RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES
RECRUITMENT Strategies By Frank Furness
I have been working as a trainer and recruitment consultant for
a number of years, specialising in the offshore financial
services industry. During this time, I have had the pleasure of
working with some excellent recruiters as well as some with no
clue at all. Guess who attracts the best recruits? Professional
recruitment is the lifeblood of any successful financial
services company. Here are some tips that will help you attract
the winners.
* Know what you're looking for. Have a profile of the type of
person you want in your organisation, e.g. age, marital status,
financial stability, experience. * Have a track to follow.
Develop a questionnaire that will accurately evaluate the
prospective recruit and reasons why they should join your
organisation. I use a 4-page questionnaire that paints an
accurate picture of the recruit and helps to evaluate whether he
is the right person for the organisation. * Use an impartial,
proven recruitment tool. I use the Sales Success Profile. The
recruit completes a questionnaire. The answers to 50 questions
are fed into a computer, which produces a 7-page report. This
highlights the strengths and weaknesses in 13 selling skills.
Important areas highlighted are whether the person is ethical,
call enthusiasm, trainable or not, burned out, etc. This is also
an excellent tool that highlights weaknesses and areas to be
concentrated on when the person joins. * Gut instinct. Listen to
your gut instinct. If the person looks fantastic on paper and
sells them well, but your gut instinct leaves you feeling
uncomfortable, don't hire - 9 times out of 10 you will be right.
* Professional venue. Most offshore recruiters fly in to the UK
to recruit. Choose the best hotel or venue available - first
impressions count. One of the most professional organisations
that I work with uses the Dorchester and they attract quality
recruits. * Expectations. Let the recruit know exactly what they
can expect from you in terms of airfares, accommodation,
commission, etc. Let them also know exactly what you expect from
them. * Detail the specifics of the job. This may seem trivial,
but is often overlooked. Let them know that they will be
expected to cold call, detail the working hours and what time
you expect them to be in the office each day. Tell them about
the dress code, activity levels and any other pertinent details.
Get them to agree to all the points. * Passion. Sell with
passion. If the person is good, they buy you. I have worked with
some people who are extremely boring, waffle endlessly and any
strong recruit will immediately dismiss this company and look
for a leader with enthusiasm. Remember, in their minds they're
saying 'Would I like to work with this person'. * Contracts. If
you like the person and offer them the position, courier
contracts immediately. Recruits are impressed and once they have
signed the contracts, they commit themselves. * Follow up. Most
recruiters are excellent at what they do. The problems occur
after the interview. After they have sold the position, they
then hand the process over to an admin person. Many times this
person has not been trained properly, doesn't know how to deal
with new recruits and doesn't realise the urgency of the follow
up. In my experience, this is the stage where the complete
process most often becomes unstuck. It's just like selling, if
we leave the client for too long, they lose their passion to
buy, or they buy from someone else. * Keep your promises. Follow
up everything that you have promised with a letter. Meet them at
the airport, welcome them, help them by joint calling and do
everything in your power to help them to succeed. If you don't,
all the time and money you've invested in recruiting the person
is in vain. High staff turnover and low morale follows.
Our great resource 'How to Gain, Train and Maintain a Winning
Sales Team' details the 24 point plan to develop a winning sales
team.
Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker and trainer
specialising in sales and sales management. He has educated,
entertained and inspired audiences in 42 countries. His
publications and sales resources have been sold globally. For
more information or to sign up for the free 'Sales Tips & Ideas'
newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0)
870 240 6505. www.frankfurness.com
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