The Recruiting Rodeo Podcast

The Recruiting Rodeo - Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Getting A Job And How Talent is Hired.
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Executive Recruiter And Talent Acquisition Professional Helping Candidates And Companies Turn Their Job Searches And Hiring Fantasies Into Reality. www.therecruitingrodeo.com

Episodes

  1. Jan 20

    The Recruiting Rodeo🐎

    Howdy, cowgirls and boys and welcome back to The Recruiting Rodeo🐎 and 2026! It’s been a while since I last posted and as I’ve communicated to some of you, The Recruiting Rodeo🐎 is on “pause” — meaning, my clever stories and advice about talent acquisition, hiring, job searching, and resume development, created for job seekers and talent acquisition professionals alike, is on hiatus. From here forward, I’ll be sharing information intermittently. Like this “golden nugget” I spotted on my ex-favorite professional social media networking platform yesterday: These tips, from a “CEO Coach” I follow on LinkedIn, Eric Partaker, can also be applied to the interviewing process. Your job search. Because on a job interview, most likely being conducted via video (I’d like to see them in person, especially for finalist rounds), you want to communicate, no matter how limited or expansive your experience, with authority, confidence, and gravitas. Not easy when you’ve only been working for a year or three, I get it. But it’s not easy for those who have been working for 10-50 years either. Trust me, I interview people for a living. No two executives who work in the same job function and/or industry are the same. And neither are their communication skills. Their “presentation.” Being “buttoned up” in your oral “storytelling” — which means leading with real examples of your work and/or leadership and the results your work or leadership generated or helped generate, your “impact”— that is SUPER important. But so is language choice and “how” you communicate. It’s not just the information you’re sharing, it’s how you choose to share it and these CEO phrases can help you become and appear more confident in your storytelling and overall communications. These tips were an eye-opener for me and will definitely help me fine-tune my written and oral communications moving forward. I hope they can help you fine-tune your communications, as well! Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.therecruitingrodeo.com

    2 min

  2. 03/15/2024

    The Recruiting Rodeo🐎: THE CANDIDATE AS CUSTOMER Part I — Brands That Provide Great Customer Service 🥳

    Confession: I’m still haunted by last week’s Rodeo about how “ghosting” has become an alarmingly common practice at all stages of the talent acquisition process (not to mention in business communications as a whole), with candidates, recruiters and companies being guilty of this bad behavior 👻. Apparently, the topic was equally horrifying to you, too, as I received quite a few emails after publication asking if I could include your ghosting stories in a future Rodeo (and I’ll try to find room for them soon!), In the meantime, I want to reiterate that ghosting for any reason by anyone is 💯 unacceptable in talent acquisition. The practice has become so prevalent, however, I think it’s safe to say that burning sage is not enough to chase away all the evil spirits at work here. So what WILL actually fix the problem? Let’s start by imagining a world in which all Companies treated job seekers and candidates in the same way they treat their valued customers… 💡 WELCOME TO THE RECRUITING RODEO VOLUME 6: THE CANDIDATE AS CUSTOMER! 🎉 When I receive great customer service, it brightens my day. It makes me believe that all is right in the world, despite the litany of unpleasant surprises that await us as consumers in the modern world. Like your phone’s screen going “dark” right before a 12-hour road trip (true story). The mysterious charge that appears on your credit card or bank statement that you either didn’t make or can’t remember making. The laptop that “dies” right before that HUGE third-round job interview with the Company’s Hiring Manager’s, Hiring Manager. It’s the people — often behind-the-scenes and screens in far-flung customer-service departments and call centers connected to us by cell phone towers and sometimes, transatlantic cables — that save us. Over and over again. In some cases, the customer-service heroes who come to our rescue are a lot closer to home, such as the retail employees in our own communities. When I moved to my suburban, quasi-rural town in Connecticut after years of living in larger cities, I started to notice something different about the customer service I was receiving not only from local shopkeepers and merchants , but also from government agencies like the United States Postal Service. Namely, it was exceptional. When I had important errands to run, I felt like I was living in a manufactured dream world right out of “The Truman Show” with Jim Carrey in which the sky is always blue and the sun always shining. Whether overnighting an important package from my town’s independently-owned shipping and packaging store or running into the bakery or Subway to pick up something my kids could eat quickly on their way to sports practice, I was greeted with smiles; friendly, efficient service; clean, organized work environments; and employees who seemed to be able to predict my orders after a few visits. Most transactions today take place anonymously on social media and e-tail platforms. I’ll take real and human any day, especially when it comes to customer service. To be on the receiving end of the “magic” that makes you feel like the person speaking to you — in the store, on the phone, or even on your device via an automated chat bot (some are pretty good!) — is as vested in solving your problems or concerns, as you are 🢚 that’s a gift. How do the Companies with the best, most attentive customer service do it? I wanted to find out and then apply my findings to Talent Acquisition so that we start to: TREAT CANDIDATES LIKE CUSTOMERS… This shift in mindset would remedy the ghosting problem, not to