The Call!!

(note this post is mainly geared towards corporate staffing professionals)

So often when calling a potential candidate, most recruiters go into their sales pitch about a position they are looking to fill, if the person they are talking to seems interested, they might talk more about the position. If the candidate does not seems interested they quickly end the call to move onto the next.

In most cases it is almost like they are reading a script and really do not care anything about the person they are talking to beyond if they fit the position they are currently working on or not. The problem is for every one candidate this works on, there are 4 it does not. Instead of making your call about a position, make it about a career.

Talk to them about what they want, what they are looking for, in other words talk to them about their career, hopes, desires and aspirations. At some point they will want to know if you have a position for them, and by then you will know. Either way you will have accomplished 3 things;

1. determining if they fit the position you are looking at them for
2. determining if they fit any position you now have or may have in the foreseeable future,
3. and lastly made a connection that will lead to much more than one single candidate.

You will have earned a trust and respect that will lead to many many potential candidates. You will have learned that being a staffing professional is more than being a recruiter, its more than the here and now, it thinking in the now and the future, it is taking an interest in the people you are talking to, and what they want. It is about making true long lasting, mutually beneficial connections.  The call is not a cold call, or a warm, call but a career call, a call that can and should help everyone, now and in the future.