Are we doing all we can to ensure the future is all that is hoped for?

Over the last year I have been focused on building a graduate recruitment and university relations program from scratch. A daunting task and considering that I didn’t have the luxury (yes that is what it was in the early ‘80s, a luxury) of being able to go to university I had no real understanding of the territory, the communities and the language used. Got there in the end though, well the first part and scheduled a number of events and recruitment fairs, all attended over the last couple of months that put me and my colleagues into direct contact with faculty and students bodies at various universities around the country. Whilst the schedule has been tiring the experience has been an education and very rewarding for me.

I have been impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment that so many have shown. The willingness to make the best for themselves and the eagerness with which they will take on advice and guidance has been a surprise and a credit. This however is tempered with a sense that so many of the students are at university just marking time until they have fulfilled the required academic expectations of their peers or their parents. Many of the students I met knew what they were about, had confidence, direction and could articulate why they chose their subject and maybe how they could apply the skills they learned in the real world. Too many however were the complete opposite and seemed to be drifting, happy be doing what they do for now.

Regardless of levels of enthusiasm I still feel there is a disconnect between their expectations and the reality of commercial life. There seems to be clear and distinct lack of real and worthwhile careers advice given to students at 6th form prior to choosing a college or a degree and then again once they start on their degree courses.
Talking to a number of faculty members in recent weeks I have been told that many of them have been in academia all of their professional lives and therefore don’t have the experiences in the corporate commercial world to offer guidance and direction. Furthermore there seemed to be a level of frustration from those that I spoke to that businesses didn’t get involved enough to help.

A unique approach is being encouraged by e-Skills. e-Skills created, with the full backing of specific companies, and now manage a degree course called Information Technology Management for Business (ITMB) at 12 universities across the UK. At a recent event with 260 ITMB students who came together from all over the country from as far away as Exeter and UWE, (Bristol) to Northumberland, UCL and Greenwich to meet for the day at the University of Manchester, I was inspired by the knowledge and enthusiasm of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students; their confidence to ask questions and challange the employers and be heard. I am pleased to say they will have an advantage because of the investment in time they and their departments make in getting them to meet with their future potential employers on a regular basis.

It is a message for all of us surely. Don’t we have a responsibility to motivate, advise and guide all parties. Won’t we all benefit from this? So many degree courses provide opportunities for students to acquire skills that are definitely transferable to functions and disciplines in the commercial world; however it would appear that they lack the input from the commercial world, us, to understand how those skills can be applied.

The Transaction v’s The Relationship or some would say chicken and egg!

I am not sure if is a symptom of the current state of affairs in the market and the difficulties many agencies are having or one of many other equally probable reasons, but I keep getting asked questions around a common theme, i.e.

“What can we (agencies) do to work with your company?”

“What can we do differently to ensure continued success in the market?”

“What can we do to improve our reputation and earn the respect of in-house recruiters?”

I don’t think that these questions are actually that new, but I know that with so many corporate in-house recruiting teams building sustainable direct recruiting models that agencies might feel under threat and need to find other ways of going about their business.

Many in-house recruiters receive an abundance of Cold Calls from agencies each week. Usually they are from agencies looking for new name business but occasionally they are received from known agencies or people with whom we have spoken but who insist on using the same tried and tested routine and script on the call. These calls are Spam Calls, usually irrelevant and intrusive. I can go on for a few 1000 words on the different ill conceived approaches employed on these call, their effectiveness and their place in my life; however these calls are not the point of the blog entry and will be saved for another time.

The point of this entry is all about how agencies can change if they want to, to meet the needs of their customers, both current and prospective. On a couple of occasions recently when asked these questions by different groups of people I have proposed a change of attitude and focus and put forward the idea of changing from Transactional selling to Relationship selling. What was very worrying was that on each occasion I was asked what the difference is! It even came up in Bill Boormans internet blogtalkradio Broadcast recently “View from the other Side”.

