accounts.

In July 2004, aided by a group of eager investors, Nick created Q4B with the vision of helping businesses align their recruitment strategy with their business strategy.

This vision grew roots while Nick was polishing his business strategy and scaling skills in a leadership role with National Instruments. With NI, as part of a compact team, he was instrumental in expanding the company into international markets, which increased revenue from less than $ 1 million to over $50 million. NI went on to become the number one contender in its space.

Nick brought this experience to Talent Tree where he gained knowledge of the staffing industry’s perspective on the challenges he faced at NI. As vice president of operations, he expanded the national reach of his division with the formation of new branches across the country, more than doubling revenue during his tenure.

Nick eventually decided to put his practical experience to use as a management consultant helping leading technology and professional services firms achieve their next critical stage in business.

His entrepreneurial spirit and leadership skills caught the attention of Enron, who hired him to help direct the origination efforts of the trading platform, “Enron Online,” as a private eMarketplace for various Fortune 100 companies.

Nick’s career also boasts positions with technology firms including Clarigent Technologies and ASOMA.

A German native, Nick attended Texas Tech University and received his BS in Electrical Engineering, then went on to pursue an MBA in Management Information Systems. Nick is multilingual, recognizing English as his third language. He serves on the board of two start-up software companies, the advisory board of DeVry, and has led a variety of technical seminars throughout the U.S., Europe and former Soviet Union during his days with NI and ASOMA.

Recruiters know that negotiation starts with the candidate’s initial engagement in phase one. But in that phase it’s too early to get specific about what a candidate will accept, in terms of an offer. It’s the beginning of a long and complicated process that ends in the selection phase.

Final negotiations are used to get a clear understanding of a candidate’s expectations concerning an offer. Basically, what would it take for a candidate to accept an offer? To get this understanding use the trial-close technique. This technique attempts to answer three questions.

The Trial-Close Process

To illustrate, let’s assume that a candidate is making $50,000 and told a recruiter they would not consider a move for less. The recruiter should ask:

1. What would the candidate turn down? Ask the candidate, “If the company offered you $25,000 do I have your permission to turn it down?”

Nine out of ten times the candidate will laugh or, at least, loosen up as you begin to discuss the delicate subject. From there, work your way up until the candidate says, “I’d have to think about it.” Now you are making progress because you have a clear understanding of what they would turn down and what they would begin to consider.

2. What would the candidate say “yes” to? Ask the candidate, “If the company offered you $100,000 do I have your permission to accept on your behalf?”

Using a humorous approach generates a response similar to, “Hell yeah!” From there, work your way down until the candidate says, “I’d have to think about it.” You are making more progress now because you have defined the high and low parameters a candidate would consider or accept.

3. What would the candidate have to think about, and what would be some of the factors involved in their “thinking?” Ask the candidate, “Now that we know what you would say yes or no to, what would be some of the factors to making a decision within the high/low range?”

Factors to consider: Would the candidate compare it to other offers? Would they rather not go through the ordeal of a job change? Are they anticipating a counter offer? Would they keep looking until they found something better and if so, for how long?

This will give you a clear picture of what will happen if an offer is made in the high/low range.

Recruiters now have all the data they need to provide hiring managers with valuable information, which helps lead to an offer candidates will accept or, at least, consider. If hiring managers make an offer they know the candidate would accept, chances are high the deal will close. If hiring managers make an offer in the low range, chances are high the deal will not close. If hiring managers consider what the candidate has to “think about,” there is a chance the deal will close. How much of a chance? That depends on the skills of the recruiter! Remember, closing does not happen from trial and error – but starts with the trial-close.

Scott Beardsley, vice president - recruitment services

After a scheduled interview with a potential employer, it’s best for recruiters to get the candidate’s feedback within one hour. This gives us information fresh on the candidate’s mind and a chance to clarify any misconceptions they may have developed during the process. Misconceptions can lead to deal-killers if given time to settle in.

Using a standardized interview feedback form, you can get immediate, meaningful feedback that helps clarify your candidate’s interest after each interview and learn more about the position, hiring manager and the company.

What then? Do we just document the feedback and store it away? No!

The next, and most important, step is to “Feed it Forward.” This is the practice of getting in touch with hiring managers (HM, or your designated contact) after each of a candidate’s interview steps and providing them with critical insight about the candidate’s overall experience. Because an HM often uses hiring staff to conduct interviews, they don’t always get to hear a candidate’s opinion of the process.

