Negotiation skills – the considered response technique

I’m just back from running a Negotiations workshop in New York, and once again I am brim full of ideas of what works well and not so well when in a Negotiation. The fact that I captured everything on video this time and have been reviewing these today prompted me to Blog on the benefits of slowing things down when negotiating.  My experience of working with recruiters is that they tend to go at most things full tilt, and this can lead to missed opportunities and more of an arm wrestle than it need be.

One of the people on my course last week was a very direct, to the point, “in a hurry” sort of sales guy, and he was negotiating with me over advertising rates. We had a fairly strenuous arm wrestle for about 10 minutes and he walked away having left all sorts of longer term options on the table and missed the opportunity for a long term relationship.

Then one of his colleagues demonstrated a very different approach:

Social recruiting and more…Do you stand out from your competitors?

89% of recruitment companies used social media to recruit in 2011. The majority agree that social recruiting is a given in today’s market and should be a part of any recruiting strategy. Yet as the stats show (source: mashable) the vast majority of recruiters are using similar channels and employers are using those same channels to fill vacancies for themselves. In fact 80% of employers used LinkedIn to find talent last year.

So the challenge is not just about standing out from your competitors but showing clients why they should also hire you and not just do this for themselves.

Obviously getting your social platforms and branding right to make that all important first impression is pivotal, especially given that 14.4 million people used social media to find their current job in 2011. Yet, as great as a well designed fan page is, or hundreds of followers on Twitter looks, this investment means nothing if the process to convert this traffic into potential candidates doesn’t pull its weight. You should stand out from your competitors or add value to a process employers think they can do for themselves.

So where are the tipping points in this resourcing process that compliments your social media strategy?

The Clive Magill story

Just over a year ago Fiona Lander met an extraordinary man, through a graduate recruitment drive, who was looking to change career and believed that recruitment would give him the opportunity to be successful and grow a career. Clive was struggling to get a break into the sector specifically because of his lack of sales experience and Fiona couldn’t believe that clients were rejecting such a promising candidate on this basis.

Clive had been in the Army for over 5 years and had been to several of the most dangerous places on the planet. He is also a major sportsman (he’s currently running the Rome Marathon as I write this) and has represented GB in the Winter Triathlon. Before leaving the army he had the foresight to save up enough money to support himself while he pursued his new career aspiration. Hoping that the vast experiences he had gained in the army from managing a team of 180 to training over 6000 Afghan soldiers and his willingness to gain commercial experience, even if unpaid, would help him gain a role in his chosen field. Instead Clive was faced with repeated rejection. Yet he didn’t let this put him off,  he used this feedback to try to improve himself and it was this determination and his pro activity that impressed Fiona. She offered him a complimentary place on our excellent new starter ‘Recruitment 101’ course to give him the core competencies he needed to secure an opportunity.  All we asked for in return was to be able to tell his story…

When I met Clive on our Recruitment 101 course, I wasn’t expecting to meet the quiet, unassuming gentleman that arrived for the 2 days. He immediately integrated into the group of 10 new recruitment consultants and not surprisingly, they were impressed with his commitment to the role – before even securing a job.

Lander Associates then took it upon themselves to help Clive achieve his goal and Fiona started to contact clients and arrange opportunities for him

The mistakes people make when consulting

What does it take to be a good consultant?  Most people would say “expertise”, “experience”, “knowledge of the industry” and other words which equate to “knowing stuff”.  It’s difficult not to agree, and clearly you are not going to make it as a consultant unless you do know enough stuff to add value to your client:  otherwise why would they use you?

However, “knowing stuff” is a bit of a double edged sword.  It can lead you into serious trouble when you’re consulting.  I train people in Consulting Skills, in all sorts of environments in a wide range of geographies.  Often I put them through their paces with some sort of consulting simulation which replicates their environment.  The biggest mistake I see them make is so easy to fix once you spot it, and yet there are many who are unaware of it.

Resourcing – How can social media enhance the process?

This is the 12^th blog in a series of 13 and considering I’ve trained a Resourcer 101 course this week and delivered a speech on utilising Social Media in attracting and retaining Gen Y candidates, it seemed like a logical progression to use this info.

I am amazed at the amount of resourcers and recruitment consultants that are not taking advantage of sites such as LinkedIn. As a recruiter, as well as being a fountain of knowledge on candidates, clients, competitors, industry sectors, specialisms and companies alike it is also fantastic for generating leads of companies recruiting for specific positions in your chosen location. It’s like all of your research is being handed to you on a plate – or at the click of a button! And this is all free. If you want to upgrade, then there’s even more available to you.

Analysing and monitoring – people do what you ‘inspect’, not what you ‘expect’

This term was something that I heard very early on in my management career and it’s stuck. It means that your boss is going to be checking up on you a lot in your first 3 months and throughout your recruitment career.

As a consultant starting out, it’s just as important that you learn how to manage your boss as they learn how best to manage you. It should be a partnership of you both working together for your success. You can do several things to help.

You can go a long way to impressing your line manager by starting to analyse and monitor your activities and results in these first 3 months. Apart from them being two of the first competencies that I wrote about in the previous blog, you will also get some major job satisfaction out of following the tips shared here too.

Recruitment – not as easy as it seems! Part 2

The Key Competencies of a Recruitment Consultant - Part 2

In part 1 we looked at the first 6 key competencies required of a recruitment consultant in a 360^o role. The purpose of sharing these elements is for you to analyse your own abilities and focus on some improvement areas over the coming months.  We can’t all be perfect, but we can all be striving to be better in what we do.

Here are the remaining 6 competencies:

Recruitment – not as easy as it seems!

The Key Competencies of a Recruitment Consultant - Part 1

The key competencies that you require when becoming a recruitment consultant highlight why this job is not as easy as people think. There are so many elements to it, that it’s hard to pick 4 or 5 key competencies. In recruitment, there are 12 that are nearly all as important as the others when you’re a 360^o consultant.

The aim of sharing these competencies in a blog is for you to analyse your own abilities and focus on some improvement areas over the coming months.  We can’t all be perfect, but we can all be striving to be better in what we do. 

Structuring Sales – Part 2

Last week we looked at the first 3 points within the 7 points sales plan. This structure can be utilised for both client meetings and individual sales calls. It’s for a conversation where you wish to present solutions to your customers’ needs – in other words ‘sell’ to them.

Points 4 – 7 of the 7 point sales plan:

Structuring Sales – Part 1

Last week we looked at communication within sales. This week I want to write about why it’s so important to plan your sales and have a structure to what you do.

One of the key competencies that a recruitment consultant should have is planning. Having worked with a few thousand consultants in my career, I can confidently say that the difference between a good consultant and a great one is planning. Top consultants plan their day, week, month, quarters and year. They plan their sales strategies, their candidate care plans, their targets, goals and objectives,  their client meetings, their sales calls and above all ‘themselves’… I could go on!

The following structure can be utilised for both client meetings and individual sales calls. It’s for a conversation where you wish to present solutions to your customers’ needs – in other words ‘sell’ to them. The reason that it resonated with me and I still use it today is that it doesn’t feel salesy. I can’t stand pushy sales people who don’t listen to what you say and just assume they have what you need.  With this sales structure, you won’t be accused of doing that. In part 1 we will go through the first 3 points.