In general, most agencies and their staff are focused on receiving the placement fee and I’d be surprised if any agency owner or worker would honestly disagree with this. This is not necessarily the fault to the individual but is a result of the sales targets set by their managers. We’ve all heard the tales or had first-hand experience of agencies with petty targets measuring the number of calls, appointments made, vacancies obtained, CVs sent, interviews arranged and offers received set for their staff. This is makes it a numbers game with luck and opportunity being the real success factors. This approach fosters an attitude and approach by the agency staff that has them chasing the deal first. They may win the deal and thus the fee, but can it be replicated to such a consistent level that it becomes forecastable? Everything they do is Transactional.

It is written in so many sales training guides and other texts that people will only do business with people they like and trust, so why is it ignored? To be truly successful and have companies coming back for repeat business the best agencies workers have built long term cooperative relationships over time and in many cases have become friends with those they supply. So why is it that the rest don’t do this – it works!

For an in-house recruiter I need to rely on a supplier(s) that no only understands what I need, what my stakeholders need, how my company is structured but who also knows how to sell my company, the position and our value proposition to candidates. So how do you get this level of interaction? Isn’t it a bit like the chicken and the egg question? I cannot tell anyone how to go about this because as individuals we all react differently to different people but agencies should be brave enough to think longer term think about building relationships.

Whilst I appreciate that it might not suit every business model or customer profile surely it is better to focus on the Relationship for longer term sustainability. Obviously it has to have a balance! This kind of Relational selling does not have a fee or a deal as its objective. The objective is to become someone your customer trusts AND can work with. If and when this is achieved the fees and revenue will happen anyway. Rather than focusing on where a fee will come from this month, concentrate efforts on how and where fees will come from over the next 24 months.

Social Media (again!) but who does the recruiting?

Social Media as recruiting tools. Many many words have been written on particular subject; how to use Twitter, YouTube, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing etc to recruit with.

Just this week I was lucky enough to be able to listen to two leading figures in online recruiting; Bill Boorman and Paul Harrison both gave presentations on the advent and use of Social Media platforms as potential recruiting tools. On each occasion I was part of different audiences, each with different objectives and perceptions of the value of SocMed to their daily job functions. Both audiences were made up of experienced in-house corporate recruiters, who all know how to build attraction and acquisition teams, strategies, pipelines and source and acquire the best talent they can for their respective employers. It was interesting to hear the reactions of different members of each audience. It is very clear that even with all of the hype, people are still unsure.

What is important is that online SocMed platforms are here to stay and that the corporate recruiter will need to be able to make the best use of them to come out on top. How they do that will be up to the individual, the corporate strategy employed and how committed they’ll be. It is going to take a little money, a lot of thought and a bit of time to get it right. And what will be right for me won’t necessarily be right for you. Just think of the different strategies that companies such as Apple or Disney will employ compared to JP Morgan or even the BBC.

That is not to say they’ll have to spend hours and hours working the networks and gaining as many fans, followers or connections as they can (see previous posting for comments on that particular issue), but using the new ability to target specific demographics, search wider and faster than they have ever had the ability to do before. They will learn how to market both themselves and their Employer Value Proposition and as a result or part of that, they will need to learn what branding means and how it works. Understand who creates a brand, why it is so important and why it needs protecting!

SocMed has taken many of the old boundaries down and given us new tools and techniques to learn. But let us not forget that it is a means to an end and do not overlook the basics. By all means use SocMed platforms to find people, but when you do find them – PICK UP THE PHONE! SocMed doesn’t recruit, you do!

Crystal Balls and the winds of change – are you thinking, are you ready?

This week APSCo – Association of Professional Staffing Companies - hosted one of 70 meetings they host through the year for their members. It was a two hour session with a presentation from an employment law legal expert as we all as a panel Q& A session.

The panel on this occasion was made up of 4 in-house recruiting managers, all members of The FIRM coincidently – shows the spread of the Group – from some of the largest branded companies in the world. I bet the words of Alfred, Lord Tennyson “…………Into the valley of Death, Rode the six hundred” were no doubt playing in some minds.

