Recruitment Radar - Issue 9

The one when we said goodbye to Jurgen, the greatest role model recruitment never had.

It's been emotional saying goodbye to Jurgen. What an impact he has made! He has impacted players, the staff, the club, the fans, the city, his competitors, and the sport as a whole. He's even laid the groundwork for his successor. What a guy!

Can you imagine what it would look like in recruitment if we all became a bit more Jurgen?

High performance, employee engagement through the roof, recruiters feeling proud, candidates feeling like they matter, clients delighted with the service they get, competitor agencies congratulating each other's performance and elevating their game to raise standards higher. Perhaps we'd care just as much about succession planning for future performance as we do for winning the league this season? And what if the recruitment sector as a whole truly represented giving people the best opportunity to do their best work, build thriving ecosystems and drive businesses forward? We could be part of a human revolution and not an AI one.

Thank you, Jurgen,

Love from a dear Liverpudlian ??#YNWA

Before I go full Liverpool and quote John Lennon, let's get to the saves of the week.

Posts are hyperlinked to the titles. Let's Go! ??????

The top "saved for later" for last week

1. “It’s not so important what people think when you come in - it's much more important what people think when you leave.”

Last bit of Jurgen I promise. Nice share from James Osborne how you leave is just as important as how you come in. As classy as it comes.

CULTURE

In the spirit of building a better recruitment ecosystem (ecosystem is rapidly becoming one of my new favourite words), James and (TRN) The Recruitment Network are asking recruiters to take 2 mins to share what motivates them as a recruiter in 2024. The survey closes Friday 24th May so add your two pence here.

If you want to add your view on what motivates you - do it now if you're reading this on Friday 24th May. If you've missed the deadline, share with me what's motivating or demotivating you in recruitment.

RECRUITER MOTIVATIONS

2. The best advice I can give to anyone embarking on a career in business development…

We're talking ecosystems again. Sam Baxendale shares his take on business development through the lens of relationships. Reciprocity, the law of "scratchy backs", the favour bank, the relationship bank account, or whatever you want to call it is real and you are trading with it every day. Every time you interact (or don't at critical moments) you are either making deposits and adding credit into the account or, you're making withdrawals. The aim is to build a healthy balanced credit. Find a way to make deposits into these accounts regardless of whether they are client now. The ROI is high and is something your future self will thank you for.

I caught up with Sam this week and I'll be sharing insights from our conversation with you after half term.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

3. How to write emails like a boss

Try using BLUF in your emails.

As much as I don't love the 'Linkfluencer-guru" style posts, and the sickly social proof* they shovel on their content about their following and perceived status, there are a couple of good takeaways.

1. Use strong subject lines with keywords to separate your email from the rest. I like DECISION, ACTION, FEEDBACK, REQUEST, HELP, and INPUT as subject words to try. Which ones would you use?

2. Use a BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front). Whatever was your final CTA (call to action) before signing off, use it as the first line of your email.

Go back to the top of this saved post and you'll spot my BLUF there.

Sickly social proof: 7M followers, 350K newlsetter readers implying what a knb you are for not following, and liking / agreeing with it all.

COMMUNICATION

4. Start with the ending. Not with writing a job description.

Begin with the end in mind

It's one of my go-to mantras for approaching pretty much all the work I do (coaching, training, projects, meeting deliverables, goal setting). I ask myself, or I ask you questions like:

"What does success look like?"

"Let's imagine it's 1 year from now and you're telling me all the reasons why this has been a great decision, what are you telling me about?"

Greg Wyatt demonstrates how this value-heavy approach to recruitment works in the context of sourcing candidates.

First of all, imagine each stage of the recruitment cycle has an end. Usually, our main event ends is a successful placement. Let's break down each stage and then consider what the end is to have in mind. This might be taking anything from client discovery to taking a job brief to sourcing candidates to managing interviews.

One of the ends when sourcing is not just finding the right profiles, it's having candidates who want the opportunity. To be able to do this you need to consider what questions you can ask hiring managers to reveal this key information. Check out Greg for his example.

5. Want to know how to wow a new client on your first vacancy and max your chance of becoming their exclusive recruiter?

Rhys Jones (happy birthday today!) shares another example of building value into your recruitment approach to achieve a better end. More exclusive partnerships and relationships where clients love teaming up with you and you are everyone's top pick and go-to recruiter.

It's a simple approach that involves sharing the insights you get about their business and the opportunity when you are speaking to the market.

See! There are opportunities to be more Jurgen everywhere!

CLIENT DEVELOPMENT

The funny posts are back!

Jordan Connachie shared this gem.

Recruitment Consultants on LinkedIn be like..

I've just seen your LinkedIn profile... it's ah very impressive!

Will Grashoff please don't stop.

Andy Simpson nailed it with this one! When you send 1 CV to the job and do the deal!

That's a wrap.

It's half term (again) next week. Good luck fellow plate spinners. You are amazing.

Migsy