Recruiting, Research & Rusing... The Road to Ruin

For many years, I was lauded as being the best of the best. My sourcing/research skills honed to perfection. I could penetrate the most DIFFICULT organization and deliver the most beautiful, extensive org charts complete with reporting structure and contact information.  I was considered "swat" for other researchers/recruiters, going where no one else could go. I charged for it too, commanding $100 per hour with 10 or 20-hour minimums.

I started my career as a recruiter before the invention of the internet. I recruited SBA lenders for non-bank lenders and various levels within the field of leasing. My only tool aside from pen and paper was the "telephone". I learned how to call into banks and tell them that, "I’m calling for my boss. He met one of your SBA lenders at a social function a month or so ago and he lost his card, though he's saying 'I' lost the card. You know how that goes." The receptionist is laughing and commiserating with me. "So anyway, he's out of town and he told me to call you and find out who he spoke to. He is going to call me in like 10 minutes and if I don't have a name or two to run by him, he's going to kill me. He said he'd remember the name if he heard it." The receptionist starts naming off SBA lenders as I write like crazy.  I spend my day going from bank to bank compiling my list of SBA lenders. The next day I put on the "recruiter" hat and go through my list of "passive candidates" always ending up with a hire.

Fast forward a dozen years. I'm quite adept at the "research" part of my job. Retained Recruiters and corporate entities alike are calling on a regular basis asking me to get in where they have failed. My methods have evolved. Times have gotten tough. There are more and more recruiters and sourcers on the scene and gate-keepers and receptionists see you coming from miles away. The tactics have become even more covert. 

Many say that they "source" or research companies and NEVER tell a lie or ruse. If they are seeking just one or two people and not trying to produce a literal org chart of the organization, I'd probably believe them. But if the client wants you to identify a specific person and to whom they report, who their peers are and who all of their direct reports are...there is going to be some rusing, white lying, twisting of the truth, half-truths...whatever you want to call it, but a ruse nonetheless.  I've had recruiters and sourcers call me countless times over the years asking for advice on how to "get-in" to their targets and ID their prey. Yet, they would never admit to particpating in a ruse.

My real talent is recruiting yet I got in the habit of working primarily on the research side. It’s hard to turn down $100 per hour to research 10 companies in 30-40 hours to recruit on contingency. So, I took the faster money and did the research.  The money was pretty good, but I loathed the work. I hated being dishonest. I hated having to pick up that phone with the end in mind of generating an org chart through whatever means necessary. I tried to justify it to myself by saying that I wasn’t really hurting anyone. I wasn’t stealing anyone’s “secret sauce”. It would be no different if I stood outside their office doors and offered them a flyer on a potentially better opportunity. But I wasn’t standing outside their door.

I burned a few bridges in the process of discovering that I hate research. I didn’t have the courage to admit that I hated the work because the pay was good and the work was steady. But that was years ago. Now, I strictly recruit.

I LOVE recruiting. It feeds my soul. I love the entire exciting process. I do have to research in order to have candidates to call, but it’s a whole different process. I don’t have to “identify the world” anymore.  I offer retained services as well as ala carte. I am good at what I do and now I can say I LOVE what I do.  I love interviewing candidates for exciting new opportunities that just might change their lives for the better while helping to grow or improve thriving organizations.

If you need a Recruiter who specializes in diversity and has an above average propensity at finding passive candidates…give me a call.  

Ronda Campbell  *   434-476-2083   *   [email protected]