mention other common job search and hiring afflictions that continue to plague us all (some of which we touched on in Volumes 4 and 5 of The Recruiting Rodeo 🐎). … BECAUSE “OUR EMPLOYEES ARE OUR GREATEST ASSET!” Definitely not rocket surgery, folks. If we can all agree that a Company’s greatest asset is indeed its employees, logic alone tells us that potential employees — those we are recruiting, may want to hire, and could ultimately join the team — are its second-greatest asset. So let’s start treating Candidates in the way a Company with “Best Workplace” recognition would (especially those who didn’t fork over $10K for an ad buy in the presenter’s annual awards issue to merit special consideration). As “trickle down” from leadership may not be working when it comes to infusing higher-touch strategies and tactics into the talent acquisition process, let’s make the LOVE ❤️ “bubble up” from below, starting with what is often a candidate or job seeker’s FIRST interaction with your Company (aside from perhaps buying its products or services, of course) — THE HIRING PROCESS. To me, it all starts with a smile. And a smile is something you can hear even across a fiber-optic cable. To get an expert’s perspective on what it takes to deliver great customer service, I went right to the source and interviewed customer-service leaders and other senior-level insiders from businesses and Companies that I think  “get it right.” These are some of my all-time favorite brands that, based on my own personal experience, have not only never failed to deliver exceptional customer service while solving the problem at hand, but have quite often even exceeded my high expectations. (In case you were wondering, I don’t get paid for endorsing or mentioning any Companies, brands, products, services on The Recruiting Rodeo. But for anyone reading this who might be interested to paying me to do so… let’s chat!) We’re going to hear — straight from “the horse’s mouth” how these Companies approach the concept of customer service, how they define it, and how they train their teams to produce a “winning” customer experience. Then, in the next Rodeos, we’re going to apply their wisdom to the Talent Acquisition process. WEBER GRILLS I’m going to kick off my customer service recognition with the brand that has given me the best customer service, over and over again — flawlessly, in fact — for close to two decades. Exhibit A: my stunningly beautiful Weber Summit Silver A (pictured below). My father-in-law purchased this magnificent piece of steel for me and my ex-husband as a housewarming gift in (wait for it)… 2004. And it still works. Really well, I might add. Over the years, I have called Weber’s toll-free number to order a litany of replacement parts including flavor bars, grill grates, an ignition switch, and even a new lid that was shipped to me within a week and — unbeknownst to me — still under warranty. A contractor friend could not make the new ignition switch work, but that aside, my Weber Summit Silver A has delivered history’s finest assortment of grilled sausages, chicken, steaks, fruits and vegetables for countless birthday and graduation parties, holidays, special occasions, celebrations and spontaneous “hey, we should totally grill tonight!” festivities. My magificant piece of steel has saved me during power outages (you can boil soups and water on its side burner). And it has sat outside on the deck in the harshest conditions, from bitter blizzards and drenching downpours to sweltering summer sun, both covered and — in recent years, as a bee discovered that the Weber Grill cover (another high-quality product) would make a nice home for him and its friends — uncovered. I even own the rotisserie attachment, which works well but, as I have expressed to the wonderful people in Weber Customer Service, is frankly a real pain to clean. Every time I have called Weber for parts and help, there was little to no wait time to speak to a live person — and whomever I spoke to immediately looked up my information; found my grill’s model number without needing to ask me for it; guided me through concise, strategic troubleshooting specific to my model; didn’t put me on hold to ask someone else how to help me; ordered the parts for me; and knew what was still under warranty. Once or twice, I’ve even called to talk about affordable new grill options because maybe after two decades, “it’s time.” What has set my Weber experience apart — even from other exceptional customer-service experiences — in my mind, is its representatives’ patently obvious obsession with and passion for grilling, their deep knowledge about how to do it really well, and their familiarity with every nook and cranny that exists on the grill itself. And the best part, they genuinely seem to enjoy talking to customers! Weber’s various customer service people have offered me (without me asking) recipes, ways I can use different parts of the grill more efficiently depending on what I’m making, and overall, make my grilling tastier and saved me time. My local ACE hardware store, another beloved customer experience in my community, started selling Weber’s seasoning packets and “rubs” on its counter years ago. That’s how I discovered them. I make a lot of marinades from scratch, but once I tried Weber’s, I was hooked and saved myself a lot of time as a busy parent and sometimes, hostess. One year, while ordering my grates, the Weber phone representative shared her favorite seasoning packets with me and gave me new ideas on how to use them, “off package.” She went “rogue,” recommending that I substitute another liquid vs. the package seasoning’s instructions. To someone who loves cooking and food, THIS is customer service. Best of all, none of the people I have ever spoken to at Weber have ever tried to upsell me. So I contacted Weber for this Rodeo to find out what makes its customer service so special. How do they do it so well? The Company’s head of Marketing and PR person immediately got back to me (which says something, right there) with an interview with Weber’s Senior Director of Consumer Care. Here is what he said, direct… “F

