Why Your Recruiting Team Isn't Delivering—And How to Change That

So the big question is this, how do recruiting leaders like us who have 12 to 15 other job responsibilities win at this game of recruiting? How do we build a system that allows us to recruit effectively in a minimal amount of time while motivating recruits towards meaningful change? That is the question, and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Richard Milligan, and welcome to Recruiting Conversations.

Hi everybody, it's Richard Milligan, and welcome back to Recruiting Conversations. Today, we're going to make it controversial. And so if you want to send me a email, probably can find my email address out there. I'm not that hard to find, but more than happy to take feedback on this. My opinion on what I'm going to talk about, which is recruiters internal and external do they work and what the role should look like when partnering with the recruiting leader.

I have people that connect with me through social media or even just via phone via email from time to time, and they want to know, like, how do I go hire

an external recruiter to recruit for me? And the truth is that the external recruiter recruits well for the corporation, but very rarely do they recruit well for the team. Now, a lot of this goes to the methodology that the external recruiter and even to a large degree, the internal recruiters use when they're recruiting and what methodology they use is typically the company value proposition as the lead line.

So they formulated some ideas around this why it's a better opportunity for you Why you should talk to someone at the company and they try to sell that to the individual first And then they create the conversation. That's where the conversation begins is with who you are as a leader, who you are as an attractive leader. So if I'm circumventing the leading with that part, and I'm actually Leading with company value proposition, then here's what I'm doing.

I'm in essence, loading every bullet that I have into my gun. I'm firing it at the recruit and I'm hoping something hits. I'm hoping there's a hot button or I presented something in a specific light that says that my opportunity is better. Then your current opportunity. If you've listened to my podcast, that is not My belief model of what is best. The recruiting leaders team is best recruited to using their own attractive leadership.

I was A recruiting leader from the time I was 27 years old to the time that I was 45.

So I had a significant season where I built teams. But was also responsible for managing teams. And so that's the definition of the recruiting leader means that that leader manages a team, but then is also responsible for recruiting to that team. I didn't have a lot of success with internal or external recruiters. That's not to say that can't happen, but we're going to talk a little bit about some statistical data today as well as just my own personal experiences.

And I'm gonna give you some feedback on how you can best navigate the waters of the internal and external recruiter. In most industries, the recruiting leader is the most successful recruiter. Now, some of you recruiting leaders out there right now that struggle with this concept that recruiting should fall in your lap, that it should instead be more of a corporate role than it should be a "you" role. That's not going to be very pleasing to your ears.

But in the years that I spent as a recruiting leader, we can take 15 of those years in one industry in that season as a recruiting leader. About one out of every 10 hires came from internal recruiters and external recruiters. Even if they play a role inside recruiting for your team, if you have big aspirations, the fastest way to accomplish those goals, those dreams, those aspirations, is to equip yourself to become your own best recruiter.

Okay. The external and internal recruiter typically lead with

company value proposition. And that means they can recruit the unhappy, they can recruit the dissatisfied. And if they present it in the correct light at the right moment, then they can also bring them into company value. What is the company value? The problem with that is that is always dependent upon a number of things can to be dependent upon how you present it.

Can be dependent upon the mood that the recruits in or the moment they just had at the company, something could have happened that could have changed how they view the company. And now you present your opportunity, which being a little bit better, it may pull them in, but it's not the best way. It's not the way that actually builds relationship, creates longevity to that relationship that if you don't get them, that then allows you to have this.

Very cohesive connectedness to them that allows you to stay in front of them and to one day have them inside your team. The best framework for that is the attractive leader framework. If you've listened to my prior podcasts, we've talked about attractive leadership . That attractive leader has a vision, has clear core values, has defined beliefs, then can communicate that extremely well, story tells those, and then lives and acts in alignment with those. That's the attractive leader.

And so that's what we present now because the external recruiter and the internal recruiter typically with company value proposition. What I always recommend is this. So when I get brought in to do an audit on a organization's recruiting

efforts I become disliked to some degree by an internal recruiting person. And the reason why is because I believe the best relationship between that recruiting leader The person who's managing the team that's also going to have this person underneath their leadership. The best way to bring them to that is simply to have that recruiter become a dialer.