The process of “Feeding it Forward:”

· Provides the HM with insight about the interview experience from the candidate’s point of view. Good feedback can reinforce the steps the interviewer is doing to impress candidates, and negative feedback can determine which adjustments to the interviewing style and behaviors need to be changed. For example, interviewers might take more time to carefully plan for the next interview if a recruiter tells them that a candidate thought the interviewer was unprepared, which can be a turn-off.

Also, candidate feedback will help managers understand how well their interviewers are doing in terms of “selling” candidates. Quality feedback will allow them to locate breakdowns in their process, which carelessly lead to withdrawal or rejection of quality talent.

· Gives the HM an idea of a candidate’s interest in the position, helping to close the deal or determine the roadblocks to a decision.

· Provides clarity. If we “Feed it Forward” that the candidate was not overly excited about the interview, it can help the HM decide whether to end the process or try harder to impress the candidate. Either way, you will get action.

· Begins the closing process. Once we “Feed it Forward” that a candidate was really impressed and wants the job, it “warms up” the HM towards closure. Hiring managers often favor candidates who want the job, rather than ones that come across aloof or show only a mild interest.

· Motivates the interviewer to provide their feedback. As recruiters, we wait days on end for feedback from an interviewer! One sure way to get them to connect with us sooner is to tell them you want to share feedback from the candidate. This technique almost always motivates them to get back to you sooner. Interviewers usually want to know what the candidate thought of them.

For these reasons, among others, the “Feed it Forward” process serves a role in getting a commitment between the two parties. As we all know, time kills all deals, and using the “Feed it Forward” approach to motivate an interviewer to connect with you is, by far, the most beneficial. So, the next time you get some great (or not so great) candidate feedback after an interview, make sure to “Feed it Forward” and watch your interview-to-hire ratio soar!

Scott Beardsley, Vice President - Recruitment Services

See more of this article, including ten questions to ask a candidate after an interview, published on ERE

Possibly the most overused and least-understood metric in recruiting is “cost per hire” (CPH). At its core, CPH should be very simple, right? Identifying CPH can be as simple as noting how much an agency cost you for a hire – agency fee multiplied by the candidate’s salary — most likely one of the highest cost per hires your organization pays.

However, as with many simple things, the complexity lies in the details of the metric and its implementation. For example, Recruiters Network has a CPH calculator that concentrates on six factors while Tek Systems has a 33-factor CPH calculator. Which one is more accurate? Hopefully, this variation allows you to realize that “Cost per hire might just be the great unknown and misunderstood aspect of staffing (Monster.com).”

When you are calculating CPH, there are several things to remember:

First, what is the purpose of this data? It is nice to know that at one time in history, your CPH was X, but remember, it is a metric, and metrics are designed to be tracked over time. This means, whatever method you use to calculate CPH should be repeatable and should always measure a “before” and “after” cost, or a series of costs over time.

Second, your CPH should integrate with your overall recruiting strategy. What should your CPH be? You can spend too little. Keeping CPH extremely low minimizes the opportunity to interview great candidates and maximizes the likelihood of turnover. However, of course, you can pay too much by exclusively utilizing staffing agencies.

Finally, any measure of CPH should include three elements of “costs.”

• DIRECT costs
• INDIRECT costs
• RISKS – noticeably absent from the recruiting literature

Please check back Monday for a breakdown of these elements and how to put the CPH metric to work for you.

by Doug Fuehne, Co-founder, Vice President – Client Services, Scalability and Strategy

Direct Costs of Recruiting
These costs are relatively easy to quantify, but it’s often hard to find all of the elements, as they may be distributed throughout your organization’s accounting structure.

• People – Elements of direct costs include the cost of your internal recruiting staff, your contract recruiters and any outside assistance you may have from other recruiting providers. Also included in this category are recruiting leadership costs, such as the director of recruiting and whatever management you may have.

• Process – Analysis of your recruiting process will provide other direct costs. Look at sourcing, screening and selection as sub-processes with costs. For example, agencies are a direct process cost in the “sourcing” area. Other “sourcing” costs are employee referral bonuses, networking events, advertising costs, etc.

Screening costs can include any interview travel and entertainment, and don’t forget about screening tests or guides (Myers-Briggs, Lominger, etc).