    19 min

  3. 03/08/2024

    The Recruiting Rodeo 🐎: GHOSTING 👻

    According to a recent CNBC article, largely based on findings from a December 2023 report from the job site Indeed, close to half of job seekers said an employer ghosted them after a second-or third-round job interview. That number increased significantly when the job seekers were asked their plans to ghost during future job searches — to a whopping 62 percent. Why is ghosting becoming so commonplace in the workplace — “expected” almost. And what can we do — to stop it? I myself was ghosted fairly recently by a Company that describes itself as “… the world’s largest insight network.” It connects its paying clients with industry thought leaders and experts, paying the latter to share their insights directly with its clients. I am familiar with this Company because I’ve been recruiting for 25 years, including for professional services Companies, and when doing so, I often need to research and evaluate talent from other professional services Companies within a certain geographical region — this could be tax and accounting, Big Law, a top-tier management consultancy, etc. So, when one of its “associates” reached out to me recently, I was flattered: “I hope this message finds you well! By way of introduction, my name is “Jeff” and I am an Associate at THE WORLD’S LARGEST INSIGHTS COMPANY where we help our clients by pairing them with professionals to learn about various industries and topics. I am currently working with a client who is looking to speak with professionals who experts who have extensive experience with best practices for talent acquisition.  Based on your previous work experience, I thought you would be a great fit for this 30–60-minute phone consultation paid at an hourly rate of your choosing…. With that being said, my client is hoping to speak with individuals as soon as today! What's a good email or phone number we can continue this conversation through?” As it appeared there was urgency to Jeff’s request, I replied that evening with interest, providing my contact information. We spoke the very next day for about an hour and Jeff told me I sounded like a great fit for his client and he’d get back to me. Then ➩ silence. After a week went by, I reached out to Jeff directly, asking if I was still “under consideration.” He replied that “after our conversation last week, we learned that our client paused taking calls and a week later, they have not picked it back up.” I wonder if I had not followed up, if I would have heard back from Jeff. My gut says, “no.” In fairness, a quick tour of his LinkedIn profile told me that he had only been working professionally for four years after graduating from college and in very different industries than his current employer. I was also ghosted recently while writing my substack on Retained vs. Contingency Search — a world most know little about and that’s why I wrote it — by someone who runs a for-profit company in my very own industry, executive search. The last ghosting story I will share involves a candidate I recruited when I worked internally in executive talent acquisition for a company. I was assigned to find candidates for a senior-level position and one of the candidates I recruited was a highly-polished and competent Vice President from the global advertising business. I ended up leaving the company I was recruiting her into — shortly after her interviews began with the Hiring Team. A few weeks after I left the Company, she reached out to me not once, but 2x — to share with me that she had been ghosted by the Recruiter at the Company who replaced me. Someone who had worked for the Company, far longer than me. Apparently, the Recruiter ghosted her after she went through two rounds of interviews. She could not get her to respond, even after reaching out a couple times directly, for an update. What could I do about it? Nothing. Just listen. I no longer worked there. I could go on and on. On average, I speak to approximately two executives per day, every weekday for the last 20 or so years. People who work in C-level or Founder positions and those, directly below the leadership layer. They open up to me, they share their stories with me, I know which Companies and Search Firms ghost, and the many — who don’t. Just because you don’t hear back from a Company for a few days or a week, doesn’t mean you were ghosted. What the people doing the ghosting may fail to understand and it’s such an easy fix, is it’s HOW you leave off with the candidate or person you are recruiting or soliciting or communicating with — that makes all the difference in the world. Whether the end result is getting the job or in my example, being chosen to be interviewed as an expert, it takes a certain level of skill and experience to learn how to exit a professional conversation not only politely, but with expectations managed, in advance, for the next step. Even if there is no next step. That way, the person does not feel like s/he was ghosted or left “hanging.” Some of us are born with this gift; some of us, need to learn it or be trained by people who have done it and share our values. So, here’s my solution to the ghosting problem. If it’s clear cut that you have been ghosted. You’ve been on 1-3 rounds of interviews with a Company and no one from the Company is getting back to you weeks or months later — just like you might write to or call your local Assemblyperson or Congressperson to complain about the pothole outside your home since the last snowstorm or the opening of a new superstore or nuclear power plant in your community you want blocked, and even the pigeons landing on the windowsill of your apartment (true story shared by a friend who worked for an elected NYC official answering phone complaints from his constituents)… consider writing a letter or sending an email to the CHRO, HR leader, head of Talent Acquisition, CEO or Founder of the Company whose employee(s) did the ghosting and share your experience. Trust me, Companies care about your experience and will not allow negative ones to continue. They most likely do not know it is happening. You’re not trying to get the "offending” HR or Recruiting executive fired (and they won’t be) — you’re trying to let the Company know about your experience. Be factual. Tell the Company executive the position you were recruited for — or applied to online, who you interviewed with at the Company, the dates of your interviews, and the result. Keep it data-driven and concise, but summarize or close out your email or letter, with your takeaway, your POV. Here is an example, “I am writing to express my disappointment with your Company Name’s hiring process. Recruiter Name reached out to me on LinkedIn on January 10th about your Digital Marketing Strategy position. I spoke to Recruiter Name on January 17th for 30 minutes, then she moved me forward to a 30-minute video interview with HR Name on January 23rd. After my interview with HR Name, I had a video interview with VP Marketing Name for 45 minutes on February 16. After that, no one followed up with me, even when I reached out to Recruiter Name 2x by email after my interview with the VP Marketing Name to try to get an update. Today is March 8, and I have not received any update. Regardless, I remain very interested in the Position and future opportunities at your Company Name based on the information the VP Marketing Name shared. Thank you for taking the time to understand my experience.” Include that last line, if you are, in fact, still interested in exploring future positions at the Company. Don’t let one bad 🥚 spoil your interest, although it could be a 🚩 about the Company’s culture and you should definitely do additional due diligence for any future interviews with the same Company. So how do you go about contacting Company executives? Great question! Most Company executives have professional social media profiles. You can try to reach out or “connect” directly with the executive on a social media platform, using a certain and often-limited number of “characters” or words. They may not accept your message nor respond. In that case, you can try a quick Google search to try to turn up the email format that the Company uses. You can try calling the Company’s main phone number to secure the executive’s email or to leave a voice mail message for the executive — directly or with his/her EA (executive assistant). Lastly, you can always write and mail a letter to the executive directly via the good ‘ole United States Postal Service, c/o of the Company’s main HQ: “Hey ChatGPT, please tell me the address of Company Name. Include the street address, city, state and zip code of Company Name’s headquarters in the United States. Do not include a PO Box or satellite office location.” Communicating your experience to the Company takes time and effort. I get it. But if enough people do this, the Company will take notice and change its ways. Someone in leadership will get involved and talk to the employee doing the ghosting. Maybe even initiate company-wide communications training to reinforce the Company’s core values and expectations when it comes to Talent Acquisition. And don’t forget to share your GOOD experiences, too! If you didn’t get the job but thought the Recruiter, HR or Hiring Manager or all or some combo of these folks did a great job of keeping you “in the loop” throughout the entire interviewing process. Maybe they gave you a really thorough, if not exciting view of the company — how it works, its future plans that may sync with your future professional interests, Maybe the Recruiter maybe made you feel like a part of the Company and as a direct result of your positive experiences with Recruiter Name, you “remain very interested” in future opportunities at the Company and want to shar