The questions from the audience of agency owners and managers were not very challenging. The expected questions were asked “What do you think the market will look like as we come out of the recession and what changes will there be?”, “How can agencies be of better service to companies?”, “Do you see RPO as a value or a threat to the in-house recruiter?”, “How can we get onto a PSL?” and many more.

I am not entirely sure that all of these questions could be answered to the satisfaction of all attendees and I don’t think the answers that were given came as any major surprise to the audience either. What was clear is that the market is causing concern and the people running the agencies are looking for ways to make the changes they know will be needed to ensure they can continue to provide a service to their existing client base or attract new ones.

Three things stand out for me;

1. The advent of social media and its adoption by corporate recruiters has the agencies worried. They know we can find any potential candidate we might want. Not only that our brands make a direct connection far more valuable to a prospective applicant than an agency contact;

2. Agencies underestimate the function, ability, pace and authority of a structured in-house recruiting function

3. Agencies are so used to chasing targets that they forget that they need to focus on adding value. So target driven are they that they don’t know how to change! Simple – forget about fees and the petty irrelevant targets they set for their sales people. If they equip their people with better soft skills, train them on building relationship and adding real value to the person they are dealing (candidate and client) they will stand a better chance of getting the relationships right. Get them right and the fees will automatically follow.

Recruiting is all about timing. This recession is a place in time where in-house recruiters are able to say “we don’t need you”. The one phrase that gives a bit of hope to the agencies is “at the moment”. We all know that things change and the companies that don’t use agencies now are very likely to have to in the future, it is sort of inevitable. Everyone must be ready. Invest; don’t waste time chasing business that isn’t there right now. Look inwards at how you do your current business, which clients have you been more successful with and why? What can you do better internally and at other clients in order to evolve to be ready?

Will I Win? or I Will Win! – perspective, a state of mind

I read a very good article this morning, one that made me think hard about behaviour, rationale and the power and control of my own mind

In the article by Peter Bregman in the Harvard Business Blog showed how simple mind games can have a very adverse affect on our personality and our lives. It is a great article and really struck home how much control we give to our imagination and creating fantasies that can all to easily become reality.

In describing the two scenarios; his own personal anxieties after being stung by a number of hornets and the behaviour and actions of his friend in the work place I am sure Peter has outlined situations that we can all see ourselves doing in our daily lives. I certainly can – it is only human nature surely.

Will I Win? or I Will Win! Exactly the same number of letters, the same number words. All that is different is the order they are in. The first has doubt and insecurity running all through it, whereas coming at the same words from a different perspective and using them slight differently they become full of certainly and confidence.

So by taking control of your imagination and reeling in the fantasy before you start living it you’ll have better options. Positive Mental Attitude is what it’s all about. And we can control that! I’m neither an evangelist nor an expert on the issues at all and don’t intend to preach but I read this article and it reminded me that by taking the positive “I Will Win!” stance is actually more enjoyable and relaxing than asking the question.

Candidate Interview Humour- sometimes you can only get by with laughter!

The following shows the funny side of the interviewers job. These have been lifted from a discussion of similar title on The FIRM’s LinkedIn Group pages. The names and companies have been removed so allow us to share!

Recruiter – Computer Software Co - I interviewed a fairly senior project manager the other day and he made me chuckle, we were having a fairly circumspect discussion about project teams and skill sets, when it came to a particular individual that we both had experience of, his reply was “well, for every teapot, a lid”.

I thought it was a great saying, and I resolve to use it in the future. If we look back I bet there are quite a few humorous experiences we could recall.

Has anyone else had a funny or bazaar experience you would like to share. Maybe we could sell it to Readers Digest

Recruiter – RPO Vendor – I interviewed a chap from India when I was in Australia and he asked what the rate was? I told him it was $300 day.

