Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jason Babyak on February 24, 2010 at 6:33pm

Mike,

I started this discussion back in Sept 2008 and if you follow the thread many of the responses echo that of Stephen. I would suggest if you have details and tips of how best to utilize Bounty Jobs you may want to post on this thread so that everyone will have a chance to review, digest and possibly respond.

I can tell you that I gave a concerted effort to work on Bounty Jobs after my post but found myself going in loops with no feedback on candidates who in my professional opinion were very qualified and in some instances local. After months of the same I moved away from Bounty Jobs mainly in fear of companies harboring these candidates until they could hire them at no fee. I am not saying that happened but with the limited access given to the companies I was not at a comfort level where I felt my time was best spent.

Jason

--
Jason Babyak, BSEE
Technical Recruiter
Phone: 480.699.3159
E-mail: jabps@earthlink.net

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Permalink Reply by Mike Hard on February 24, 2010 at 6:47pm

Thanks Jason

It's a great suggestion and would be happy to post something short & simple here about best ways to use bountyjobs - only concern is hogging the forum (but I'm sure people will let me know). Will gather some thoughts and post tomorrow (getting late now).

The suggestions will be simple. Much of the feedback in this string was posted late 2008/early 2009 when the rapid growth of the marketplace caused problems with the experience. Too many HH's chasing overwhelmed employers. In the last 6 months, we did some cool stuff around technology that does smart matching of jobs with HH's and service teams that coach employers on how HH's want and deserve to be treated (responsiveness). We've been quiet about how we talk about this with HH's - but I can share some thoughts based on those we've coached.

...and we'd love to get you back :)

Mike

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Permalink Reply by Mike Hard on February 26, 2010 at 1:03pm

At Jason’s suggestion, a few thoughts about how to succeed using BountyJobs – or any online recruiting marketplace for that matter, since a few others have popped up since we started.

Note that this is advice to HH's on how to get better results, but it doesn't mean we don't have our own work to do - more on that below.

Importantly, a recruiting marketplace doesn’t allow a recruiter to skip traditional steps when getting a JO. Because everything happens over the web, in real time with thousands of players, those steps happen more quickly and with much greater scale. To keep up in the marketplace, a recruiter needs to adjust to that speed & volume, but to win in the marketplace, a recruiter needs to differentiate herself through the things that have always been traditionally important in a search.

Traditionally, landing a JO takes many steps. First you have to find the company with an opening that matches your potential candidates. You need to convince the company that it's worth their time to work with you, then you have to establish a contract. You then send candidates and hope your initial instincts about the match-up are correct. Often things derail somewhere in the middle steps after the initial pitch to the employer has worn off. It’s frustrating. Bountyjobs dramatically shortens the cycle and widens the scope for each of these steps, but a headhunter still needs to do each well.

The headhunters that do well with Bountyjobs follow their normal processes – they just adjust for speed and scale. To ensure a match with their candidates, they spend time up front identifying their focus on their profile – the industries, functions and regions they focus in for instance. This helps employers and headhunters find each other. They submit one well screened candidate at a time with solid details in their introductory note. They pay attention to the feedback provided by the employer, learn from it and alter their search to suit the employer’s needs. Some employers are poor with feedback and some have slower timelines than most headhunters would prefer - yes it still happens in the recruiting market in general and it still happens on BountyJobs – but the successful headhunters walk away before they send loads of candidates, and quickly focus on the next employer.

On the flip side, the headhunters that have challenges with Bountyjobs often take shortcuts. I see canned introductory notes, not tailored to a specific candidate and not conveying what has been learned from conversations with the candidate. This can turn off employers because they think the recruiter has not read the JD thoroughly or is not spending enough time with potential candidates. They are too general in how they describe themselves – so employers can’t differentiate them from the rest of the marketplace. Some headhunters continue to send several candidates despite having not received any communication from the employer, instead of walking away and focusing on the next search. Often they’ll struggle in their first couple of engagement requests but not adjust, and grow frustrated.

I hope this answers your question and is not too blatantly a commercial for BountyJobs. None of the above means that we don’t have work to do to create a better experience for headhunters. A year ago many jobs were being put on hold and companies really had shut down contingent search. As the search market has improved, we've improved the communication between headhunters and employers through technology and service. We’ve got some exciting stuff coming out that should dramatically improve the way employers can target specialized headhunters. We know we need to keep working because our whole model depends on headhunters succeeding.

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Permalink Reply by Patti E Amaya on August 16, 2010 at 11:56am

Jason
Its Patti, w/B.G.A. & Associates Executive Search. I am using Bounty and finding myself excited by what comes across my desk. I wanted to ask what type of placement you did and how long it took. Some companies are slow to respond and other aren't so I will have to wait and find out.

Patti

Scott Godbey said:

Jason,

I have worked with Bounty Jobs on occasion. I've even made a placement through them. The challenge of Bounty Jobs is that it reinforces the "recruiter as a commodity" concept. So it's not surprising that many employers utilizing Bounty are slow in responding to candidates.