    18 min

  4. 03/01/2024

    The Recruiting Rodeo 🐎: WHY SO MANY COMPANIES CAN'T HIRE THEIR OWN TALENT

    Howdy, job seekers, fellow recruiters, talent acquisition, HR professionals and Hiring Managers! In this installment of The Recruiting Rodeo 🐎, we’ll hear from some of my favorite Hiring Leaders — straight from the “horse’s mouth,” if you will — about challenges they face when hiring talent and why they often need to go outside for help. But first, I’m going to share my “Top Eight Reasons Why So Many Companies Can’t Hire Their Own Talent” — informed by my own observations, working as both a retained and corporate executive recruiter for 25 years. Why eight, you may ask? Because to even get a ride scored in a rodeo, the cowgirl/boy must stay on the bucking bull or horse for a minimum of eight seconds. We’re getting really close to entering “the ring.” in fact, I’m thinking that with another two Rodeos under our belts, we’ll be ready to wrestle some big steers to the ground pretty soon. So I hope you’ve ordered your boots, gloves, chaps, and spurs. And In the meantime, let's take another warm-up ride! THE TOP EIGHT REASONS WHY SO MANY COMPANIES CAN’T HIRE THEIR OWN TALENT 1. The Company needs to hire talent for a transformative or specialized position and doesn’t have the “bench” internally (i.e., current or existing employees) with the expertise/qualifications required, so the Company needs to go deep into the competition and/or external marketplace to find it. Often, these positions are newly-created as the result of emerging technologies like AI and other industry-wide innovation. 2. The Company is looking to hire a “hybrid” (my FAVORITE type of candidate to search for!) — an executive who possesses a unique mix of skills from multiple job function areas and frequently, experience in multiple industries. Speaking strictly hypothetically… this could be an SVP of Marketing for the gaming division of a newly-formed, publicly-traded, global media and entertainment conglomerate that is in the process of switching its entire gaming product line from hardware, software and mobile technologies to subscription-only mobile gaming. The Company may have acquired a mobile gaming startup to make it all happen and needs a marketing leader who can not only a) integrate and lead a newly-combined and sizable global marketing and product team supported by outside contractors and consultants but also b) select all of the outside creative and social media agencies that will be involved in rolling out the new brand which is projected to debut in less than a year. Sounds like someone might need to call in the cavalry… 3. The Company is replacing someone who is already in the role, but the person being replaced doesn’t know s/he is being replaced😔, so the search requires the utmost confidentiality. 4. The Company’s internal talent-acquisition function is severely under-resourced. The person in charge of HR or People at a small company could actually be the Office Manager or COO — yet Company leadership expects him/her to function as the Company’s defacto Talent Acquisition “head” and lead Recruiter for any and all hiring that takes place within the organization. Depending on the number of hires that need to be made in a certain time period, the seniority of the positions to be filled, and other factors, it’s a completely unrealistic expectation… but quite common nonetheless. In this scenario, the person in charge of hiring often relies heavily on online job postings and contingency search firms. 5. The Company’s internal recruiters are over-reliant on the Company ATS (Applicant Tracking System) and online job postings to find candidates and have never had to “hunt” for talent proactively. Their only jobs may have been in-house at the Company; they never worked at a Search Firm. If you’re Microsoft or Netflix, and you post a job online, your Company ATS gets flooded with resumes from highly-competent candidates (not to mention completely unqualified ones). Hundreds, if not thousands. Most Companies don’t have the luxury of instant brand recognition and a (high) stock price that’s always in the news. Combine that challenge with a) the significant reduction in recruiter headcount over the past year due to company-wide layoffs and b) Company leadership mandating significant investment in AI-fueled software in the hopes it will produce top candidates more easily and solve many of the problems that Companies have finding talent… and we could see Companies working more often with outside search firms, rather than less often. 6. The Company’s internal Recruiters do not understand the job functions for which they need to find and recruit candidates, and Hiring Managers have limited time to teach them and bring them up to speed. C-level execs, VPs, Directors — they all have busy day jobs and need to trust that the Company’s HR or Talent Acquisition leader(s) know what they’re doing when in pursuit of highly-qualified candidates. 7. The Company hires kids straight out of college or elsewhere (or elevates existing employees) who possess no real-world business or job-function experience, and then, gives them searches to work on solo — including senior-level ones. I have seen Company Executive Assistants (EAs) or receptionists get promoted to the role of lead Recruiter, a position in which his/her chief responsibilities are managing the entire hiring process on behalf of her/his C-level Hiring Leader and managing all day-to-day contact with the external search firm or Recruiter. (A Leg Up 💡while I am all for on-the-job learning and promoting from within, these kinds of salary-saving and well-intentioned shortcuts are not a viable talent acquisition strategy, no matter how “lucky” 🍀 entry-level and new recruiters get in filling open positions). And now, my personal favorite…. 8. The Company’s internal Recruiters are hiring for positions that will be based at the corporate HQ, and the Recuiters live nowhere near the HQ and understand neither the geography of nor the commuting challenges posed by the region in which the corporate HQ is located. One of my Los Angeles-based, C-level candidates may have said it best: “The number of miles is in NO WAY reflective of the time (and frankly the pain) involved in getting where you need to go.” (Okay, I lied! If you’re reading this, you’ve already done the equivalent of staying on the bull for the required eight seconds – with your free arm confidently in the air 🎉, so I”m going to keep going!) 9. The Company’s internal Recruiters are working on too many searches at once and no mere mortal could possibly get them all done in a timely manner without assistance. Imagine walking into a new recruiting job where you would be finding and recruiting candidates for positions that exist at some of the highest levels of a Company — and being assigned five searches within two weeks of hire in completely different job-function areas, meaning that no two searches for candidates will be alike or overlap in any way. These positions could be in finance, marketing, technology, business development and partnerships, corporate strategy, etc. And you have no support. Many of you might not have to imagine this scenario at all, because it’s all too real. (A Leg Up 💡overloading Recruiters, experienced or inexperienced ones, with too many searches — especially high-level ones for positions that have the potential to drive millions, if not billions, of dollars in revenue growth for a Company — is never a good idea and will produce neither a great candidate experience nor the desired results for the Hiring Leader). 10. The Company’s Management Consultants, VC partners, or FWG (“Friend Who Golfs”- typically a C-level exec) told the CEO or other Company Leader to hire his/her favorite, retained executive search firm — regardless of that firm’s actual expertise and track record in hiring for similar roles and in similar industries. More often than not, the individual who made the recommendation has an MBA from an elite business school, which, while impressive, does not automatically make him/her an expert at evaluating and hiring executive search firms — nor an expert in the complex process of executive-search or a specialized job function and how the team in that job function, works best. “FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH” — REAL HIRING LEADERS SHARE THEIR HIRING CHALLENGES AT THEIR OWN COMPANIES I asked some C-level executives I have known for decades (and whom I admire and trust) to share their perspectives gained from their own hiring experiences. Specifically, what some of their challenges look like from inside the Company and why they have often had to “go outside” — to contract external search firms — when hiring. Though the question stayed the same, they all gave markedly different answers. Even more interesting was how the style of their responses varied based on the size of their Companies, even within the same industries. The feedback, all invaluable, from the high-level execs from the smaller, non-publicly-traded Companies in my sample (Companies with 500-1000 employees) provided much more nuance than the two, senior-level Hiring Managers (both Vice Presidents) at larger, publicly-traded Companies — one of whom even alluded to being hands-off in the Company’s hiring process 😱. Former Global Editor-in-Chief of One of the Most Pioneering Media Companies of All Time (Which Just Closed Down Its Shop and It’s Such a Shame!) “Having been on both sides of the executive-recruitment table, working with an external recruiter saves money, time, tears, and fears. The best firms offer a crucial buffer between talent, hiring managers, and internal HR teams — aligning their goals to find the right match. The burden of weeks or even months of interviews and negotiations can be shifted offsite, ensuring the right candida