His response was “You look for Jesus Christ”, “You pay for Shepherd”

I just about fell off my chair……

Recruitment Manager – Big 5 Accounting Firm – I was running a panel assessment for a very polished sales exec from a competitor, (great experience, great presentation, excellent answers, solid examples etc etc). However, he was being a little illusive regarding his motivation to make a move. After a little more questioning he revealed that he recently started reporting to a new Sales Director and as much as he had tried to develop the relationship etc…it was not working. Concerned that this was around performance or maverick behaviors, we asked him to qualify his answer at which point he simply said, “Put it this way, the softest thing about her…is her teeth!”

It was just brilliantly random!

Recruitment Manager – Govt Health Services – A few years ago was explaining to a German candidate, that the role included a package, that involved company bens…he then proceeded to rant and rave about the differences between BMW, Mercedes and Audi. At this point I was at a bit of a loss, as to what the relevance of all this was, as we only gave car allowances…he then proceeded to announce he would only accept the offer if we gave him an Audi instead of a Benz…took me awhile to explain to him the company car allowance policy

Senior TA Manager – Compute Software Co – One of my Recruiters had a candidate turn up to an interview with his wife who sat in so she could help him decide whether he would/could take the job or not. My Recruiter made the choice for them both…..

International recruitment professional – Again not an interview but definitely unusal. Some time ago I was working in Kazakhstan, I received a CV from a Kazakh who was currently Chief of Police. Before that he was Chief of the ‘Drunk Tank’ and his job before that was as a ‘Chief Fur Mare Slaughterer’. Quite how he thought he was qualified to be a Geophysicist I’m not sure…On another occasion I was instructed by the office of the manager of the local unemployment service that I should interview him for ‘A Job’ with one of my Western oil company clients. When I got there and via 3 way interpretation – Kazakh to Russian, Russian to English & accompanied by much ranting/table banging & spittle flying from his mouth (I thought it was a joke, it wasn’t) he accused me of sleeping with my Kazakh female staff & demanded to know why I hadn’t found him a job & said he demanded one – NOW! I eventually managed to calm him down to the point that a bottle of vodka came out with 2 chipped and dirty tea cups which he filled & kept on filling, no escape!

Freelance Recruitment Specialist - Don’t know about funny but definitely bazaar, in the space of two weeks I have been trawling through job boards and on Linked In and came across MY exact details posted on other peoples skills summary and LI Profile! What is funny is both times when whizzing through the data I have stopped and thought- wow looks good and then the realisation kicks in!

Managing Director – Management Consultants – We have the fortunate position of being on the 26th floor of a great London building, and it is a view that many candidates admire every day. However an applicant for a PA’s position recently took great pains to clarify the fire escape procedure – when; how often; who was Fire Warden; had we ever had a real fire ??, when we asked what was causing so much worry (trying to be sensitive) they bit their lip………, looked at the floor and then asked what would happen if it was too tiring to walk down the stairs ??

Head of Recruitment – Construction Co – Some years ago, I received a resume from Iraq quoting engineering experience in the nuclear weapons research program on the same day that the IAEA inspection team was being ousted for overly vigorous inspections. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and assumed a languge problem before quietly putting it aside.

Head of Recruitment – Health Services – A few years back when in the public sector – I had a very nervous, eccentric character fiddling with his pen, and he managed to end up flinging it at my face to his horror. He then asked at the end as one of his questions “what is the first thing you are going to say about me when I walk out the room?” For that cheek – and to brighten up our days, he got the job!

Recruitment Manager – Financial Service Co – My old manager used the phrase “he says waving his wooden leg” (not sure of it’s meaning or origins even after having Googled it) but he said it right in front of one of my candidates at the client’s offices… who had a prosthetic leg. I knew he has a false leg because he’d told me when I asked if he had a disability that needed to be considered at the interview. As it wasn’t relevant, I never mentioned it having not thought he’d say anything like this, nor having never heard it before or since. He got the job in the end but my boss was rather embarrassed.

Recruitment Manager – Management Consultant - I attended a graduate assessment centre last year, during an interview with a candidate I asked “Tell me about a relationship that you have formed in order to get a job or task done” (not a great question I know). The reply was “I would never have sex with some one to get a job done or for promotion.”

