Monday - 28th February 2011 I realised after opening my big mouth (see previous blog) that a week of blogs is more difficult task than I imagined.  Not that I can’t do it but that actually I am more used to writing when the mood takes me rather than to a deadline.  Although hopefully it makes my writing more 'commercial' and will attract more requests to write for other people (and p.s. yes I want to write a book!).

Interestingly I have fallen into the slight belief that everything I write is ‘important’, that my followers on twitter and connections on linkedin are all important and that somehow this is all real.  I suspect I am not the first.  But the reality check phone call I had with a business partner has reminded me to get on with the tangible delivery element of recruitment not just the brand/thought leadership piece I enjoy so much.

The aim this week is to write a daily blog/diary each day with some insight into what I actually do for a living, my contribution to the recruitment industry and some insight into what I think about it all.

Today has been an office day in my shared space at Regus.  I used to have an office that belonged to Ruth Badger (where is she now) but moved to shared space last year as I like the company.  I have written about the need for people around me before and it hasn’t changed.

The bulk of the day has been taken up with three key tasks.

Firstly I have been talking to candidates.  I am looking for a number of storage sales people and in the name of transparency I am willing to admit it’s been tough going.  It is contingent recruitment and I am late to the party in that other recruiters have had the roles longer than me.  Still whilst I will be lacking in quantity I am aiming to deliver quantity.  This isn’t my ideal set of roles.  I can recruit them, I know the good ones but often in this situation quantity does win the day.  A filled role is better than an empty role to many of the hiring managers.

Next up was writing a discussion document for another IT organisation.  This is where I differ from the ‘traditional’ fill the job recruiters in that I am always looking to create compelling service driven proposals rather than just talking to them about the number of vacancies they have or the number of candidates on a database.  Does this make me feel superior? Sometimes.  I used to sell multi-million pound outsourcing contracts, lead and manage teams  and so my experience is much broader than a typical recruiter.  I have also successfully done many of the roles I recruit for which is still very unusual although interestingly it is candidates that appear to appreciate this more than clients.

This was not a long document but still needed to written well.  To make sure I really do understand the client needs. It would be lovely If it all came off but I am not sure the client has the appetite for significant change in their talent acquisition approach.  That’s woolly.  The client is big so there are some people who really want it.  They wanted it yesterday and see my proposal as innovative, commercially viable and a real game changer.  The person that is actually on the receiving end also sees it as all of those things but it is there job to provide those things.  Sadly rather than being happy that someone is on their wavelength, is willing to commit commercially to some tight delivery metrics and in essence has ‘their back’ they are scared that I might be a little ‘too’ successful.  Internal politics  is something I still struggle with and continue to rebel against wherever I can although this isn’t one of those times, I really really want the business.

Lastly I wrote a two page ‘ballsy’ pitch for an outsourcer.  It’s ballsy in that it is an attention grabber that makes some very bold claims.  What they don’t yet realise is that whilst they are bold claims they are infinitely doable.  The pitch focuses on the larger talent acquisition strategy that the organisations needs to develop if they are going to recruit good people.  Where it differs to many strategy documents is that there are tangible ‘day one’ delivery benefits.  Commercially challenging to me but if successful a great potential partnership.  My challenge with them (have you noticed there seems to be a lot of challenges?) is that they love the transactional approach to recruitment, happy to pay x% of starting salary time and time again but less excited about paying for an ongoing service despite the benefits it will bring.  Might share a bit more of this with you tomorrow.  This blog has a diverse and broad readership and I am sure one of you will be able to help.

More tomorrow.

M.

p.s. you can follow me on twitter here!

about mckinley|resource® and Martin Dangerfield

mckinley|resource® is an innovative recruitment practice providing executive search, recruitment, talent advisory and project resourcing services. Delivering full UK and European coverage, we focus on identifying and engaging talented individuals within the IT services, IT outsourcing, management consultancy and technology marketplaces.

We can deploy for a day, a week, a month or longer. This means we can support your recruitment peaks, deliver spot advice or have an on going engagement. All we need is a desk in your office and a brief that we have agreed and signed up to. We won’t ask you to sign any long term contracts either. 

We have already proven to be a great success for our clients and are happy to work completely autonomous or alongside your current HR team / recruitment agency. Not only can we help free up the process to help find great new people but help you to look after the great people you already have.

To learn more about our approach give Martin Dangerfield (email, linkedin, twitter) a call on +44161.955.3647