Recruiting is an ongoing process; it never ends and never should. You should always be on the lookout for good, quality people. You don’t have to hire them, but you have to be on the lookout for them.
Recruiting isn’t something you set out to do like an item on your checklist for the day. You must always be looking for the ‘talent’ for your next canvasser no matter where you’re at. For me, it’s not my natural inclination. That may sound odd because I’m highly successful going out and knocking on doors. Recruiting is something I made a conscious effort to do… all the time. When I see a waiter or waitress, a retail associate or someone at the corner store that I get the ‘feeling’ has what it takes to be a canvasser, I’m recruiting them. It’s a mindset to look for people who aren’t in the market right now for their next job.
It’s canvassing for canvassers. My example is your in person encounters, though my discussion in this article is for recruiting online.
Professional recruiters know the best job candidates, the ones they’re seeking out, are the best hidden; they’re already happily employed. When you consider searching them out online, where are they?
Looking in a different place on the big Career Boards
The first places to look are on the career boards like Monster and Career Builder. I know that comes as no surprise, in fact, I’d be surprised if you’re not already looking there, but you’re not digging deep enough. These career boards have millions of job seekers and resumes and they all post the most recent listings at the top. If you’re willing, put in the effort and dig deeper into the older postings, those several months, even years old. Some may be employed but others are opportunity seekers, looking for a better opportunity. Pursuing these folks is putting your recruiting in a vacuum because no one else is following up on these people. They’re all fighting for the people who are unemployed, many desperate for a job.
Let me offer you another way of looking at this concept. Who do professional sports teams actively pursue for players and coaches, the proven talent or the rookies? The free agent aspect of professional sports was created in part to fend off the cut-throat persuading tactics of professional teams. Before free agency it wasn’t uncommon for a team to offer a superstar an irresistible contract to steel them away from their present team. The best athletes and coaches already have a job and the other teams want them and don’t let their present employment stop them.
Where can you find people?
Identify who your ideal canvassing candidate is. What skill sets do they posses? What’s their attitude? Personality? Thought process? Work ethic? If you had to think about a demographic, psychographic, age category, past work history, who do you know in different jobs that you could target?
Recently, an employee of on-site platinum level client of mine shared with me his experience of being recruited by them through a well known career board. His resume had been posted for awhile. He was recruited and hired as a canvasser. He has since advanced through the ranks is now the manager of their Chicago office. I was inspired by our talk to the airport so I decided to share it on my last tele-coaching call. All of my Silver, Gold and Platinum Members have access to hear the whole story on a recording of the call on CD.
The companies that are the most successful are those that are on the live calls, members with me in my coaching programs. They’re successful for 2 reasons, because they understand they have to always be looking for improvement and a fresh set of eyes and ears can give them insight and ideas they can’t see. All of my private clients take away new ideas with every one on one call or my onsite visit.
Contact me to discuss setting up a recruiting program for your canvassing department using either my turn-key system or developing a custom one.
My big take-away for you in this article is to look for those people who are like-minded, fit your demographic and are passive job seekers. Stop battling every other recruiter and start marketing in a vacuum. It takes the right mindset, defining specifically who you want and a little effort. I’m reminded of the Dan Kennedy quote, “You can’t turn chicken shit into chicken salad.” Too often I see canvassing companies spend thousands of dollars and countless hours hiring and training the wrong people. They’re not bad people, they’re just not the right people for the job you’re recruiting them for. Go out and look in places you wouldn’t normally think to look and you’ll be surprised what you find.
To contact me about developing a recruiting program for you, email me at cthompson at canvassking dot com or call my office at (216) 588-1337.