Elusive Tiger

Despite the challenging times in Hollywood we are having one of our biggest months to date. Companies are listening and getting smarter and discreetly sharing their hiring needs with trusted outside recruiters instead of posting and sharing them out with too many outlets. As mentioned in prior posts, the end result is that the 5-10 candidates that can actually do the job just get inundated and ultimately confused and disinterested in the role. Subsequently, said candidates are also getting smarter and not sharing their cv's with too many recruiters and submitting to links, rather working confidentially with trusted “experienced” recruiters that understand their niche and clearly communicate with them throughout the process and not ghost them when things take a left turn. The hiring process doesn’t have to take months, it should only take a couple of weeks. We are now offering a special deal now through the end of the year - 15% fee on both FTE and FL hires + a 6 month guarantee (ft). Lmk, we’d love to be of service, save you money, and show you what we can do. B

15 years ago we were a major driving force in starting creative staffing and recruiting in LA. Since then we’ve placed almost every creative in town at least once. In doing so we have an intimate knowledge of how each company works and “who’s who” in the post production theatrical marketing niche. Today, however, there are many recruiters in the post production space. It’s over saturated. The mistake I keep seeing companies make is allowing almost every recruiter to work on their roles. The problem with this is that you now have everyone hitting up the same 30 ppl for each role and it just makes the client/company look desperate and sloppy. On top of that, the companies (mainly trailer agencies) seem to be more than willing to work with any recruiting agency that will work at 10/12% which is not a recipe for success. At the end of the day you’re preventing the experienced recruiters in the space the ability to do what they do best - and what truly matters - which is the art of “closing/producing” the candidate on your opportunity and making the candidate “understand” why it’s a good move for them and ultimately getting the candidate to stick for at least a couple years. In the end, it’s all a race to the bottom if you’re not being a bit more picky, and even exclusive, with the more talented/experienced recruiting agencies. Work with great recruiters b/c they are great at what they do, don’t just work with anybody who claims they are a recruiter and sends you a cv and says they’ll work at a low rate and then think you’re saving money. Companies in NYC seem to get this but in LA and other cities, not so much.

Scorching hot roles at ET atm… ???? Head of Games (London & LA) Preditor - LA ACD/CD - Game trailers (LA) Trailer editor - action/games (LA) Biz dev recruiter - open PR/account supervisor - Houston, TX Let’s gooooo….

Great recruiters know who’s getting the job. It’s not a hope and guess thing. It’s an art form. It all starts with qualifying the role (preferably with the hiring manager). More so than getting a JD and price range, you have to ask the right questions 1.) what are the 3 key skills the candidate must know to hit the ground running? No one wants to train and ramp people up to speed, It’s a plug n play world in corporate America. 2.) Then you want to find out what the client “really” wants to pay (usually what the previous candidate was making) and if there’s any wiggle room? 3.) Is there wiggle room on the title? Just b/c the JD has a set title does not mean that’s what it’s ultimately going to be. Great recruiters can help the client understand this. Then even dig deeper, 4.) are there companies/competitors to recruit of you might suggest? Where did some of your best employees come out of? All of this info is critical before you start up a search. If you don’t have it you are just winging it like 98% of recruiters that are not experts. I’ve been doing this since 96 (yikes) so I think I’ve put in my 10,000 hrs. THEN you have to make sure the candidate is going to be happy with the title and salary for a minimum of two years. As we know, raises and title bumps do not come easy in corporate America. So in closing, If you don’t have a candidate that is checking all the boxes, very close to salary or hourly rate, and super excited and on board with title and has a smile on their face and understands “reality” for at least two years - then you haven’t done your job right. So hiring managers ask yourself, how has the hiring process been going for your team? Are we finding candidates that are sticking for a while? or have we been relying on the internet, in house recruiters just posting links, and hoping AI will solve the problem? Or are you working with expert outside recruiters that have a true vested interest (commission vs a base salary) in making sure they find you the “right” person for the job? PS - this all happens over the phone. Always has, always will. Humans talking to humans. There are simply too many things to drill down on and “make happen” via a conversation that AI will not be able to solve. Carry on… ??

current hot roles at ET this week are : - CD (AV/digital) that can bring work (trailers) FT - CD (social/digital) that can bring work (trailers) FT - mid-sr level motion designer (trailers) FT (trailer space) - social media manager (360) - Communication/PR manager (influencer space) - Social strategist - (trailers) - Business development (w/key art animation contacts in brand/ent space) FL or FT - Game Capture Director - trailers/games - Sr Social Strategist - trailers hmu if this is you or you know someone ?? B

Last Friday a client called me looking for a “Sr. motion designer”. Someone with solid experience in social, digital, entertainment campaigns + knowledge of C4D, and rotoscoping for under 150k FT. I kicked out the mini JD/blurb to the team and by yesterday we had 4 “ringers” as we call them, in his inbox for review. A ringer means that they are a “plug n play” for the role - usually out of a direct competitor, checking all the boxes re skill set requirements, and coming in under 150k. We spoke with each candidate about the company and set expectations explaining why it would be worth their time for a mtg and potentially make a move and leave their current role. Did we have to go to linked in and start up a cold search?, no, because they were already in our database, and two of them we’ve placed in the past. So we could trust they would stick and perform well. The client was surprised with our accuracy and turn around time and we all agreed that had he posted the role on line it would have taken him weeks if not months to go through the candidates and make a hire. Day after day I have these conversations with candidates and hiring managers and everyone agrees that posting roles on Linked In is not the best approach to finding talent yet it just goes on. I mean, we are a recruiting agency with over 50 roles we are working on at any given time and we don’t post them on LI. Why?, because we get flooded with 100’s of cv’s and emails of solid candidates but rarely if ever the “right” candidate. Last night I googled “do company’s legally have to post their hiring needs on LI?” And the answer was “As it turns out, most employers do not face legal requirements to post any job listing.” So I scratched my head a bit more, shared it with the team, and went back to watching Ice hockey. Long story short, If you’re looking for a better way to find and hire the right talent and ultimately save money, then work with an experienced recruiting agency.

It’s great to see all these roles being posted. Hope it sustains and companies get back to hiring on a regular basis again. However, like the many conversations I’ve been having with C suite executives/hiring managers, top talent is not responding to these posts, rather going through trusted channels and relationships to cautiously explore new opportunities. Cv flooding is a real thing, and the time it takes to filter, source, vet, speak/meet with all these candidates is laborious, time consuming, and not cost effective. Companies need to realize that working with outside recruiters, or dare I say “headhunters”, has and will always be the most efficient and cost effective course of action. But what do I know, I’ve only been having these conversations with hiring managers since 96’ and the story seldom changes. AI will prove to be another great sourcing tool, which will help HR and on site recruiters. However, the one on one relationships that you’ve built through placing people multiple x over the years, combined with the industry knowledge in a certain space, is invaluable. So if you’re a company out there that truly wants to hire the right person quickly, then don’t forget about outside recruiting agencies. There is no easier softer way. Not saying all of them are great, but having a handful in your back pocket is wise if you want to truly stay ahead of the competition.