Don’t give up, the next candidate is the one you will hire.
I read two great blogs this past week; they are from Mike Nale, Managing Partner of The Brand Management Group, LLC in Hawaii, http://www.ere.net/blogs/The%5FRookie/. The first is Job Search, Persistence Pays Off, and the second is Probing Effectively.
Persistence is something I live by, and having been in a pure sales role, and now in a slightly different sales role as a recruiter a key asset that will dictate your success is persistence. I used to coach a Dale Carnegie class and the woman who taught the class would quiz everyone on the greatest sales book ever written. Give it some thought; SPIN Selling, How to Make Friends and Influence People, Think and Grow Rich, Zig Ziglar on Selling… All of these are great books, but I think an argument can be made for a non-sales book by Dr. Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham. How many times does this guy ask if his friend wants the green eggs and ham, 25 -30 times and each and every time the answer is NO. Does he take it personally, not at all, he tries to find ways to add value, in a car, on a boat, in the rain, on a plane. When he FINALLY gets to a yes his friend is glad he tried them and appreciates the persistence.
Next, probing effectively I believe is one of the most important skills of a recruiter. People have been trained since they were 5 yrs old to tell us what they think we want to here, and many people are good at this. For us to be successful we need to find out what we need to know, which is what we are not being told. This includes taking a job order or interviewing a candidate. Hiring managers tell us what they hope will make us go away so they can get back to their job. This is a short-term gain that can lead to long-term pain. Candidates will try to snow us if they think we are blocking them. Mike talks about the need to ask as many questions as necessary to get to the meat of an issue. I would suggest taking it a step further and asking a couple of questions they demonstrate your expertise, develop a bond with the manager or candidate and provides you with a deeper understanding of the requisition or the person.
With the hiring manager I may ask, “The job description says 3 plus years, but I know you have no time to train someone new, would 5 or 6 years of experience be better?” He or she may now see you as someone looking out for their interest, not an HR person going through the motions. I may ask an account, “How many days are in your monthly closing process, or are you running a soft close?” I am letting him know, in his language that he cannot get over on me, and we can get into some details without wasting his time. I think of these as the under the table questions, like a wink and a nod that I am looking out for his or her best interest.
When selling someone a job, or a candidate we need to be persistent. But to be successful we need information, which will require asking good probing questions.
Thanks Mike for some great points.
Excellent Blog Post Dave!
Mike Nale
March 6, 2008
I enjoyed reading your blog today, especially your comments about books such as “Think and Grow Rich” and “Green Eggs and Ham” (the latter also one of my favorites for its lessons for adults, as well as kids), and I thought that you may be interested to learn that a new edition of Napoleon Hill’s classic book “Think and Grow Rich” has been published.
Its title is “Think and Grow Rich!” (subtitled) “The Original Version, Restored and Revised.” I am the editor/annotator of this new 416-page edition, which is really an homage to Dr. Hill. (For several years I was the editor-in-chief of “Think & Grow Rich Newsletter.”)
What I have done is this: to restore Dr. Hill’s book to its original manuscript content (it was first published in 1937, but was abridged in 1960), annotate it with more than 50 pages of endnotes (most of the persons and events he discusses are generally unknown to readers today), index it thoroughly, add an appendix with a wealth of additional information about Dr. Hill and his work, and revise the book in ways to help remove certain “impediments” to reading the book today (language that today would be considered obsolete, sexist or racist). None of these things had previously been done with TGR.
If you would like to learn a little more about this project, a quick visit to http://www.tgr-restored-revised.com will give you some details. The “Editor’s Foreword” provides more complete information, and the “Testimonials” page will demonstrate how well-received this new book is around the world.
Here is the book’s Amazon.com page…
http://www.amazon.com/Think-Grow-Rich-Original-Restored/dp/1593302002/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-4747976-2224727?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191524360&sr=1-1
The book is available on all the Amazon websites and most other online sellers (it is now the No. 1 best-selling version of TGR on Amazon), it can be ordered by any bookstore, and it will soon be appearing in bookstores everywhere. We also sell direct, at substantial discounts, to personal success coaches and motivational speakers who use it for back-of-the-room sales and to teach Master Mind and Personal Success Study Groups. I invite you to include a link to the book in your online sites.
Our edition of TGR! is superior in every way to other versions on the market. It is a trade paperback, not a pocket-size mass market paperback. It is unabridged. It is 416 pages versus 230+ (depending on the edition). It looks better, feels better, reads better than any other version. It is fast becoming the “version of choice” among Napoleon Hill devotees and other students of success and high achievement.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Ross Cornwell, Editor
Ross Cornwell
March 6, 2008