The Bagg Group Blog

In a recent column in HR Reporter, Geoff Bagg, CEO of The Bagg Group, writes that the high number of applicants for any job, combined with pressure from the top to get the hire right, has caused an evolution within the staffing industry.

“We have seen the rise of a new breed of recruiters,” writes Geoff. “Those who succeed today don’t just recruit, they match-make.”

Sure enough, Jackie Chua, General Manager of The Bagg Group, says any recruiter or hiring authority seeking a candidate for a full-time position, contract work, or temporary placement has to be “more relationship-sensitive” than ever before.

Of course, skills matter. But equally important is compatibility — a meeting of minds, values, and energy. That’s because, as Geoff Bagg writes, “the employer and employee are in a relationship. And like any relationship, if there’s no spark, there’s no energy to meet goals.”

Getting along isn’t just a preferred scenario, it’s a high stake business necessity. Studies show that a wrong hire can cost a company five to 27 times the hire’s base salary in mistakes, wasted training, lost productivity, lowered team morale. Similarly, leaving a position open costs in decreased productivity, loss of innovation, and burn-out for employees who must pick up the slack.

Interestingly, studies also show job boards haven’t made the task of match-making any easier, particularly for in-house HR specialists tasked with conducting job searches without outside help.

The first online job board launched in 1992 and morphed into the large Monster.com in 1995. Workopolis.com launched in 2000. Today, large job boards have about 90,000 active postings at any one time, and most receive well over two million visitors per month.

Not surprisingly, in-house HR specialists recruiting via job boards report the days of manageable numbers of applicants have gone the way of the busy telephone signal. Unheard of. And as any overworked in-house HR specialist knows when wading through thousands of resumes, more is not necessarily better –especially when working a job search is only one item on a long to-do list.

Yet, senior executives in all surveys say they consider finding the right employees to be a top priority in achieving their business goals. With that in mind, for those who don’t have teams of recruiters working their networks full-time like The Bagg Group does, match-making can be more of a migraine than a labour of love.

Geoff Bagg explains in HR Reporter that in our tight economy, it takes additional know-how to get a good sense of the candidate. “Job-seekers feeling anxious about finding work may default to offering what they think is the desired answer. That’s why the best recruiters schedule longer interviews now, to allow time to move off the resume and converse about the candidate’s interests and ambitions. It’s not small talk to learn what makes a person tick, it’s essential info for a great match.”

For those who want to work with a matchmaker, the experienced matchmakers at The Bagg Group, which has a 40-plus year track record of ensuring happy bonds between candidates and companies, offer these tips:

Bring the hiring manager to the table: Often HR specialists work as gatekeepers but it’s tough to find you Mr. or Ms. Right when you haven’t met the other party. The sooner HR involves the hiring manager, the sooner the matchmaker can identify and find the right fit.

Remember, there’s a buyer for every house: But you need to tell the agent what you like and what you don’t to get the house for you. The same applies to finding a candidate. Timely feedback is powerful information that allows the recruiter to make the perfect match.

Be transparent: With reputable recruiters, what you say to your recruiter, stays with your recruiter. Tell it like it is. Maybe a team requires someone who is especially tough-skinned, or a manager wants people to regularly burn the midnight oil. The recruiter isn’t there to judge but to find a candidate who will be fine with living it like it is.

To read more about what Geoff Bagg had to say on matchmaking in HR Reporter, click here.

Trivia question of the day… Who coined the phrase, “Honesty is the best policy”?

(And no, it’s not a Bagg Group recruiter, although we live by those words)

The answer: Miguel de Cervantes, the 17th Century Spanish novelist who wrote Don Quixote. I quote his words whenever hiring authorities ask me how to get the most out of their recruiting agency.

If you were a fly on the wall at a meeting between a hiring authority and a recruiter from The Bagg Group, you might be surprised by the breadth and depth of the conversation.

Asking questions on a range of issues is how recruiters help you build your best team. So, for example, when a staffing expert inquires about the pet peeves of the position’s direct manager it’s not to judge or critique. It’s because they know that little things can make the difference between success and failure on the job.

Here are just a few questions that you can expect from recruiters who are experienced in providing top-notch staffing solutions for you:

• Tell me about people in your firm that have worked out the best, and why?
• What are the direct manager’s pet peeves?
• How would you describe your company’s customers?
• What are their expectations and issues?
• Who are the internal clients that new employees must serve?
• What are their characteristics?
• What are their challenges?

I recommend that clients meet staffing experts face-to-face and take them on a walk about. A tour helps recruiters get a feel for the people and the energy of your organization. Again, this is contributes to finding the best fit.

And here’s an important tip: make sure you are having a two-way conversation with your recruiter.

The best employers use recruiters as their staffing coaches. Experienced recruiters have a wealth of knowledge to share about hiring and retaining employees. And our clients are right to make the most of it.

The guidance and tips they receive from our staffing experts are based on facts, figures and thousands of discussions with managers and candidates over the years.

(For a good article on retaining employees through engagement, check out Gerard Seijts and Dan Crim’s article in the Ivey Business Journal, The Ten C’s of Employee Engagement. )

So – to help your recruiter be the best solution provider possible, sit down with him and her and tell it like it is. I can’t tell you who originated that turn of phrase, but I can assure you that it’s one well worth remembering the next time your recruiter calls.