Recruiting Basics
Nathan Courville, Managing Director and Practice Lead at KBIC, about the basics of recruiting.
As Nathan continues to grow his practice, he has prioritized truly understanding what it takes to be a recruiter in this ever-changing environment. He shared a few of these points with the students of UNT this past week as a guest speaker in a recruiting and placement class.
1. Know your strengths– Possibly the most important characteristic any future employee or candidate could have is self-awareness. If we are aware of what our strengths and weaknesses are, we can focus our energy on what we’re good at, while delegating what we’re poor at to someone else. Not only is this a time saver, but it is a morale booster. Yes, we should always try to improve our weaknesses – but who doesn’t like being great at something and knowing it? Nathan uses the example of his son; at 7 years old he thought he was the fastest kid in the world. At 9, he started to realize that to be great at something, we must focus our energy and always be aware of where we can improve.
2. Know the basics of your industry– Sounds simple, right? In terms of recruiting, Nathan spoke about knowing the differences between a retained or contingent search, a passive or active candidate, and executive search or in-house recruiting. If a company is hired on a retained agreement, they are promising to actively search for candidates for their client while receiving a monthly fee in advance.
Being on a contingent basis means that the client will only pay a fee for a candidate when they are officially hired. Usually contingent agreements are a lot riskier for recruiters. A passive candidate is a candidate who is not currently looking for a job and is happy where they are. An active candidate is someone actively seeking other opportunities. In-house recruiting is usually done by HR in an organization, and they typically chase active candidates. Typically, when in-house recruiting fails, organizations seek assistance from executive search firms. Executive search firms, such as KBIC, typically only chase passive candidates in upper-level positions. They take a consultative approach and become experts in their industry.
3. Know what motivates you– Most people will say their drive for success motivates them, but what does that really mean? Some people are money motivated, company-culture motivated, or even competitively motivated. Once you know the answer for yourself, you’ll be able to better understand what motivates a possible candidate and can then make a better recommendation for them. Job titles typically reflect motivation, a Search Consultant is somebody who “hunts” for their business and is typically money-motivated. While someone in an operational role may be motivated by team/company success and culture. Knowing your industry and recognizing job titles could give you a leg up in determining a candidate’s motivations.
Be ready to be your own advocate and work hard. In recruiting, you reap the hard work you sow. But you also reap the laziness- you get to choose which it will be.
Elaine Rembecki
erembecki@kbic.com
972-265-5373