    20 min

  5. 02/23/2024

    The Recruiting Rodeo 🐎: RETAINED VS. CONTINGENCY SEARCH

    Howdy, partners — and welcome back to The Recruiting Rodeo 🐎. It’s time for Volume 3 where I explain the differences between the two types of Search Firms Companies often turn to — when they’re having a hard time finding talent. I’m chomping at the bit to get started on this one! You may be wondering: why would a company hire or work with an outside (aka., “external”) Search Firm or Recruiter to find and hire talent if it already has recruiters and/or someone in charge of Talent Acquisition on its payroll? That’s a great question, and even if that’s not what you were wondering at all, it’s the perfect way to start this Rodeo! The simple answer is: because the company cannot find the talent it needs or wants on its own through its own resources. We’ll get into the specifics as to why that could be the case — the gritty details — in the next Rodeo. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. When a Company’s own recruiters, who typically sit under HR or Talent Acquisition, which we learned in The Recruiting Rodeo 🐎Volume 2: A Glossary of Talent Acquisition Terms, are not producing the results that Hiring Managers want and need, the Company often makes a decision to hire a Retained Search Firm or work with a Contingency Search Firm — and sometimes, even uses a combo of both. It all depends on how long searches have been open (meaning how long the Company’s internal recruiters and/or HR team have been searching for candidates and turning up limited results), how many positions need to be filled in total in a given year, and the levels and special skills and experience desired, for the open position(s). I have to share, it has been slim pickings for search firms of any stripe in 2024, and even most of 2023. The internal recruiters at many companies have been laid off (in truth, they’re the first to go if positions aren’t being backfilled and new ones aren’t being created) and Company boot ties (or “belts,” if you prefer) are increasingly getting tighter as companies divert investment to other areas like new technologies (AI) including software that company leaders hope will make the Talent Acquisition process, more efficient, less costly. The number of searches that companies are giving out to external search firms overall is far fewer than that in years past. Why is that? Because working with external search firms is EXPENSIVE and we’re living in the “age of cost cutting.” Despite all of the (arguably toxic) positivity coming from the federal government’s press room and the deluges of press releases, I am simply not seeing the sort of job growth and hiring that matches what we’re being told. What I am seeing are many senior-level executives who have had phenomenal career runs up until now lose their jobs and enter the job market — which is, ironically, not a bad thing… for the lucky companies in a position to snap up this talent. For me, perhaps the biggest indicator of how the job market and all of us are doing is the cost of a dozen eggs is slowly inching back up towards 2023’s high of $4.82. And we’re not talking free range, people. 🥚 But back to the matter at hand. What is Retained Search? What is Contingency Search? How do they work? Why would a Hiring Manager or Talent Acquisition or HR leader — who you now know (thanks to Volume 2) are the key decision makers in positions of power and influence at a Company when hiring needs to happen or get mapped out — choose a Retained Search Firm vs. a Contingency one? Let’s dig in! The main difference between Retained Search and Contingency Search boils down to just two things: 1) How the firms get paid by their clients, and 2) How the firms search for, find, interview and present candidates — a.k.a., talent — to their clients and contribute to and/or manage the company’s search process overall To clarify, in this context, “clients” are the companies who hire or work with the search firms. I’m using the words “hire or work” intentionally, because the business and operating model of a Retained Search Firm is COMPLETELY different from that of a Contingency Search Firm. I hope to clarify the important distinctions between the two in this Rodeo so that company founders, HR, Talent Acquisition Heads, Chief People Officers, and Hiring Managers — frankly, anyone in a position to hire an outside or external search firm or an internal recruiter — can make the right decision on which type of search firm to hire and why, with confidence. For job seekers and candidates, it is also very helpful to understand the type of Recruiter or Search Firm you are working with when you are being recruited by or trying to build a relationship with one. Why? Because not only can you apply to jobs online, but you can actually be “found” by a Recruiter, based on the strength of your social media profile. More about that in future Rodeos. The good news is that even if you had no idea prior to this Rodeo that Retained and Contingency Search even existed, you are are far from alone. Every day, 5-10 people reach out to me for resume, career, and job search advice. Some are strangers who have stumbled upon my posts or been referred to me by friends, colleagues and past clients. Some are past candidates whom I have recruited or hired. Some are clients, wanting my intel about the job market because they are thinking about hiring for a new position and don’t know much about what’s out there. And others are executives I have tried to recruit through the years who never bothered to answer my messages previously but now suddenly find themselves unemployed (💡ignoring or ghosting a recruiter until the last minute is not the best strategy for relationship building). The one thing almost all of these folks have in common is: none understand retained search. Even if I worked closely with them for months and helped hire them into a great role, even if they’re coming to me to talk about hiring me to help with an open, senior-level position — the vast majority have no idea how I work or how Retained Search works. And if you’re in a similar boat, that’s okay. Because The Recruiting Rodeo 🐎, especially this one, Volume 3, is here to help. Knowledge is power, for candidates and hiring leaders alike! On a related note, it’s well worth remembering that search firms and recruiters are neither private executive coaches nor career counselors nor professional resume writers. In my case, I could bill myself as a professional coach or resume writer…  if I wanted to make that my career. It is part of the “service” I intuitively offer, when recruiting a senior executive and guiding him or her through the often-lengthy interviewing process with one of my client companies. But my career is Retained executive search — and has been for 25 years. Alright, I think we’re ready to mosey up to the rodeo chute — but before we mount the ornery beast inside, let’s fully understand what I do as a Retained Search Firm/Recruiter and how it is different from Contingency Search/Recruiters. RETAINED SEARCH Companies — whether a seed startup with In this unique partnership, Retained Search, Companies work closely with one Retained Search Firm on an exclusive basis for the entire duration of the Search. The Search is the open, senior-level position or positions, that the Company needs to fill. Similar to the RFP process in the advertising and PR agency world, a Company’s Hiring Manager or someone on its Talent Acquisition or HR team, will often interview multiple Retained Search Firms, to figure out which one it wants to work with exclusively. The Retained Search firms are “competing for” or “pitching” the Company’s business, to secure the Search. In Retained Search, only one Search firm gets chosen to work with the Company to identify, interview, evaluate, and present candidates, for the open position(s). Retained Search Firms leverage their own databases (which do not serve the same purpose as a Company’s applicant tracking system — search firms don’t use ATS’) and extensive networks of candidates in various industries as well as specific job functions — which have been developed and nurtured over decades of recruiting. Retained Search Firms also use a variety of AI-fueled paid, subscription software databases and products, to target primarily “passive” potential candidates. A passive potential candidate is an executive who is working at a Company and not actively looking for a new job. Monthly subscriptions to some of these paid, online software products or databases, that most Retained Recruiters rely on, can easily average $499/per user. The companies that offer these software products charge based on the total number of users at a Company or Search Firm. A Retained Search takes an average of three to six months to be completed. I’ve had clients who have contracted with Retained Search Firms that have taken more than a year to fill C-level and senior-level positions. I’ve worked with Hiring Managers who have hired not one, but up to three different Retained Search Firms, and have often used Contingency ones, too — to find the right candidates. 😱 I know, because I have been hired afterwards, to clean up their Searches. I have worked at two different Retained, NYC-based executive Search Firms and currently operate my own eponymous Retained Search Firm. I have also worked internally within the executive Talent Acquisition function of a major, Fortune 20 corporation — but that is not Retained Search. That is working “in house” or “internally” for the Company itself, as one of multiple recruiters on the Company’s Executive Talent Acquisition team. The Search, the open position that needs to be filled, is clearly defined in terms of title and an estimated compensation range, in the Retained Search Firm’s Fee Agreement that

