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Things are picking up! Soon you may not have time to phone source to fill your hard-to-fill positions. When that happy event happens in your world, call the phone sourcing experts at TechTrak 513 899 9628
Is Facebook becoming a competitor to Linkedin in the business networking space?
27 answers in 3 hours!
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Lose phone fear here. Learn how to telephone names source today!
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
"What does this have to do with recruiting?"
I asked the following question over on LinkedIn a couple days ago. It has had 28 responses so far. You can view them all here.
You can respond there or here.
How does overall experience impact your area of expertise? Or doesn't it?
Lately I've been thinking about how having experience (or having a second career) in another industry translates into overall career success.
I've been working in the recruiting search business as a telephone names sourcer for eleven years (having spent 22 years previously selling small businesses and real estate) and I am so often struck how experience in one folds congruently into the other. I believe knowledge in all things drives industry overall, but I know there are some who don't feel this way.
For instance, occasionally I will post information about corresponding real estate market conditions in certain recruiting groups located in those locales. Someone will invariably remark, to me or through the grapevine, "What does this have to do with recruiting?" I always marvel at this response, thinking to myself, "What doesn't this have to do with recruiting? Don't you think knowing about the local real estate market impacts your candidate's job choices??"
That being said, can you tell me how (or how not) knowledge in other spaces other than your area of expertise contributes to your overall success?
This information is not to be re-published for commercial purposes in any form without my prior written permission.
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Lose phone fear here. Learn how to telephone names source today!
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
There was a question over on ERE recently about where to find Recruiting and Sourcing Literature. It asked, "I was hoping for some advice. Is there a consensus regarding which books on recruiting and/or sourcing are most beneficial for the experienced recruiter? I’m not really interested in a motivational type book."
I scouted around and here's what I found:
Related question to this on LinkedIn a few days back with several responses here.
I recently wrote something about how a new sourcer can "learn the ropes" here.
Shally wrote something (back in '04) about the "best book for learning sourcing" here.
There's an interesting discussion on LinkedIN from a few months back about the "most important book you ever read" here.
There's a string here on ERE from last month called "Sourcing Training" with 29 replies. You can see it here.
Simple lesson on answering your phone.
ERE string on "tax credits for training" here.
Info on starting a staffing business from scratch. Includes training recommendation.
Lose phone fear here. Learn how to telephone names source today!
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
LinkedIn’s Questions and Answers forum is an amazing treasure trove of information. The questions posed many times begin to receive immediate responses from the 13million worldwide members (somebody’s always awake!) and the caliber of many of the questions and answers is awesome.
It’s possible, if you’re a questioner, to “judge” the answers as “Best in Class” (Oh! The Power, the POWER!). Likewise, it’s also possible to receive one of these “Best Answers” if you're one of those offering answers. It’s rewarding, for those of us who like to receive Gold Stars!
Another interesting phenomenon that emerges out of the Q&A forum is the glimpse it gives us into someone’s mind. The questions someone asks are very telling; IMO, about how they think, what drives them, the subjects that interest them, etc.
If you’re not YET using the Q&A forum, I suggest you check it out. You won’t get any dumber.
Learning about LinkedIn
One person who has made a huge contribution (and continues to do so) to our industry is Bill Vick. If any of you want to see how good use can be made out of a person’s profile, visit Bill Vick’s here.
Bill is a HeadHunter, serial entrepreneur, author, publisher, big biller, speaker, coach and recruiting industry consultant. He believes everybody has the ability to achieve success in life and his goal is to help others succeed. LinkedIn is one of the tools that has changed his business and his life.
He’s published two books focused on recruiting excellence. “LinkedIn For Recruiting” is about using the LinkedIn network and “Big Biller” is about million dollar recruiters. Both books are available at http://www.bigbiller.org. His third book is documenting working virtually and will be titled “Working the Virtual Way”. Bill loves to put us characters into his books so if you would like to land in one, you can reach Bill at HeadHunter at gmail.com or call him at 800 364 8425. His Skype is BigBiller.
Yes, I like Bill and I highly recommend him!