Now, when I say dialer, I don't diminish the role the recruiter's playing, but you could also use a title which says that this person's a recruiting assistant to the recruiting leader. They're doing research. They're identifying people in the local market that this person's leading in to determine who's a good fit and who's not a good fit. And then we're taking that information or putting through a filter, what I call a core value lens, that core value lens says, where is their alignment?

Okay, I saw this piece of information on Facebook. I saw this piece of information on LinkedIn. I noticed on Instagram, I did an organic Google search. Whatever industry tool you have. I can go look at these tools. I can go see your bio. I can go see your reviews of who you are. I can get a lot of information, even outside of Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn, that are powerful pieces of information that tell me who you are. When I call you, my phone script is going to be predicated on that.

It's going to be centered on that. I did some research on you. I noticed there's some similarities between you and me. Here's what I saw. I'm not trying to recruit you. I'm trying to build a relationship with you.

The truth is that you start with relationship building, and so that is a high integrity phone script that you can use. So if I'm the recruiting leader, I simply want a dialer, someone that's going to actually do the research, someone that's going to actually make that phone call, and then the benefit of the dialer In this case, typically the recruiting department is that there's a quick handoff.

So it doesn't all fall on the recruiter to convince the person, Hey, by the way, I am interested and I'm ready to go. It's now, I simply want you to talk to someone who actually sees the world through a similar lens issue that has similar core values as you. And that handoff is so much stronger. It's so much better. And then what comes from that is relationship building and next steps, because we are about the next steps. This isn't about tricking.

Somebody isn't trickery to get somebody to the next step. It's a very clear line of sight. It's a very clear piece of integrity that you've incorporated into your recruiting efforts. Do your research, find out what their core value lens is. If there's alignment, then your phone script is simply, I see where there is alignment between you and my local leader.

I'd love to set you guys up for a conversation, understanding they're not going to recruit you and they're not going to talk about the company. They simply want to meet you understanding that when you leave, because most industries have a two to three year window of time, max, that people actually stay inside a company that when you leave, you've got a relationship with a trusted leader and you can pick up the phone and say, Hey, Richard.

I'm no longer in a place where I'm happy. I'm no longer in a place where I'm not interested. I am interested now. Can we talk? And so systems is going to be a critical part of this because when we get them on the phone or we get them to respond via text or whatever line of communication we're using, then the system becomes very important. What's next? What's next? What's next? So I would again, use that word dialer.

If I had, if I was going to build something quickly and I was going to scale something quickly. I would go get people that knew nothing more than five minutes of what was going on inside the industry. I would give them five, five minute education about the industry that I was having them dial into. And I would have them dial and immediately connect that individual to my recruiting leader, who is the leader they'd be working for.

And that leader would be the one that would deliver the leadership value proposition called attractive leadership, and then move them to next steps. We will not recruit. In that first step, if you want to win at a really high

level, then you need to do this. what works best is bringing them in quickly through the lens of the leader, the leader then having the value proposition of their attractive leadership. Being able to frame that correctly is critical and then moving them to next steps. Don't recruit in that first step. Now there is a huge need for external recruiters. There is a huge need for internal recruiters.

They play a critical role in the growth of every organization, but those are separate pillars than what we're talking about on this podcast. This podcast is built around the recruiting leader framework.

So if I'm a recruiting leader, I'll open up my calendar, get full access to a dialer, who's also going to be a researcher and I'm going to turn them loose on a set number of tools that they can use to actually identify core values, where that person has been, what they've done, create some alignment there in a very simple phone script, hand off to the recruiting leader who is also an attractive leader. And so that attractive leader then needs to have strong framework for

vision, core values, be able to storytell those in such a way that motivates people to go to the next step. And so now you're asking yourself the question, what is my next step? IF you will act on this, you will become a better recruiter. You will have more wins inside the land of recruiting. And so with that said, until we meet again on the next podcast, I would love it if this brought value to you to share it with somebody that is inside your organization in a similar role.

I would love it if you would subscribe. We're going to be delivering this content on a weekly basis. If you're finding value in it, Then subscribe and also share with the people in your life that are in the recruiting leader role. And until I meet you again, this is Richard Milligan with Recruiting Conversations. Have a great week. Want more Recruiting Conversations? You can register for my weekly email at 4crecruiting. com.

If you need help creating your own unique recruiting system, you can book a time with me at bookrichardnow. com.