    36 min

  6. 02/15/2024

    The Recruiting Rodeo 🐎: UNDERSTANDING YOUR AUDIENCE

    Howdy, partners — and welcome back to The Recruiting Rodeo 🐎. In Volume 2: Understanding Your Audience, I will be providing you with a “glossary” covering all the different people who play a leading role in the talent acquisition process — including YOU, the job seeker / candidate. As I mentioned the last time we were in the Rodeo ring, I began my professional career as a communications and marketing executive. If there is one thing being a PR and/or marketing executive teaches you, it is to identify, segment, and understand your audience(s). And then personalize your “message,” sales pitch, ad campaign, press release, products and services — even lemonade-stand sign — to the audience(s) you wish to reach. So it should come as no surprise that I approach executive search, talent acquisition, the hiring process — whatever we wish to call it — through the “lens” of a marketer. Day in and day out, I apply my decade-long communications and marketing experience and training, which includes working for some of the brightest communications executives and business leaders the world has ever seen — Barby Siegel, Global CEO of Zeno Group, formerly Edelman and Warner LeRoy, the flamboyant former owner/operator of one of the most famous and successful restaurants in the world, being two of them — in my current career as an executive recruiter/talent acquisition professional. Because I have been trained to have a marketer’s mind, I am always thinking about how to communicate best with my “audience.” Sometimes, that audience is a hard-to-reach executive-level candidate I really want to speak with to see if s/he is right for a position I have been retained or hired to recruit for. Other times, it’s C-level clients I need to connect with on weekly video calls to present new candidates for their open positions I have been retained to work on. For candidates and clients alike, my goal is always to deliver what they need and want. And I know how to do that — not from working as a recruiter, but from my first career in marketing and communications. What is HR looking for during the interviewing process that is different than what the Hiring Manager is looking for? The Hiring Manager could be the Company’s SVP of Marketing or its CRO (“Chief Revenue Officer”). It is critical to understand the different people who influence your destiny throughout the job search and interviewing process. How you talk, how you dress, how you behave and how you express yourself to each different person, every step of the way. How you communicate to them about yourself and what you have done throughout your career. That is not something most executives have been trained to do. It does not come to them as second nature. You can be the most acclaimed Editor in the world at the most prestigious purveyor of global journalism, but that doesn’t mean you know how to put together a resume that lands you a new job when you’ve been terminated from your company after 15 years of service. You may know how to tell engaging stories that produce clicks and views while also making readers of a certain age and your colleagues in ad sales happy. However, your audience for a job search is NOT ad sales or your loyal readers. After decades of assisting companies and their hiring teams in managing the search process end to end, in guiding clients who often don’t know what they really want and helping them figure it out, as well as in coaching the candidates I’m putting forward for open, senior-level jobs, I will share this: 💡there are ALWAYS other candidates (at least one) under consideration for the same open position you are interviewing for — right up until the 11th hour. In other words, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over” couldn’t be more true in the world of talent acquisition. A friend running for Congress in Colorado once taught me “The Third Bagel Rule” — you don’t actually have the job until you’re sitting at your desk, eating your third bagel, bowl of granola, boiled egg, or whatever your breakfast or choice happens to be. Likewise, if you are the person at a company responsible for finding and recruiting the talent for an open position, you will save yourself — and the hiring team for whom you are finding the talent — a lot of time and 💰 if you understand exactly WHO you are looking for. Those prospective candidates are the “audience” for your search. My hope is that once you read my definitions for each different Talent Acquisition “audience” below and take the time to understand who does what, you will begin thinking about how best to personalize or tailor your resume, professional online profile(s), and “story” — your “narrative,” if you will — to market yourself effectively to each one of them, as well as to ALL of them collectively. And yes, you can. In future Rodeos, we will get into “the ring” with content leaders working at major corporations and brands, at agencies, and within the media industry itself about the importance of storytelling. We’ll delve into what makes a good candidate story, and how you can better craft yours to be more successful in your job search and interviews. For those who hire talent for a living, we will explore how to think about your prospective candidates in a more strategic way — rather than simply relying on your company’s applicant tracking system (ATS) during a red-hot, employer-driven job market (the polar opposite of the job market we saw from 2020 to early 2022). So without futher ado, let’s ride 🐎! A TALENT ACQUISITION GLOSSARY The Hiring Manager This is a term you probably see often if you are searching for advice online about getting your first job or beginning a job search for a new job. It refers to the person at a company who needs to fill a position or multiple positions on his/her team. The Hiring Manager is typically a mid- or senior-level executive, and often a job-function and/or subject-matter expert (SME) who runs a functional job area within a company or business unit of the company. For example, the Hiring Manager may be the Company’s Chief Communications Officer or its VP Communications and this person oversees all marketing, communications/PR, social media and content strategy for the Company. Or the Hiring Manager could be the Company’s SVP of Strategy and her “job” is long-range strategic planning which could include M & A and company investments in emerging companies and tech, strategic alliances and partnerships w/other companies, etc. In the vast majority of cases, the Hiring Manager is ultimately the most influential person in the hiring process for the open position(s), because s/he will be the new hire’s boss — meaning the new hire will “report directly into” them. The Hiring Manager often makes the decision on whether to work with the company’s internal team of recruiters and/or Human Resources professionals or to hire an external Search Firm or consultant to find, recruit, and interview potential candidates for the open position(s). Open positions come in two flavors: 1) a “backfill,” meaning that someone on the Hiring Manager’s team left and the Hiring Manager, working with HR and company leadership, has decided that the position is going to be re-filled with a new hire, or 2) a “new role” that has been created on the Hiring Manager’s team to supplement an area or skill on the existing team that either needs more support or doesn’t currently exist. Regardless, the Hiring Manager never works alone in the Talent Acquisition or hiring process. S/he works with HR and/or Recruiters and/or possibly, external Search Firms and external Recruiters. Candidates/Job Seekers I use these words interchangeably to mean working professionals (including college students aspiring to be paid or working professionals) actively engaged in a search for a new or different job, interviewing for a job, thinking about starting an active job search, or being recruited proactively by retained recruiters like me for an open position at a Company. An active job search means that a person has started researching open jobs and applying to them with their resume and other information, like a professional social media profile. Jobs are typically posted/listed on online job search engines as well as on the Company’s own website. Candidates are either “passive” or “active.” The former is a person currently employed and not actively looking for a new job, while the latter is a job seeker or candidate who is either in the process of pursuing a new role or thinking about initiating a job search. Recruiters 😊 Recruiters are those very special “souls” who work at a Company — or are contracted by the Company as an external consultant — and directly responsible for working with the Hiring Manager to find talent/potential candidates for the open position(s). Recruiters typically fall under the job function called “Talent Acquisition” — which is “grouped” more often than not, especially at large Companies, under the HR banner. At most companies with fewer than 100-150 employees, a lone Recruiter often works hand in hand with the HR leader or Chief People Officer. At larger companies, Recruiters are often divided up by and focused on specific functional job areas and/or business units. A functional job area at a Fortune 500 Company could be Finance, Operations and HR vs. Marketing and Communications. A business unit could be “cloud” at a big technology Company or “EVs” at a big automobile Company. Recruiters work on senior-level positions or mid/entry-level positions, or some combo of each, depending on the company’s size and the resources it has devoted to hiring internal Recruiters. Some Recruiters specialize in talent acquisition for front-line positions — roles in which the workforce is largely based outs