Selection costs are background checks, drug screens, relocation, printing welcome packets, etc. H1B Visa costs can be included here, or in the sourcing category.

• Tools –These are items like your applicant tracking system, any job board subscriptions you may have and the cost of creating and monitoring metrics. Don’t forget about document management costs and your telecommunications costs – both of these can become pretty big with the amount of resumes and phone calls that are part of recruiting.

Indirect Costs of Recruiting
Indirect costs can be divided into sub-categories, too. Personally, I use process costs, opportunity costs and intangible costs.

• Process costs include hiring managers that spend too much time reviewing resumes instead of performing their “managing” job. Again, remember to track “before” and “after” costs, as there will always be some indirect costs spent.

• Opportunity costs can be huge. How much did it cost your organization NOT to have that person performing that job? In high-value sales, the opportunity cost for an un-filled sales position can reach into the millions. However, the trick with all indirect costs, but especially opportunity costs, is to make sure you are comparing similar numbers. You cannot compare a dollar of lost revenue to a wasted hour of time – one is revenue, while the other is operating expense. It is always better to drop all costs down to the “profit” line when making comparisons.

• Intangible costs include costs related to employee efficiency and cultural fit, among others. How much does it cost your organization to have a poor cultural fit? Did that manager really spend that long counseling that employee? How much can the organization gain from a more productive employee? Tough questions, but ones you should consider.

Finally, the indirect costs of recruiting should be separated out from the direct costs simply because someone could argue that “they are not real” (even though they most certainly are). In this manner, you can add or subtract costs depending on your audience. After all, it is very important that your numbers be credible.

Risks of Recruiting
Risks are not necessarily costs, but can greatly contribute to the “cost of hiring.” Risks cannot be compared with direct or indirect costs because they are probabilistic – they may or may not occur. While you will spend money on a job board and your managers will spend too much time reviewing resumes, you may or may not incur a penalty for EEOC or OFCCP violations. However, if that does happen, it typically dwarfs other costs. You would be foolish to ignore risk costs.

We won’t focus on risks, except to note that you should make every effort to identify and control them, as they are a very real potential cost of recruiting, especially if you ignore the “process” part above.

The Denominator – Number of Hires
Finally, once you have figured out your “cost,” you need to know how many “hires” you actually made. This seems simple, but I have seen many clients that don’t know the answer to this question. Make it a point to diligently track this number – it is critical.

You can split the number of hires into specific groups in order to calculate and track different CPH. For example, costs for different position tiers (executive, professional or hourly staff) or for different position profiles (remember the CPH of that un-filled high-value sales position). It all depends on what is important to your organization, and what integrates with your recruitment strategy the best.

You may also want to consider if the number of hires is the right denominator. Should you consider the work your recruiting team was forced to do on requisitions that closed prior to a hire being made as part of the costs? Some cutting-edge recruiting providers are measuring the “cost to submit the candidate that eventually gets hired.” You get the point – there are many ways to peel this onion.

Final Note
If you care about the costs of recruiting, and you should, you ought to give how and what you measure around costs some serious thought. Think about getting some professional assistance with your analysis. It will pay for itself many times over.

After all of this analyzing, I’m going to invest in the cost of a cold one at my local networking establishment!

Doug Fuehne, Co-founder, Vice President – Client Services, Scalability and Strategy

•Define operational parameters – Because flexibility is an integral part of resilience, it’s necessary for leaders to maintain an “adjustable” relationship with employees.  Clearly articulate where the company is going (shared vision) and provide employees with “operational guidelines.”  I, personally, am not in favor of “rules” because there are always exceptions and it seems to stifle creativity.  Operational guidelines allow the team to use their creativity to overcome challenges while providing flexible limits.

•Promote flexibility – Listen to different points of view. It happens to be a great way to deal with complainers and critics. Establish multi-functional teams or make lateral promotions.  There is nothing more valuable when making a decision, than having the benefit of experience in multiple areas within the organization.

My last point, one of which I continue to remind myself, is that achieving excellence is a process not an event.  Don’t look at “resilience” as a project with a start and finish.  Think about it as building a culture over time and constantly improving and nurturing the environment, which will help ensure your company’s success.

Most companies will face multiple bumps in the road.  How will you bounce back when it happens? 

Nick Tubach
Founder, CEO & President