I think that Bounty is best used as an outlet for candidates from other search assignments or for positions that are a main stay of your desk. I wouldn't recommend treating any position on Bounty as a true search assignment.

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Permalink Reply by pam claughton on August 16, 2010 at 1:19pm

Patty,

Have you made a placement yet using Bounty Jobs? I noticed you posted back in February that you were working on searches with them, and you mention here that you are excited about what is coming across your desk. Is that because you are making a lot of placements with Bounty? Just curious. I wonder how Bounty Jobs is doing, as I would imagine most recruiters view it as Scott does as an outlet for leftover candidates you've sourced on other searches to see if they might fit. With so many people engaging on a search it doesn't seem a great use of time to treat it otherwise. But, I could be wrong, that's just my impression. I prefer to work on searches exclusively or almost exclusively. :)

~Pam

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on August 16, 2010 at 1:22pm

I find the Bountyjobs story quite interesting. They hired a new guy a while back who was going to change everything - but I have still not heard a peep from them.

Are they just working on back room stuff and we're all going to be blown away by something from them very soon?

I would think there would at least be some sort of spam or something in my inbox from them.......but I've heard nothing. Have you Pam?

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Permalink Reply by pam claughton on August 16, 2010 at 1:37pm

Jerry,

No, nothing, and I am surprised they don't do more marketing to recruiters who have checked them out but are not active, mailing out success stories for instance, that kind of thing to entice them to try again.

~Pam

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Permalink Reply by Patti E Amaya on August 16, 2010 at 2:01pm

Funny you should ask. I just got a call from a client out of Bounty. You have to understand that the placement won't be fast if at all and the feed back will be very slow if at all. If you have an applicant with the exact skills you will hear from them eventually, but I agree you should not plan your financial future on Bounty. Its tempting when you see the fee amounts, but if you only rely on them you are setting yourself up for a big dissapointment.

pam claughton said:

Patty,

Have you made a placement yet using Bounty Jobs? I noticed you posted back in February that you were working on searches with them, and you mention here that you are excited about what is coming across your desk. Is that because you are making a lot of placements with Bounty? Just curious. I wonder how Bounty Jobs is doing, as I would imagine most recruiters view it as Scott does as an outlet for leftover candidates you've sourced on other searches to see if they might fit. With so many people engaging on a search it doesn't seem a great use of time to treat it otherwise. But, I could be wrong, that's just my impression. I prefer to work on searches exclusively or almost exclusively. :)

~Pam

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Permalink Reply by pam claughton on August 16, 2010 at 2:33pm

Hi Patty,

So, have you made any placements with BountyJobs?

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Permalink Reply by Patti E Amaya on August 16, 2010 at 2:39pm

No. I have been on their site for a year and a half. I will be an honest recruiter and tell you that I was hit hard the last two years. One placement with them is a a success in my eyes. I have had communication with firms but not a placement. As long as I get communication I will stick it out. My placements range from $30K - $50K and that fee if I get it is worth the added work on my end.

As I stated don't count your future salary off them, but if you make one placement a year I think its worth it, espcially in this economy.

Off to work!

pam claughton said:

Hi Patty,

So, have you made any placements with BountyJobs?

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Permalink Reply by Jason Babyak on August 16, 2010 at 3:59pm

Jerry,

The person from Bounty is Mike Hard and he brought life back to this thread in February of this year and I even did a call with him but have not heard anything since then.

All
With that said, I never got a good feel for Bounty from the beginning, I tried it but the lack of communication and feedback was too much for me and I do not like not being "in control". I already find myself as a recruiter to be a middle man already and adding one more just complicates the process that much more.

As Patti mentioned it can be a good resource if you are struggling to get jobs but I would rather spend the time doing my own marketing knowing that I will have direct communication with the hiring manager. I have actually spent some time on there when I had a great passive candidate looking for work but have yet to find a match.

Too bad as it was a pretty good concept, just never really developed.

Jason

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on August 16, 2010 at 4:02pm

Kinda makes you/me/us wonder - why can't such a concept actually take off? Perhaps their "service" is geared toward clients who have a dislike for recruiters to begin with - and by "corralling" the recruiters they think they have more control of how things go down?

I don't know, but it seems to me there is a need for a service like this. Doesn't seem the BJs is is though. Someone will step up I guess. Some day......

Jason Babyak said:

Jerry,

The person from Bounty is Mike Hard and he brought life back to this thread in February of this year and I even did a call with him but have not heard anything since then.

All
With that said, I never got a good feel for Bounty from the beginning, I tried it but the lack of communication and feedback was too much for me and I do not like not being "in control". I already find myself as a recruiter to be a middle man already and adding one more just complicates the process that much more.

As Patti mentioned it can be a good resource if you are struggling to get jobs but I would rather spend the time doing my own marketing knowing that I will have direct communication with the hiring manager. I have actually spent some time on there when I had a great passive candidate looking for work but have yet to find a match.

Too bad as it was a pretty good concept, just never really developed.

Jason

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