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There’s still time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond. Register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Has anybody done external talent pipelining before? Does it work to reduce time to hire?
Traditional recruitment is a reactive process and time consuming. What if ABC organisation knows it needs x A's, y B's for the rest of the year. Rather than a transactional approach I want to develop a pipeline of 'offer ready' people for role A and B (ie people pre qualified - willing to move, of appropriate quality, want to work for ABC, etc).
Read the original LinkedIn question and all the answers here.
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Interesting question w/ equally interesting answers over on LinkedIn:
What are the Most Effective US Job Boards (Technology) a Recruiter/Sourcer can use to bring best results?
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About 60 percent of high earners work more than 50 hours each week and complain that their health and sleep suffer as well as their relationships with their spouses and children.
Full Story
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It's time to advance your sourcing skills.
New Service Eavesdrops on Internet Calls
A startup has come up with a new way to make money from phone calls connected via the Internet: having software listen to the calls, then displaying ads on the callers' computer screens based on what's being talked about.
For instance, a caller talking about going for dinner might see ads to local restaurants and restaurant review sites, while someone pondering whether to buy a new computer might see ads for computer stores. Relevant unsponsored links also appear.
That is, if the system works. It's notoriously difficult for computers to recognize speech. A test of Puddingmedia's beta software was a mixed success: Relevant ads appeared when this reporter talked about restaurants and computers, but the software was oddly insistent that he should seek a career as a social worker, showing multiple ads and links pointing to that field.
"Sometimes crazy things pop up. It actually enriches the conversation, which is very cool," said Ariel Maislos, chief executive of Puddingmedia.
On Monday, the Silicon Valley-based company is launching a public trial of the software on its Web site, . Visitors will be able to place free calls to U.S. and Canadian phone numbers from their computers using headsets or microphones. The phone numbers are entered via a Web browser, which is also where the ads and links show up.http://www.ThePudding.com
Read the whole thing here.
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There’s still time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond. Register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
How do you feel about being approached by a headhunter? What do you feel are some of the best approaches you have experienced and some of the worst?
Best approach: I was invited to lunch, we had a relaxed conversation that led to a very fruitful relationship.
Read them all and contribute yours here.
Hurry! You have ONE DAY LEFT to answer this person's question!
I know I will catch a whole lot of heat over this question from my recruiting brethren. But as a Recruiter and an individual networker, I have to ask this question. Honestly speaking, any recruiting I've done from Linked In has been purely accidental. I joined in 2004 to do some honest, serious networking for myself. I only picked up again about a year ago building my network. I hear tons of horror stories about invasions of privacy, quantity linking (who really keeps in touch with 1000+ people!), etc. I'd like to know the thoughts of non-recruiters as well as recruiters. I already think I know what most recruiters will say. But let's face it. The actions of (some) recruiters make it harder to connect when people see I am a recruiter by trade. They automatically think I am looking to headhunt or beg for referrals. I have to state in my email/in mail that I am NOT looking for employment nor am I looking to sell anything. Fortunately for me, 98% of the people I've reached out to appreciated the personalized note as well as the disclaimer and have connected to me. But some get turned off when they see who I am, because of the reputation of my industry. Please share your thoughts. Just to clarify, I ask this question based on the number of complaints I've read/heard. Please continue to share.
Related:
One the most asked questions I see on the board is - Have you ever been recruited or had a job offer since being on Linkedin?I have yet to hear someone say emphatically that they used or use Linkedin as a candidate prospecting tool, to contact potential recruits. Why this hesitation or ambivalence in admitting it if people are indeed are using it as a recruiting tool? Or is it that everyone is waiting for someone else to take the lead or maybe the simple answer is no one is using Linkedin as a source for recruiting? The question arises is Linkedin really a site used by most in the virtual world for social vanity purposes to brag they know so and so, which isn't possible in real life?
Answer THIS person here.
How do Retained Search Firms differ from Contingency Search in terms of culture, daily operations, career track, and portability?