Recruitment Business Partner – Software Company – I interviewed someone a while ago now for a customer facing position. I asked a fairly straight forward question ‘what are main strengths as a communicator?’ to which I got the reply ‘I’m not very good at communication’ !!!!

Branding Manager – Broadcast Media Co – These are hilarious – I once interviewed a graduate who when asked about a difficult team working situation gave the example of a disagreement with a fellow student. When asked how it was resolved she said that the other student had come up to her afterwards and apologised. I then asked her how she responded and she replied “I said she could keep her apology and I would keep my distance”.. needless to say she didn’t get the job…

Another story was when a candidate sat down to a group exercise and opened a 2 litre bottle of sparkling water which immediately exploded onto the other candidates – the stunned silence that followed by the six soaked candidates was priceless.

Recruitment Manager – Financial Services Co. – That reminds me – I asked a candidate about a time she had to deal with a difficult colleague… her answer was that she threw a stapler at her. Solved her problem, didn’t get her the job with us though.

Recruitment Advisor – Engineering Consultants - I was interviewing for a Business Development Director a while back. When asked about his management style he said ‘Basically its my way or the highway’. Amazing.

Recruitment Manager – Law Firm - Last week I interviewed a rather nervous and un-talkative candidate so thought I’d open them up with a general question: “tell me about your ideal job?”. The candidate then went on to talk about how they’ve always wanted to run a tea and cake shop in Devon….

Ask a stupid question……..

Recruitment Officer – Computer Software Company – When recruiting an IT guy last year, my colleague asks at the usual questions at the end of the interview:
- Do you have any questions?
- Huh, yes, do you organize a Christmas Tree for kids?

The same candidate 10 minutes before:
“I find living between mountains very oppressive!!!

Come on, we are Switzerland based, mountains are everywhere!!!!

Technical Recruiter – Health Services – I had a day of interviewing graduating IT students on campus… always a challenging day. One student came in and he had a less than stellar academic record. Just barely a ‘C’ average. I normally start by giving the students a little info about the company and letting them know what I hope to accomplish in the interview. He stopped me before I could get through my first sentence and leaned back in his chair and told me that he didn’t need me to waste his time with all that information. He asked me to tell him immediately what his starting salary would be and when his start date would be.

I told him those were fair questions and answered that his starting salary would be zero and that he wouldn’t be starting with us, and then I asked him to please leave. He had an incredulous look on his face and asked me if things weren’t going well in the interview.

Wow.

Talent Attraction Manager – Media Company – We have just been contacted by a Psychic asking if we have any job opportunities within xxxxxxxx for Psychics. We were soooo tempted to say ‘well you tell us…’

Recruitment Manager – Computer Software Co. – During the DOTCOM boom I worked for a well known new media agency aggressively recruiting for designers and developers. In the post one day we received a video tape, which we duly played in a discreet office. The opening scene was a woman doing her ironing in the front room who proceeded to introduce her wonderful son to us who had recently graduated with a media studies degree, she told us all about his strengths and how much his granny loved him and that he was always pleasant and had a tidy bedroom etc etc. Obviously it was all staged but it was without doubt the most creative job application we’d ever seen.

So I got the management team together in a meeting room and played it again, the tape went down very well indeed and everyone wanted to interview him. We even shared the experience at the Global HR conference in Florida to much amazement!

Yes of course we rang him to interview him but sadly we’d been beaten to it by 4 other companies, if I recall it took him less than 1 week from sending his CV out to being offered by 4 companies.

Pretty impressive for a grad!

I wonder what he is doing now?

Recruiter – Computer Games Co. – These are great. I received an email from a candidate yesterday that made me laugh out loud……
“Please find my updated CV attached, apologies for any incontinence”.

