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23
Aug

Jenni Nelson: The "Geneva Convention" on Headhunting

We keep hearing that we are fighting a “War for Talent”. So when it comes to headhunting, all is fair in love and war, right? Do we need ethics?

At the recent ATCSourcEvent I facilitated an ‘unconference’ on just this topic. As a group, we were tasked with coming up with a list of ‘ethical guidelines’ for headhunting. I call it ‘the Geneva Convention’ on headhunting.

It was a lively discussion, to say the least. The fact is that people have different ideas on what is ethical and what isn’t. This is what we came up with:

  1. Protect your company’s brand. This isn’t about ethics in itself, but more about “think about how your actions may impact how your company is viewed by potential candidates and/or clients”
  2. Protect your own brand. 
  3. No blatant lies to gatekeepers. I love the inclusion of ‘blatant’ in this one. So when is a lie a lie? Is it ok if you don’t get caught? Again, I guess this goes back to protecting your company’s brand and your own personal integrity. 
  4. Don’t pose as someone else to get past the gatekeeper. This is really a corollary to point 3. 
  5. It is ok to use information that is available in the public domain, but not information that has been acquired illegitimately.

As we were in a conference centre, there were a number of conferences run by other organisations being held at the venue. One of the agency recruiters said that she went for a walk at lunch-time and took photos of attendee lists that were on display at the other conferences. This created a huge discussion on whether it was ethical or not. We didn’t come to a conclusion either way.

Then the discussion took a sideways turn when someone commented that the fact that clients and internal recruiters often give their roles out to multiple agencies, drives poor behavior in the industry. There were internal and agency recruiters in the room. Here are some more guidelines that spilled out from this discussion (not really headhunting guidelines, but worth a mention):

  1. Companies (internal recruiters) to treat agencies fairly when it comes to candidate ownership. Who owns the candidate? It depends on the company’s policy regarding how long the candidate needs to be on their database before ‘ownership’ is released. This leads to the next guideline.
  2. Ensure the ‘rules of engagement’ between agencies and internal recruiters are understood, well communicated and upheld. So if you give a role out exclusively, make sure it really is exclusive. This makes perfect sense – it gives the agency recruiter more reason to pull out all stops to fill the role as their reputation is on the line – ultimately you will get a better service. And if you have a rule around ‘candidate ownership’, make sure that the agency recruiter really understands that rule and be fair about how you implement it.

So, is there room for ethics in headhunting? My opinion is “yes”. It is about protecting your brand and your company’s brand, but it is also about living by your own personal integrity.

Jenni Nelson is Principal Consultant at Insidejob. We run training programs targeting internal and agency recruiters. For more information about our training programs please refer to our website: http://www.insidejob.com.au.
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09
Aug

Martin Warren: Are YOU using Google+ to identify candidates online?

Have you been following all the hype about Google+?

From a sourcing perspective, Google+ has the potential to become a major source of potential candidates. Its growth has been quite staggering, with over 25 million users signing up in less than 30 days. To put this into perspective, it took Facebook over 800 days to get to 10M users and Twitter just under 800 days to get to the same amount. What is also interesting is the fastest growing demographic on Google+: the age group 25 – 34.

So what does this all mean for sourcing critical talent on Google+?

To be honest it’s still early days and dependant on this current growth rate continuing. But what will certainly happen is potential candidates who are on LinkedIn and/or Facebook will also create a profile on Google+. And many of these candidates may choose to relinquish their presence on these other social networks.

To be able to cover the market you need more than a good LinkedIn network. It makes sense to explore Google+ for potential candidates that maybe you can’t access on LinkedIn through your connections. Also remember that the candidates you are finding on LinkedIn are likely the same ones your competitors are: being able to source talent on Google+ will give you that vital competitive edge.

Facebook meanwhile has always had its challenges when it comes to sourcing candidates. Limited search functionality coupled with users’ reluctance to put their professional information on their profile has limited its power as a sourcing channel.

Over the last month I have been looking in detail at Google+ profiles, what potential candidates are sharing, and how we can quickly extract targeted information. So far the results have been very encouraging. If Google+ continues to grow at its current rate, it can potentially be the prime network for targeting potential passive candidates.

Attend Insidejob's Advanced Internet Sourcing Training programs and learn how to apply targeted Internet Sourcing strings to tap into Google+ profiles.

View details of our Advanced Internet Sourcing Program and reserve your seat NOW!
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02
Aug

Jenni Nelson: Recruitment Life Lessons

I am passionate about helping people and organisations gain mastery in all things recruitment. Small things done well lead to faster, better and less costly results, and importantly satisfaction for managers and candidates.

I was very fortunate early in my career to work for an agency that invested in recruitment training and in implementing a robust recruitment process to equip us to be successful. For me, the training was transformational and created a huge paradigm shift. The main tenet of the process is that, whilst you do not have the power to change a person’s decision, you do have the power to ask the right questions so you can make fact based decisions about whether to progress or disengage; whether to influence or walk away; whether to invest more time with the candidate or look for another one.

I have carried this training into all of my recruitment roles ever since, in both agency based and internal roles. I know that when I cut corners, or neglect to follow the process, it usually catches up with me and things come unstuck – and I am reminded of my dear first manager, Diane Minogue (who passed away some years ago) saying to me “Did you follow the process?”

  • Did I get a complete job description? Do I really understand what the hiring manager wants in the person?
  • Do I have the hiring manger’s commitment to respond quickly, to provide feedback, to interview the candidate? 
  • Did I really qualify the candidate? Did I ask the right questions and uncover what their real motivation is? 
  • Did I use a trial close to really understand whether or not they would take the job if offered?

Insidejob is running its Essential Recruitment Program again, in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide. Targeted specifically at Internal Recruiters, the process we present will take you back to the basics and will help you to be more successful in your role. I know this process works!

Regards,
Jenni Nelson
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