Coaching for Recruiting Success
Executive recruiters have long been considered the lifeline to major companies seeking the best in top-level talent. Today there’s an increasingly valued role of networking, both online and off, with a Gallop poll revealing that 80 percent of workers find their jobs through their networks.
Recruiters also are facing stiff competition and criticism over how they track top talent and whether they truly understand the needs of the hiring company.
We’ll talk with coaches who work with both recruiters and executives using recruiters, as well as the recruiters themselves to understand the key issues surrounding recruitment and retention today.
Highlights of the show included:
- An overall outlook for the recruiting profession in 2008.
- Why the recruiting profession can be a little schizophrenic.
- The skills recruiters need to do their jobs successfully in today’s economy.
- How the Internet, online networking, and other Web technologies have changed both how we look for jobs, and how recruiters find us.
- How recruiting a C-level or senior executive is different than recruiting someone with less experience.
- How coaches can help recruiters pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses.
Featured Guests
Arlene Hirsch, Author of The Wall Street Journal Premier Guide to Interviewing and Job Search
Mareza Larizadeh, Founder and CEO, Doostang
Carrie Pryor, Senior Partner at Korn Ferry International
Katherine Simmons, President and CEO, NETSHARE, Incorporated
The IEC Debrief with Tom Floyd
This week’s Insight on Coaching show focused on coaching for recruiters and recruiting success. Our conversation ranged from discussing the outlook for the recruiting profession in 2008 to the challenges recruiters faced in their role, ending with a brief conversation about the work that coaches are doing with recruiters.
Our show was definitely insightful. I thought it was particularly interesting how one guest labeled the recruiting profession as “schizophrenic”, meaning while times are tough in industries where there is a talent shortage, it’s actually more positive in industries like high tech and even in growing industries like Internet marketing and advertising.
In the news we’re constantly hearing about both the talent shortage in many fields and the impact the predicted recession in the U.S. is going to have on the economy this year. To me that means, if we’re facing a recession and companies are cutting back – they’re not going to be hiring. If companies slow hiring this year, this begs the question – are many recruiters going to struggle to find companies who are hiring this year?
That leads me to two more questions for all of you:
Do you think the U.S. is headed for a recession in 2008?
If you do, what impact do you feel this is going to have on both recruiters and the people out there who are looking for jobs?
Another great question Arlene Hirsch asked on the show that I want to pose to all of you as well – given both of the above AND the fact that many recruiters are receiving 300+ e-mails a day – “What are some of the best ways to get a recruiter’s attention?”
Later in the show, we discussed the skills that are critical for success in a recruiter’s role. Examples used were interpersonal skills, listening, and relationship building. I also brought up a strong opinion that some people feel that recruiters don’t always understand the roles they’re hiring for.
That’s my next question for you: Do you feel the majority of recruiters understand the roles they’ve been hired to fill – or are some, in fact, a little “clueless?”
Finally, during the coaching portion of our show, I was disappointed we didn’t get to spend more time discussing the role that coaches can play. While we did discuss how a coach would help recruiters pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses, we didn’t discuss what makes coaching recruiters unique. I would also have loved to have spent more time talking about how specifically coaches can help people like recruiters improve their listening and relationship building skills. These are difficult skills, not just for recruiters – but for all of us.
For recruiters, these are even more critical – if you’re not good at hearing the hiring company or candidate’s needs, and you’re not good at maintaining relationships with one or the other – it’s going to impact your success. For our coaches out there, we’d love your insight on these topics:
- For those of you who have worked with recruiters directly – what’s unique in your coaching engagements with them?
- In terms of their areas of growth and challenges, do you see consistencies?
- As a coach, how have you helped recruiters (or others) improve their listening skills?
- How do you help someone moving at the speed of light, slow down and build more quality relationships with candidates and clients?
We look forward to hearing from all of you!
Cheers from your host,
Tom Floyd
CEO
IEC: Insight Educational Consulting
Specializing in Management Consulting, Change Management, Workforce Performance, and Employee Development
Coaching for Recruiting Success
Arlene Hirsch Mareza Larizadeh Carrie Pryor Katherine Simmons Coaching Podcast Educational Consulting Executive Coaching Change Management Professional Coaching Management Consulting Tom Floyd Insight on Coaching Insight Educational Consulting IEC Turbo Tagger
Highlights by Show | tfloyd | 
March 17, 2008 3:37 pm | 
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