We’ll wrap up our series on Managing Your Talent Pipeline (1,2,3,4) today by covering the important concept of vision.  Here is an important universal truth that you can apply to your recruiting efforts: 
 
Every human being wants to be part of something that’s going somewhere. 

This is a basic human reality that can be tapped for the mutual benefit of both an organization and an individual. 

Sure, many companies have vision statements that hang on a wall somewhere.  But no one could tell you what they say, and it doesn’t answer the candidate’s question… “Are you really going anywhere?” 

One of the biggest mistakes that we see hiring managers make is trying to convince someone to leave their existing organization, with little emotion or excitement over the possibilities in the new position.  If I don’t feel inspired when I talk with you about your company, my emotions will tell me to stay in my existing job, no matter how many facts the hiring manager can produce to show me I’m misguided.

How do you stir up this emotion in a conversation?  Here are some ideas:

1.  Develop a concise statement (vision) of what your organization is trying to accomplish.  Boil this down into something that is easy to say and remember.  Practice it with people in close network.  Do they feel inspired when they hear it?  If not, rework it and try again.  For an example of this, look at what Gore Technologies (makers of Gore-Tex) has done. 

2.  Formulate two or three stories of people who are flourishing in your organization.  Stories inspire people and they tap the emotions much better than facts and figures.  You can start a conversation by saying something like, “Let me tell you a quick story about someone who joined our group about six months ago…” 

3.  Help the candidate envision themselves working in your environment.  Once you start to understand a person’s strengths, help the candidate make the connection of how those strengths could be both optimized and valued in your environment.  Candidates not only want to know they’re part of something going somewhere, but they also need to see that their talents are an important and necessary component to reaching the destination.

A well-established vision, coupled with some specific examples of people who are thriving under that vision will, in itself, help your candidates to feel excited about your organization.  Build on that with a clear statement of how your candidate’s strengths compliment your company’s vision, and you have a great chance of generating an positive emotional response from your candidate. 

Until the candidate says, “I want to go where you’re going!” in their mind, you have no chance of getting them to move thier feet. 

In the last few articles (1,2,3), we discussed the importance of proactively executing a series of indirect contacts with candidates in your talent pipeline.  It’s a challenge to consistently make these “small contributions” to your contacts, but perseverance pays off. 

We all know that seeds grow in soil that is well-prepared by the gardener, but the seeds still have to be planted.  Likewise, there is a time for more direct recruiting contact with a candidate.  Here are some principles that will help you more successfully connect with potential candidates:

1.  Get face-to-face with the candidate.  As you know, a lot of communication happens in the non-verbal realm.  Contacting a candidate via phone and email has limitations that are difficult to overcome. 
 
Think of ways you can spend time with the candidate in a natural setting.  Are there professional activities that you can attend where you’ll likely cross paths?  Are there mutual clients, acquaintances, or business scenarios where face-to-face connections are likely?  Are there non-work-related restaurants, clubs, charitable activities that a candidate is known to frequent?  I’m not talking about stalking a person—certainly this could be pushed too far.  But, if you’re sitting behind your desk, and have no face-to-face contact with any candidates, you’re at a disadvantage.

2.  Identify a crisis/problem that you can actively help solve.  Everyone has problems and difficulties in their professional lives.  During a discussion, try to discover a specific issue with which a person is struggling and then deploy your own personal efforts, or the resources of those in your network, to help alleviate the pain.

This can be very simple… For example, I have a friend who works in the building supply industry for a company that supplies windows to commercial buildings.  During a discussion last week, I mentioned that we were thinking about updating some of the interior doors in our house.  He was quick to provide me some information on how doors are made, distributed, and sold to end-users.  He also introduced me to a contact who would be willing to sell low-cost “seconds” (doors that had small flaws).

If you are the person who consistently provides timely answers and solutions, it becomes both natural and desirable for a candidate to envision working on a team with you.

3.  Pop the question:  “Are you really getting what you need?”  You may remember from science class in high school what Sir Isaac Newton taught us about motion:  A body at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.  While Newton was describing the nature of physical motion, the same principle applies to recruiting – People will tend to stay in their existing jobs unless they are dislodged by some external force.

Most of these external forces (they have a fight with their boss, they get their benefits cut back, they lose a sale because of an incompetent co-worker, etc.) you cannot control.  But, you can help a person identify a potential escape hatch.  When you ask a person to consider joining your organization, this may be the last bit of dislodging they needed in order to make a move. 

