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O P I N I O N
Recruiting the culture Getting the full feel of a client – sometimes by visiting the firm – helps recruiters sell the firm to job candidates.
O ne of the things that I do as a retained recruiter is visit our clients to learn more about them, meet with hiring managers, and get a better feel for their culture. I’m always amazed by what I see when I go on these visits. Some offices and staff are what I pictured and some are not.
Randy Wilburn
I recently visited with an architecture firm located in the heart of Detroit. I was adamant about visiting this client because not only do they have a tough position to fill but they are also in a location that presents many challenges for some when it comes to relocation – Detroit, Michigan! I must say the trip – a quick 24 hours – was well worth it. We used Uber from our hotel to their office in the pouring rain and we ran to the entrance of the building, which is surrounded by a bunch of really cool older buildings in downtown Detroit. “A good recruiter needs every tool available to sell an opportunity to a candidate ... Everything we experienced was memorable and it helped us to form a narrative in our heads that we would eventually share with any candidate that we come across.” The lobby, which we found out later was designed by our client, was modern with clean lines and a lot of warm wood. We took the elevator up to visit our client and, once again, were pleasantly surprised by even the interior of the elevator – our client had designed that as well. We finally got to our client’s floor and my jaw dropped when I saw their workspace. It had an open layout with some cool design elements throughout, including burnt wood paneling, a unique commuter bike rack that you would only find in an architectural office, and a roof deck to die for. I saw all this before my colleague and I even sat down with our client to meet with them. If I had never visited the office I would not have a strong feel for the office space, the company, or the people who work there. All these things matter in the grand scheme of things.
A good recruiter needs every tool available to sell an opportunity to a candidate. Now, it helps that our client brought in several talented people for us to meet with to get a flavor for the people and they also gave us a quick tour of downtown Detroit with lunch included. Everything we experienced was memorable and it helped us to form a narrative in our heads that we would eventually share with any candidate that we come across. Too many firms hire recruiters and send them a job description and scream “Fetch!” I may be oversimplifying, but it’s how things go down with many firms, hiring managers, and recruiters in this industry. I see it all the time. We’ve even had firms ask us why we need to come out and visit with them. The bottom line is that we know our industry, but we don’t know you! A successful recruitment relationship needs total buy-in by all parties. On the recruiting side of things, I find it hard to sell something that I’ve never seen, touched, or tasted. It is fairly straightforward and seems to make sense as I write this, but we encounter so many firms that fight us on this issue. We’ve actually turned away work from firms that want us to recruit for them but don’t want to invest the time necessary for us to visit with them and learn more about their culture. Our firm handles all manner of management consulting including strategic planning and we interview a ton of employees, something that could probably happen online or over the phone, but the body language is such an important component to developing trust and getting people to warm up to you. We always meet in person with our clients to improve our ability to effectively help them. So back to our client in Detroit. We spent the day with them and I have to say that it was time well spent. We could have easily done a video conference and maybe met some of their
See RANDY WILBURN, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 11, 2016, ISSUE 1134
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