    19 min

  7. 02/09/2024

    The Recruiting Rodeo 🐎: WHY I AM LAUNCHING MY SUBSTACK

    I am incredibly excited to share the launch 🚀 of my first-ever substack The Recruiting Rodeo: insider advice about your job search, the hiring process, and the state of talent acquisition, from an industry pro — me, Karen Shnek Lippman. You may be wondering (or not) why I, an executive recruiter, am writing a substack in the first place. And more important: Why would anyone subscribe or pay me 💰 for my content? Great question! Well, if you have worked with me directly at any point over the past 20+ years… then you may already KNOW why. I created the aptly-named The Recruiting Rodeo (“Rodeo,” for short), because the social media landscape has become filled with mis- and dis-information from many people claiming to be experts: life coaches, executive coaches, career coaches, resume writers, and so on. It seems as though every real estate agent, freelance writer, and dog walker magically became a “coach” at some point during the pandemic. I didn’t. I was too busy recruiting senior-level talent for a wide range of companies during a world event that changed our workplaces forever. Like everyone else, I had to pivot and adapt — and in my case, keep on finding, recruiting, and hiring extraordinary talent for my clients. To help my clients figure out the new landscape, together. In preparation for the launch of my first “Rodeo,” I took the liberty of surveying twenty people I have helped over the past year, to see if their thoughts about the suggestions and coaching I provided during their professional journeys sync and align with my own thoughts — about myself and why I’m launching this substack. Here’s what they said: "During my tenure at a company well-known for its challenging recruitment process, where filling a position could take years, Karen not only sourced several excellent employees but also facilitated one of the most exceptional hires the company has ever made. Conversely, Karen has also played a pivotal role in elevating my candidacy by refining and enhancing my professional experience, as well as suggesting who I should target in terms of top-tier prospective employers." Senior Director at a Fortune 200 company. “Karen looked at my resume and immediately realized that I had a lot of good things on it but it didn’t tell anyone a story of who I am and what is most compelling about my experience. She tore my resume to shreds (ha!) but then helped me rebuild it in a much more strategic and compelling way. It’s a real calling card now, rather than just a list of jobs!” Senior Director at a leading internet-wireless provider. “Karen's approach is direct and refreshing, much like a knowledgeable older sister who just knows better.” Manager at a Big Tech company. ❤️ 🦋 “You were one of the first resources I contacted when I learned my XXX role for a large, publicly traded company was being eliminated as part of a corporate restructuring. You heard me out, patiently allowing me to ramble on about my career journey. When it was your turn to talk, your advice cut straight to the point with just four words: "Button it up...A lot!"  I was shocked back to reality by your candid feedback. I knew on the spot you were right and have worked hard at doing just that ever since. Your wise advice continues to reverberate through my brain and I am grateful for it.” VP sales and marketing executive who has worked in a few different industries. “You are the best of the best. Thanks to your guidance and expertise, what initially felt like an overwhelming interview process turned into a smooth experience that placed me in a career-changing role. When I met you, I was determined to pursue a new opportunity in a completely new industry but needed help transitioning. Working closely with you, I learned how to frame my experience so I could position myself as a top candidate for my current position. Throughout the negotiation process, you helped me recognize my value and understand the employer's perspective, keeping me grounded while aiming for what I deserved. As a result, I secured a better career opportunity with a significant pay increase and gained a deeper understanding of the complexities of landing a job at a Fortune 500 company.”  Manager at a Fortune 500 company in the supply chain space. Reading these, and many other solicited testimonials, made me cry. Tears of joy. They affirmed what I already knew. That the time has come for me to stop giving it all away for free. I have never charged someone for career or resume advice in my life, even after helping quite a few prominent senior executives obtain career-changing jobs, with nothing to show for it. Barely a “thank you.” It is high time to get in the ring and ride the bull. The truth is that being confident as a woman, especially in a business setting, is very often a no-no. So is having answers to questions and speaking authoritatively and with conviction. And not doubting yourself. Not saying, “I’m sorry,” just to defuse a situation with a co-worker — who is more often than not the person in charge of your career journey at a company — instead of backing up your well-informed POV