Even if it’s not quite the right timing yet for your candidate, you’ve made your intentions clear and the candidate will store this away (along with your other positive interactions) for possible use in the future…

Last week, we talked about the importance of making small contributions to those in your talent pipeline.  We’ll provide some more ideas in future articles, but I wanted to cover a few important “don’ts” as you start to think about ways you can better engage those you are hoping to recruit.

1.  Don’t underestimate the effectiveness of consistent follow-up.  Anyone who is successful in a sales position knows that persistence is a prerequisite to success.  One of our clients, the general manager of a large services company, once told us that he never calls a vendor back until after he gets the 3rd call from the sales person.   Why?  In his own words… “That’s the only way I can know that the person is serious.”

Recruiting is sales, and consistent follow-up with your candidates is the only way you’ll be able to produce long-term, across-the-board success.  There are very few exceptions to this rule.  The good news is that persistence does work, and almost anyone can be successful at it.

2.  Don’t get discouraged when candidates don’t respond. The difficulty with persistence is that it often does not offer very much positive feedback.  During an initial meeting it is common to make a good emotional connection with a candidate.  The natural expectation is that the positive experience will carry over into the follow-up phase of the recruiting process, but this is often not the case.  What’s more typical is that you send several emails and don’t hear back… You leave voice mails, but don’t get your calls returned… You may even send hand-written notes, but there is still no reciprocation.

Don’t give up!  Instead, adjust your expectations.  You’re not this person’s personal friend or relative, so don’t expect to be treated like one.  You’re a professional acquaintance who has something to sell (an opportunity).  People can realize and respect that you’re doing your job, and they can even envision themselves working for someone who executes their business duties with professionalism.  But, that is where the emotional connection ends.  If you expect more, you’re ego is in the way.

3.  Don’t expect technology to replace personal attention and effort.  Because recruiting is a process that involves so much repetition, there is a temptation to automate as much of the process as possible.  While there are tools that allow you to be more effective, it is a mistake to over-rely on technological solutions that minimize human connections.

If you set up a candidate on a drip email system that automatically generates canned emails, your efforts will have some potential impact on the candidate.  But, don’t expect it to have the same impact as a personal note or phone call.  Human beings respond to personal connections— this is not going to change.

The bottom line…recruiting is hard work.  If you’re willing to do the work, you’ll be successful.  If you’re constantly looking for a short-cut, you’ll likely continue to experience frustration.

Once you have permission to follow-up with someone (see yesterday’s article), it then becomes important to make some sort of small contribution to the candidate’s life in subsequent conversations.

When you contemplate how to make one of these contributions, think of things that are small and thoughtful rather than large and flashy.  Here are three ideas that I’ve seen used effectively:

1.  Recognize an accomplishment.  Our world is more transparent than ever before.  With various websites, online social networks, blogs, and other venues, there is a lot of information available about people.  It is not uncommon for people to publish both their personal and professional accomplishments in some kind of online environment.  It’s also easy to search and find such information.

For example, your candidate might be part of a large company that recently won a large contract from the government.  A quick email letting the candidate know that you noticed the accomplishment is a natural way to make a connection.  If the person had direct involvement in the deal, of course it would be appropriate to congratulate that involvement specifically – If not, the general congrats is still worth the effort.  Good news is good news, and people like to talk about it.

2.  Recognize an accomplishment of someone close to the candidate.  All of us have relationships and we care about what happens to the people in those relationships.  It’s quite natural to strike up a conversation with a person and talk about their spouse, their kids, their activities, etc.  During an initial conversation, take some mental notes on these relationships and activities, and then keep your ears open for things that naturally take place around you.

When you find some tidbit of information, let the person know that you noticed their accomplishment.  This can be a simple email that says something like, “Bill, I noticed that your son’s football team made it to the district tournament.  You must be really proud.  We’ll be pulling for the team—I hope they make it to state!”

3.  Recognize a mutual contact.  Psychologist Stanley Milgram is commonly credited for conceptualizing the six degrees of separation theory.  Milgram (and now many others since then) has shown us that we’re surprisingly connected to those around us through a web of relationships.  When this web is discovered, people naturally find it interesting.
 
When you find out that there is a common contact between you and the candidate you’re trying to recruit, make a point to acknowledge it.  This too, can be a short email that says something like, “Bill I ran into Paul Graham last night at Costco.  He mentioned that he did some work with you a couple of years back and had some nice things to say.  Hopefully, you two will connect again soon.”

As you make these contributions, remember the objective—keep the balance of value in the relationship tipped towards your candidate by making multiple deposits.  If the person always gets something good from you (such as kind words and attention), or hears something positive (such as remembrance of an accomplishment or relationship), or just feels some encouragement, then good things are more likely to result on the recruiting front.