Recruitment Manager – Management Consulting – I once received an appalling application for a graduate position. It was filled with spelling and grammatical errors, littered with random ‘txt spk’. So we duly rejected the application. The candidate then emailed in to complain. The email was even worse than the application. So being in a good mood, I called to offer some ‘constructive feedback’, politely suggesting running an application through a spell checker before submitting it to an employer. And perhaps use one for any emails as well. The response was “but then you wouldn’t see the real me…!” I thought, ‘You’re right, I won’t…’

Recruitment Manager – Computer Software Co. – I was speaking with a very friendly and enthusiastic Graduate applicant recently who told me that he was the best person for the job. When I asked him to explain why he though that, he said “my dad said so!” – I did let out a little laugh I fear. I didn’t dare try and qualify how old he was

Senior Recruiter – Big 5 Accounting Firm -One of my colleagues was interviewing a candidate for a graduate role and asked about a time they had overcome a challenge. The candidate described a time when they had gotten involved in a talent contest on campus with some of his friends as part of a boy band. He thought that singing their song on stage would help him gain confidence. My colleague asked him how it went and the candidate gave her a strange look.. paused for a moment… and then started singing the song. It was ‘I want it that way’ by the Backstreet Boys. He realised what she was actually asking a couple of lines in and the interview never really recovered from there.

Recruiter – Insurance Co – I had a candidate (who was on mid £30ks) tell me that their 5 year plan was to be on a 5 figure salary……..
Unfortunately we weren’t able to help them get there.

Resourcing Adviser – Financial Services Co. – I was interviewing for a senior relationship manager a while back. When I asked the candidate where they see themselves in 3 years time she advised me that she would be a farmer! She then proceeded to brush imaginary crumbs of the desk for the next few minutes. Giving the feedback to the agency had the whole team falling of their chairs. I was later advised the candidate had drunk 4 espresso’s before the interview!!

Ethics and Behaviour – why are Agency types so bad?

Not all of them but………..

It has been an interesting week this week on a number of fronts. However what has stood out to me in the last few days is the poor, some might say desperate business practices and levels of communication that exist in the recruiting market. It would be good if I could actually say it is the few that spoil if for the majority, unfortunately it is the majority that cause the issues.

This week I have had direct experience of, witnessed and been informed about the kind of behavior that has no place in a mature and grown up business world and the kind of behavior that only fans the flames of discontent that many have with agencies

The first instance was when at my desk I received an email from someone we used to do business with when he worked for an agency we use. I politely wrote back pointing out that he knew for sure how we worked and further explaining that we don’t accept speculative CV’s, we have a PSL and we cannot do business with him or his company. I asked him to call me or email me in another year if he wanted to try for the PSL then. He obviously couldn’t wait (or read) and calls me in about 60 seconds of receiving the email. The call lasted about 30 seconds and he now knows there is no point in calling in a year either! Why did he do that?

The second issue came about via a contact of mine in The FIRM. I’ll call her Sue for simplicity. She has this week received an invoice from an individual who had set himself up as a one-man band agency, let’s call him Dave. The invoice came about because a few months ago he without any prior contact with Sue sent a speculative CV to her. At the time she apparently rejected the CV because there were no vacancies etc. No relationship or dialogue was established and Sue thought that was the end of it. Time moves on and in recent weeks a few vacancies have been approved and Sue engaged with a search firm to source for candidates for her. They are successful and make the necessary hires. Sue then receives an invoice out of the blue from Dave for one of the placements, claiming a fee as a result of the speculative CV sent months before. No communication at all just an invoice. Why is this happening?

The question of how valid are speculative CV’s? has come up a number of times this week. It seems to be happening more and more. Is it a sign that agency people (I refuse to called them recruiters or consultants – they are neither) are desperate and are willing to try anything to generate business, regardless of how unethical it is? Whilst the practice has been common since agencies first existed, I am seeing an increase. Whilst sympathetic to their plight, these “send and hope” method is not the way to go about things; it is lazy and certainly will never justify a fee!

In the UK, companies are under no obligation to pay a fee to an agency unless they have received written instruction from an authorised source at a company instructing them to work on a specific vacancy and to submit CVs for it. So why do agencies continue to send them? Especially in today’s world where getting in contact with someone we want to speak with is but a few clicks away!

