The intake session is, without a doubt, the most important part of the entire recruitment process: it paves the road to either success or ruin.  To that point, no recruiter starts with failure in mind, yet too few can differentiate the mud from the road while their requisition veers into the weeds.

Any sales-related objective (ie. recruit) can be achieved by narrowing down the top three criteria of clients.  While this is the crux of the intake session — and while it takes the need from superhuman to ‘merely human’, it is not enough by itself.  By pre-closing the sale, and setting expectations, you can bid those forehead spots on your workstation desk adieu; and save those head-banging moves for when your at home, in your underwear, listening to Metallica.

In my mind, there are two types of Recruiters, who I call Order-takers and Bus drivers. Maybe it’s not the clearest comparison, but it means that some people let life happen to them while others take control.

An Order-taker, is someone who seeks out direction from the client.  They are a close relative of the ‘people-pleasing’ recruiters who think that hiring managers are their buddies.  By comparison, a Bus driver is someone who knows where they have to go, and how to steer the process to meet the needs of clients.

For Example
Order-taker: “so *you want* the role posted for 60 days, and you want to see everyone with a pulse… would you like some fries with that req?”
Bus Driver:  “*I recommend* that we post the role for only X amount of days and we employ X sourcing strategy… I will follow-up with you every X amount of days”

It’s all about respect. R-E-S-P-E-C-T [cue the song, please…]

Respect to the Order-taker, is achieved by factors beyound their control — by working for the nicest client group, being tolerated when they don’t have candidates, or being valued for low-value administrative services.  The Order-taker is someone who wants to get somewhere, but they don’t know how. Respect for the Bus Driver, is a destination – by providing value-added advice, overcoming objections, negotiation, and charting a clear course of action: being in control.

There’s two dimensions of pre-closing – dealing with the candidate, and the hiring manager.

On the candidate side, it’s about defining the the value proposition of the role: in essence, it’s having enough information to sell to potential recruits.  This usually relates to potential career growth, salary, and working conditions. On the hiring manager side, it’s about negotiating your expectations of the hiring process, including how and when you will communicate. Likewise, it should relate to the types of candidates they will interview, and specifically who does what, by when.  SMART – specific, measurable… you get the picture.

One last Example
Order-taker: “So you want to pay Superman 10,000 per annum – he needs to have [20] different skills, and he needs to be a graduate of the Spandex University. He’s come to us for a paycut because we’re the best brand in Canada”
Bus Driver: “In my experience you can’t recruit Superman for 10,000 per annum, and I need to understand why would Superman would want to work in your department, if he already has [the three core skills] or has worked at this same level… I’ll still give you Superman, but he’ll cost you 20,000 — but If I likewise give you Batman, who has transferable skills at 10,000, and a college diploma, will you agree to interview him in X amount of time?

I’m going to leave you with some best practices for pre-closing the role.  In the meantime, drive that bus…

Best Practices – Pre-Closing that Req
1) Define the Employee Value Proposition – this is the reason that anyone wants to work for your organization.  It will relate to the following:
- Hours of work/work life balance, developmental opportunities, salary
- If this is not strong enough, speak up – why have previous employees joined the department?

- Value propositions that relate to ‘brand’ are unworkable in competitive job markets – don’t accept this; communicate that many of your candidates have standing job offers at competing organizations
2) Define Performance objectives – this is ‘how’ the employee will accomplish their role.  Who are their key stakeholders, what other departments will they work with? What are the core objectives in year one?
- This is very important when your dealing with transferable skill-sets

- This will open your eyes to inconsistencies in expectations – do they really need to have 5 years of experience in X, if 2 years of Y will suffice?
3) Always set a timeframe for next steps: who does what, by when
4) Negotiate – or agree to disagree, but always provide options