Impress Your Hiring Manager or Clients – How A Bit Of Research Can Go A Long Way.

I was once told by a wise person that you can become an expert at something by undertaking half an hour of reading/research per day, over a period of a month.  I guess this all depends on your definition of “expert”.
However, I am always amazed at how little research both corporate and agency recruiters do both prior to client meetings. From the client side, it is most impressive to be provided with market information and then a professional recruitment recommendation based on this information.
Let me give you an example.

What you do now.

Your client calls you and states that they want to recruit a position for a mining engineer for a remote location and mentions they must have experience in tunneling for a Coal Seam Gas Project.  You ask for 40 minutes to take a full job brief at a future date, but ask if you can first ask your usual questions.

1. What are 3 most important experiences the person MUST have?
2. Do any of our staff have similar skills and can you speak to them?
3. What similar positions have we recruited in the past?

Sound simple? Well I think it’s far too simple!

How to impress your Hiring Manager or Client.

What if you did the following 3 things before your meeting?

1. Speak to the staff member with similar skills, look at their resume and understand the skills competencies and EVP of the position. This should take no more than 7-8 minutes.  You can also ask who they may know with these skills, or companies where these people may work. If you prepare your questions in advance you will be fast and effective.
2. Review previous positions and how they were recruited, focusing on who was successful.
3. Look at the current market. You can do this by:
   • Starting with your existing database, note how many people have these skills and where they work;
   • Undertaking a quick search on LinkedIn and again note how many people have these skills and where they work;
   • Reviewing the competition, seeing if similar jobs are being advertised, how many jobs, the stated EVP and where they are located, and/or;
   • Looking at key job boards to again see how many similar jobs are listed, their EVP and where they are located.

This should not have taken you more than an hour.
From this information you can easily prepare two slides to take to your next meeting, summarising your findings, and presenting them in a very clear and simple manner.
So now you can rock up to your meeting with the Hiring Manager with your initial research as well as a partially completed job description and recruitment plan.
Now, I can hear you saying things like:

• “I do not have the time”, my response is that you will save time and what’s more, you will be a hero!
• “Will I be expected to do this all of the time?” Well why not be an expert?

So if you want to be seen as a recruitment expert, try my approach. This small amount of research will give tremendous value back to your hiring managers and clients. I think you will win friends and influence people.