I also read some appalling immature comments online about an article in this month’s Recruiter magazine. Under the heading Consultants? Pah! a columnist who apparently happens to be an in-house recruiter made some contentious comments in her column. I personally don’t agree with some of what she said or her tone, but there were one or two comments made as feedback that came from the very people that give agencies a bad name; they showed a very poor level emotional maturity considering the in-house community they attack happen to be their customers! Now we know who they are. I expect in house recruiters will make their own conclusions about the value of doing business with such immature people.

Whist we are not obliged to educate the agencies and their staff I believe that if we want to improve the levels of service we have to help them help us.

I for one am open to having open discussions with any CEO, Owner or resposible managment of a company that provides sourcing or recruiting services, if it will help. The members of The FIRM are already participating in panel discussions with agencies to try and help them understand what is expected of them and how to go about delivering it.

Agencies have a place; bad practice and unethical behavior doesn’t.

Hello world! History of The FIRM

Ok where do I start? Let’s start with a bit of a potted history of The FIRM and what has happened over the last 18 months – wow is it that long?  I am in a corporate recruiter, love my job – one of the most satisfying and enjoyable I have had; could be the company, could be the people I work with – has to be a combination of these and the challenges faced each week. 

In Dec 2007 I was trying to get some advice about something and felt that those I usually relied on internally had a limited perspective.  Nothing wrong with that, pretty natural!  So I did a little search on LinkedIn for other corporate recruiters working in the Thames Valley – areas of UK running west of London and reached out to them.  Having provided me with the advice I sought initially it grew to a small network of recruiters – 20 or so over the space of couple of months.  LinkedIn let me create a Group and I called it The Forum for In-house Recruitment Manager or The FIRM for short.  Snappier!

We seemed to be communicating freely by email, phone and IM.  Thoughts of meeting up were discussed. Never happened coz I had to work in Dubai for a while.  Now this was intense for 4.5 weeks I was on my own in a strange office with people I had never met having to recruit in a market that I had zero experience of.  What impressed me about the guys in Dubai was (and still is) their work ethic.  12 hour days are normal.  It might come from being scared to leave the cool air conditioning and venture outside into 40 degree heat!  It was infectious though.  I worked hard and didn’t really have time to pay attention to The FIRM.  So when I got back to UK in April 2008 I was surprised to find over 300 applications waiting to join the Group.  I had no real plan at this stage and no interest other than to grow the group and see how many members I could attract. 

I did however set a rule very early on – The FIRM was going to be exclusive to in-house recruiters only.  No agencies, no suppliers of any kind.  I didn’t want my windscreen wiped over at the lights thank you!

Then towards the end of Oct ’08 Emma Mirrington joined the Group at the same time I got involved in planning a new Graduate Recruiting program.  Emma is the graduate recruitment Manager where she works so we connected in the usual way via linked in and spoke a few time – her giving me advice again.  Emma introduced me to a number of other graduate recruiters with whom she was networked.  I saw what the FIRM had become and knew it ready for the next level, as was I.  I planned a Breakfast meeting, seeking sponsorship from LinkedIn.  The first meeting attracted 45 people.  I couldn’t believe it.

Nor could I believe the reception I got for my efforts and the unbelievable encouragement to take it even further.  So The FIRM now run by Emma and myself has more than doubled in size, in terms of members in 9 months.  Today there are over 1700 members in 35 counties.  Our Breakfast meetings run each quarter now attract over 100 attendees.  They don’t come to listen to me or Emma but to subject matter experts and they come to chat and interact with each other.

Subjects are chosen by the members and we fulfill from a long list of supplier or other type of parties wanting access to our membership community.  And it is a community.  I have met some great people who are more than willing to help each other and share knowledge and experience with others.  One thing became very clear to me; what we know will always be useful to someone and what we don’t know is always available from others if we are willing to cooperate. More information at

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=44518&trk=anet_ug_grppro

We are taking it to the next level in the next month or two and will report further then.