"In 2000 there were 44,000 recruiting firms (all types) in North America, that number shrank to 17,000 in 2003 and is currently back up to 33,000 give or take. The blended firm is rapidly gaining ground with corporate clients as the way to go for positions between $80K and $200K, Retained for over $200K and Contingency for under $80k. But - big but - a firm in Idaho just completed a contingency search where the fee (not compensation) was $210K so there is no golden rule only guidelines." ~ Bill Vick
More answers here.
It's time to advance your sourcing skills.
How much does it cost your organization to select & hire the wrong candidate every year?
• Front-line employees turnover costs = 0.41 x salary
• Professional associates turnover costs = 1.77 x salary
• Managers turnover cost = 2.44 x salary
More interesting answers here.
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There’s still time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond. Register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
VS
SourceCon video of the “Phone vs Internet” panel.
It’s time to advance your sourcing skills.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
ANDREW SULLIVAN, a senior editor at The Atlantic, came upon a chart at TheAgitator.com last week showing two trend lines: the ranks of private workers decreasing and the number of government beneficiaries increasing in the United States since 1950, with beneficiaries now surpassing workers. The only comment from Mr. Sullivan on his blog at TheAtlantic.com was his headline "The Road to Serfdom."
According to Katherine Mangu-Ward, an editor at Reason, Mr. Shilling, an economist and columnist for Forbes, totaled up government workers, “private-sector workers who owe their jobs to government” and recipients of government entitlements like Social Security and food stamps. For good measure, he threw in dependents of these beneficiaries. “Shilling found that for each person earning his pay in the private sector and paying taxes,” Ms. Mangu-Ward wrote, “there is at least one more person relying on a check from the government.”
Read the whole thing here: Debating American Serfdom
It’s time to advance your sourcing skills.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Interesting question on LinkedIn that is generating a lot of responses:
How do you get past the "gatekeeper" when trying to get into a company to find a person? What should you say to get around the gatekeeper at a company without being deceitful? How much information should you reveal to the gatekeeper? How should you introduce yourself to the passive candidate when you call? What is ethical in sourcing and what isn't?
Having been a hardcore "gatekeeper" in the past, I can tell you that the only way you would EVER get past me is if you were honest, polite and answered any questions I asked about the nature of your call. As an assistant, I would NEVER put a 'cold-caller' through on a vague answer given by someone I was unfamiliar with, like "it concerns personal business". I had the responsibility of helping my boss manage his schedule by "protecting" his unscheduled time, screening and prepping in order to make the day's appointments & calls the most effective and productive use of both his time and the people he met with.
If you had to resort to something 'tricky' to get in the door, my suggestion is to have something short written up stating your intent and have it hand-delivered or couriered to the person you want to recruit. WAY better chances of getting in the door than a cold call or an introductory note via the mail. If it's important enough to be couriered, it will raise curiosity and your recruit may call you instead of you having to get through "the gate". If you don't get a response in a couple of days, phone in, talk to the 'gatekeeper' and mention the letter or materials you couriered over. If you're serious, your intent will be handled seriously. If you're just wanting another entry in your phone book for contacts, IMO that's not ethical in sourcing. It's just for show and not worth a reply from the person you're soliciting.
Related question and answers over on LinkedIn here:
"When prospecting, and making cold calls what do you find works to help you get through the mire?"
There’s still time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond. Register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Interesting blog post about why it's important we sourcers sing our own praises.
We're mostly a shy and retiring bunch (though you wouldn't get that watching the latest SourceCon video!) and we know nobody's gonna do it for us!
There’s still time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond. Register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Boston Tea Party
Retailers Urge Quick Action on Internet Sales Tax Legislation
The National Retail Federation and nearly 100 retailers and trade associations are asking Congress to approve legislation making it easier to require Internet merchants, mail-order houses and other "remote sellers" to collect sales tax across state lines.
"The states have made great progress," NRF and the other groups said in a letter to sponsors of the legislation. "We now call on Congress to respond to their efforts by passing this legislation."
"Brick-and-mortar retailers are currently required to collect sales taxes while many on-line and catalog retailers are not," the letter said. "This is not only fundamentally unfair to Main Street retailers, but it is costing states and localities billions in lost revenue. This further threatens vital public services including health care, education and public safety."