with facts, data and logic. Many of us have been there, regardless of gender. I sure have. And showing deference to someone who can’t support their perspective with anything beyond their personal opinion is just not me. I stand up for what I believe in. I back up my statements and recommendations with facts, data and logic. I communicate to people directly. I never doubt my moral compass. And perhaps most important, I admit when I’m wrong. Once, many years ago, I was fired and told, “You are too intellectual for this firm.” Many years later, I moved to another coast — with laptop, VPN and my brand new corporate, in-house executive talent acquisition role in tow — to help my still-young-but-older sister 🦋 as she battled an aggressive form of colorectal cancer. When she died, a few months later, I made myself a promise. I swore that I would never again deny my intellect. Hide it. Or apologize for being an expert in not just one, but two job functions — and in turn, allow myself to be “penalized” for applying my well-honed skills and experience as a strategic communicator and marketer, to the talent-acquisition process. In short, when you “move in” and live with someone, you really get to know them, intimately. I spent six weeks straight with my sister and her spouse of close to thirty years — both PhDs — and ended up getting a crash course in what a person with a PhD actually does: research, research and more research, with the aim of producing new and better results. It was then that a 💡went off in my head. Wait, that’s how I approach talent acquisition. I put hours of research into finding my candidates, setting myself and my clients up for success by really understanding the open positions, well before searches even begin. Fine tuning along the way as searches always evolve. When I shared a high-level hiring manager’s feedback one day — that I had evidently found senior-level candidates “too quickly” — my sister replied in amazement, “Never in my lifetime have I had a recruiter who produced any candidates in that amount of time.” She concluded that I was probably “allergic” to my first experience working in-house in corporate America. She had spent the better part of her successful biotech career working at multiple Fortune 500s. Was her analysis of her little sister correct? Maybe. It doesn’t matter. I can’t look back; I can only look forward. It was a harrowing, deeply sad time in my life, and taught me a lot about myself that I’m still figuring out to this day. Being self aware is a gift. I promised myself that from that point forward I would fully and unapologetically embrace my gifts and continue to apply my critical-thinking skills — to hire talent strategically, leveraging my marketing acumen, even if few others were operating similarly. My deceptively simple goal: to find clients and companies who want what I have to offer. As part of my day-to-day job recruiting senior-level executives for decades, I have listened to thousands of stories — probably even tens of thousands — from candidates and even my clients, senior-level hiring leaders who pay me to go out and find the talent, who trust me with helping them chart the course of their professional lives. They share with me, in strictest confidence, their career aspirations, what they like and don’t like about their current employers, and where they say they want to work next as they also consider where I think they should explore and look. In the process, they open their minds to the possibilities — and sometimes, they even open their hearts ❤️. I have always listened, and then provided my trademark, often entertaining, somewhat intellectual and always direct, rapid-fire suggestions and feedback — sharing my high-level thoughts for FREE. Against that backdrop, The Recruiting Rodeo 🐎 represents my chance to FINALLY leverage and combine everything I have done and learned over the past 35 years — over the course of a career trifecta leading from Journalism to PR to Executive Search — and share it in a way that provides value not only to those who can benefit most from my expertise, but also to myself. Call me crazy (or just plain audacious), but if companies can afford to pay millions of dollars to hifalutin management consultants and thousands of dollars per year for annual subscriptions to data, media, and information companies — often just for churning out basic compensation, salary and other data that organizations need from the outside and use routinely on the inside to figure out how to “level set” position titles with compensation and for short- and long-term talent-mapping purposes — then the $100 I’m asking for an annual

    16 min
  • 7 Episodes

About

Executive Recruiter And Talent Acquisition Professional Helping Candidates And Companies Turn Their Job Searches And Hiring Fantasies Into Reality. www.therecruitingrodeo.com

Information

  • Creator
    The Recruiting Rodeo - Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Getting A Job And How Talent is Hired.
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    7
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Karen Shnek Lippman
  • Show Website
    The Recruiting Rodeo Podcast