The Recruitment Equivalent of Ole Gunnar Solskj?r

It’s a painful thing to admit, and I know I’m opening myself up to a torrent of abuse, but…

I’m starting to… not hate… Manchester United.

The i-intro? head office is based in the heart of Leeds, which means most of our employees support local teams, including Leeds United, Bradford City and Huddersfield Town.

Naturally, this results in a lot of banter come Monday morning.

But the one thing every football fanatic in the office seems to agree on is a general loathing for Manchester United.

It’s a Yorkshire vs. Lancashire thing.

Anyone who was born and raised in West Yorkshire is taught from infancy that Manchester United is the devil (they literally have his logo on their shirt) and therefore the enemy.

Yet, I’m starting to soften towards them.

I’m not the only one. I’ve heard of other local football supporters who actually smiled – just a little bit – when Rashford scored the winning goal against PSG last week.

And I don’t think the reason is any great secret.

It all comes down to the appointment of one man: Ole Gunnar Solskj?r

This subject led me to an interesting conversation with a recruiter and what it means to find success in the recruitment industry.

He’s Just So… Nice

To be fair, anyone would seem nice and cheerful when compared to the dour poison that José Mourinho has been pedalling for the last couple of years.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think Mourinho is a fantastic coach, and I wish him well, but I miss the twinkle-eyed, arrogant and mischievous manager that he was at Chelsea. After the toxicity of his reign at Manchester, Ole is like a breath of fresh air.

But there’s more to Ole than just someone who smiles more than José.

Ole arrived at Old Trafford like someone who had just won the lottery and can’t wait to take all his mates on holiday.

Within days there were stories coming out of the club of a renewed optimism and a massive release of tension. Some of that was the absence of José, but the rest was Ole re-connecting with his old club. There was even a story of Ole bringing chocolate back from Norway for all the backroom staff, including the receptionist who has worked at the club for over fifty years.

All of the positivity that Ole brought to the club turned into positive results on the pitch, culminating in a famous victory in Paris, when virtually everyone had written them off.

Which is how I came to have a conversation with another recruiter. I’m paraphrasing, and I’ve changed some details for the sake of anonymity, but it went something like this…

“But you have to admit, Solskj?r’s done incredibly well since he arrived.”

“I agree. Do you think he’ll get the full-time job now?”

“The job? He should get the keys to the City of Manchester!”

“True. But in that case, I should get the keys to the City of Liverpool.”

“Why?”

“Because this month alone, using the i-intro? method, I’ve placed a Director of Business Development with a compliance company in Florida, a Sales Manager for a Chinese Pigment manufacturer in Yorkshire, a Sales Executive for a waste management company in Manchester, a Business Development Manager for a workwear manufacturer in Cardiff, a Country Manager for a French cosmetic ingredient manufacturer and a Business Director for a London-based tech firm. Oh, and I’ve also won a managed service contract for 20 European roles with a PPE company.”

“Okay, that is pretty good.”

“Makes scoring a goalkeeper fumble and a 12-yard penalty look easy. I’m basically the Ole Gunnar Solskj?r of recruitment.”

“I don’t know. You look a lot older than Solskj?r.”

“Everyone looks older than Solskj?r.”

What Does Recruitment Success Look Like?

My thoughts quickly turned from football to recruitment.

A lot of i-intro? clients are doing exceptionally well, but what this recruiter was describing was extraordinary. Which begged the question…

What is this i-intro? recruiter doing differently?

So, we had a chat, and I pinpointed five things that I believe are making a substantial difference to his performance as a recruiter (we’ll call him Bill, but that’s not his real name).

1.    Bill won’t take contingency-based work.

I’ve discussed the weaknesses and dangers of performing contingency-based recruitment, so I won’t labour the subject again here, except to say that I think Bill’s total rejection of contingency is important.

I haven’t changed my view of contingency over the last few years, but I’ve softened the rhetoric a little (no, really), mainly because some of our i-intro? clients don’t want to give up what they see as a lucrative part of their business. There’s a trend for recruiters to focus on selling retainers to new clients, but still provide contingency services for long-standing clients.

Rejecting contingency outright isn’t a requirement of using i-intro? but I believe that clinging to it in some form has a negative impact on the rest of the business. It creates uncertainty of income and outcome – something which i-intro? is designed to remove.

In this instance, Bill is giving his full energy to winning retainers and not giving into temptation to soften this approach if a client is pressing for a contingency-style arrangement.

His line is that he can’t do the high-quality job that the client deserves unless he’s working under a retainer agreement.

2.    Bill won’t do retained work without using i-intro?.

Sometimes a client might want to fill a vacancy quickly. Or very occasionally you can run into a candidate who seems ideal for the role but is pushing back on completing an i-intro? profile.

In those instances, there can be a temptation to skip the i-intro? method and revert to a simpler, quicker approach. This is especially the case if you want to collect the fee quickly.

Bill refuses to do work without using the i-intro? method just to speed things up. And if a candidate pushes back on completing a profile, Bill is unyielding.

i-intro? isn’t just a sales tool, it’s a method for measurably improving the outcome for the clients and the candidates. Skipping the i-intro? steps will impact on the success rate of placements and impacts on the next point.

3.    Bill believes in the 96% outcome.

As you probably know by now, according to data we’ve tracked over many years, 96% of the people placed using i-intro? are still in their role after 12 months.

This means that…

• Employers rarely have to redo a recruitment campaign.
• i-intro? recruiters can offer market-leading guarantees.

Neither of those things are possible without the security of the 96% statistic, and Bill firmly believes that this number won’t remain as solid as it has without insisting on the i-intro? method.

96% gives candidates confidence, employers reassurance and is invaluable in convincing prospects why retainers using i-intro? are so beneficial.

4.    Bill has spent many years learning and practicing the i-intro? method.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Bill is one of the longest practitioners of i-intro? recruitment.

Those years of practice have streamlined his approach and placed him in a position where he can win, manage and complete multiple retainers a month.

The i-intro? method works and is simple to learn. But mastery does take time. Going from periodic wins to regular, monthly success requires patience and commitment.

5.    Bill is a skilled recruiter.

Yes, of course, some of it comes down to skill. Bill is a natural salesperson, so converting leads into clients is a strength.

But Bill’s skill isn’t entirely innate. Much of his success, by his own admission, is down to the framework and consistency that i-intro? provides.

Bill has made no secret of the fact that if, for some reason, i-intro? was no longer available to him, he’d probably want to find a different line of work.

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Like Ole’s miraculous start to his Manchester United management career, is any of Bill’s success down to attitude?

It’s hard to say.

To the best of my knowledge, Bill isn’t one for buying everyone chocolate (if you want to prove me wrong, Bill, I’ll take a large Toblerone, please and thank you). But it’s fair to say that a positive attitude goes a long way in winning new clients, satisfying candidates (even when they fail to land the role), and maintaining long-term, managed service contracts.

i-intro’s high success rate, it's guided system and its ability to produce measurably better results, certainly makes it easier for recruiters to maintain a good attitude. You just have to stick with it.

And smile more.

That seems to count for a lot.

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If you want to talk more about your recruitment business development and how i-intro? can turn you into the next Ole Gunnar Solskj?r of recruitment you can CLICK HERE to book your free Strategy Session.

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