Read the whole thing here.
It's time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
Congratulations! You've finally retired and moved to the desert, beach, mountains, city or some other dream retirement location. Fortunately, you've saved up enough to buy a great retirement home. However, you still need — or want — to make money. But you certainly don't want another job; you've had enough bosses for a lifetime. So, start your own business!
If you live in a community that attracts a lot of retirees, you may have a lot of other retirees competing with you. These communities, though, are often expanding — creating opportunities for entrepreneurs.
So, the First Rule of Retirement Business is: Don't make too large and risky of a financial investment — unless you have a lot of money or you've run companies before.
Read the whole thing here.
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It's time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Dozens of states have adopted laws requiring all companies and government agencies to disclose data thefts and credit bureaus to permit freezes.
In a major reversal, TransUnion, one of the Big Three credit bureaus, says it will allow individuals in all 50 states to freeze their credit histories. The service, which goes into effect Oct. 15, is a big victory for anyone who wants to be more proactive about preventing identity theft, consumer advocates say.
Consumers Union estimates an average of 27,000 Americans become victims of identity theft each day. Cyveillance, a security firm that crawls the Internet looking for tainted websites, has found more than 1 million stolen Social Security numbers on computer servers controlled by criminals.
TransUnion broke ranks with Experian and Equifax. A June story in USA TODAY described how the Big Three credit bureaus have lobbied for two years to stop strong credit-freeze laws from being adopted at the federal and state levels. The bureaus disseminate credit histories used by lenders to issue credit cards, mortgages and other loans.
A credit freeze bars the bureaus from issuing your credit history, the summary of loans and payments that forms the basis of your credit score. Because few lenders will issue credit without first seeing a credit score, putting a freeze on your information means ID thieves can't use stolen Social Security numbers to fraudulently open new accounts.
Equifax and Experian are discussing whether to follow TransUnion's example.
Whole thing here.
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It's time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
From a purely practical point of view, if you don't recruit from other companies, you just won't find enough top talent. You may be able to find enough average performers, but you won't be able to find the best. Why? About 15-20% of the workforce is actively looking for a job at any one time. They are applying to the jobs that you advertise, they post their resumes on the job boards, they are easy to find because they want to be found. Top performers are under-represented in this group. If this is the only group you are recruiting from (and we know from our Annual Recruiting Survey that this is often the case), you are going to miss the lion's share of top talent. It's semi-active candidates, who look only occasionally and sporadically, and passive candidates, who aren't looking at all but are open to new opportunities, who could be some of your best performers. This represents about 50% of the workforce. Not targeting this group means you aren't finding the kind of talent that can make a significant and appreciable positive impact on your organization's performance. And that is just a crime. ~ Kathy Barton
Whole thing here.
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It’s time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Did you know that whole languages die every two weeks? I didn't!
Of the estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, linguists say, nearly half are in danger of extinction and likely to disappear in this century. In fact, one falls out of use about every two weeks.
Some languages vanish in an instant, at the death of the sole surviving speaker. Others are lost gradually in bilingual cultures, as indigenous tongues are overwhelmed by the dominant language at school, in the marketplace and on television.
New research, reported yesterday, has found the five regions where languages are disappearing most rapidly: northern Australia, central South America, North America’s upper Pacific coastal zone, eastern Siberia, and Oklahoma and the southwestern United States. All have indigenous people speaking diverse languages, in falling numbers.
Whole story.
Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages
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It’s time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
The government-controlled stock exchange in Dubai, the fast-growing Middle East business center, is expected to announce today in Stockholm that it plans to take significant ownership in the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York and the London Stock Exchange, people who have been briefed on the transaction said last night.
If the deal is completed, Dubai would become the first Middle East government to own a large stake in an American stock exchange. It also is expected to become the largest single investor in Nasdaq.
The deal by the Borse Dubai would give Dubai a stake of 20 percent to 30 percent in Nasdaq, the largest electronic stock market in America, and about 30 percent in the London Stock Exchange, according to people who have been briefed.
Reports of a possible deal brought questions last night from lawmakers in Washington about potential compromises to security in the United States. The concerns were similar to those raised more than a year ago when another Dubai-owned company, DP World, tried to buy a company that managed port operations around the United States, and in 2005, when the Chinese oil company, Cnooc, tried to buy its American rival, Unocal. Both efforts were abandoned under pressure from Congress.
Whole story.
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If you think this isn't related to recruiting, think again.
It’s time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
Donato Dorio, Broadlook.com
The CEO of an internet sourcing technology company answers questions by the experts.
Listen Here
Interviewed on The Recruiting Animal Show Wednesday, September 19, 2007 High Noon!
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It’s time to advance your sourcing skills.
Think beyond.
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Many people will say it is morally acceptable to pull a switch that diverts a train, killing just one person instead of the five on the other track. But if asked to save the same five lives by throwing a person in the train’s path, people will say the action is wrong. This may be evidence for an ancient subconscious morality that deters causing direct physical harm to someone else. An equally strong moral sanction has not yet evolved for harming someone indirectly.
Where do moral rules come from? From reason, some philosophers say. From God, say believers. Seldom considered is a source now being advocated by some biologists, that of evolution.
At first glance, natural selection and the survival of the fittest may seem to reward only the most selfish values. But for animals that live in groups, selfishness must be strictly curbed or there will be no advantage to social living. Could the behaviors evolved by social animals to make societies work be the foundation from which human morality evolved?
In a series of recent articles and a book, “The Happiness Hypothesis,” Jonathan Haidt, a moral psychologist at the University of Virginia, has been constructing a broad evolutionary view of morality that traces its connections both to religion and to politics.
Read the whole thing here.
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It’s time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
The Fed is the nation's central bank. It is an agency of the U.S. government, meaning, it's owned by the nation's citizens. The Fed was created by an act of Congress on Dec. 23, 1913. The Fed has a seven-member Board of Governors based in Washington D.C. Board members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for 14-year terms.
Read the whole thing here.
It’s time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
We spend a lot of time sittin’ on our butts when we’re sourcing – it doesn’t matter if it’s Telephone or Internet – chances are you know what I’m talkin’ about! Here’s a site that details some office chairs – expensive – but what are we doin’ with the money we’re makin’ anyway? Take a little of it and invest in yourself and your processes – you’ll be glad you did!
My brother recently installed a treadmill in his vet office that has a shelf where he can place a laptop - it's pretty cool and I can see it working well for Internet searchers but phone? All that huffing and puffing might/could just get in the way...but I've been thinking of a standing version desk - anyone gone there yet and what do you think?
What equipment are you using these days that helps you do your best work?
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It’s time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Hear Pam (the STAR! of the popular telephone names sourcing video) and me on the Recruiting Animal's Radio Show answering your questions about telephone names sourcing LIVE on September 12!
“Some employees just don't want to work. They might never admit it — perhaps not even to themselves — but the attentive manager or HR pro can usually tell who they are. They're often absent or late or have to leave early. Their lives are more chaotic than other employees', and they tend to bring their chaos to work with them (when they actually come to work). And their excuses are often lame.” ~ Employer advocate and counsel Jay Shepherd.
Web-based site that sells templated "excuse" letters ranging from jury duty, funerals, doctor notes and emergency room visits. More.
If you’re interested in more excuses not to go to work, click here and here.
Need more? Here and here and here.
"Work is a sovereign remedy for all ills, and a man who loves to work will never be unhappy." ~ Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards
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It’s time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
Even during times of relative prosperity, there is a large number of people who do not have or do not want jobs, one-third of the population according to the U.S. Census Bureau. When respondents were asked "What is the main reason you did not work at a job or business in the last four months?" their answers ranged broadly:
Unable to find work (age 15 and over, 4.3 percent; age 20 to 64 years, 7.9 percent)
Laid off (age 15 and over, 1.7 percent; age 20 to 64 years, 3.5 percent)
Chronic illness, or disability (age 15 and over, 14.7 percent; age 20 to 64 years, 25 percent)
Temporary illness or injury (age 15 and over, 1. 7 percent; age 20 to 64 years, 3.2 percent)
Pregnancy/childbirth (age 15 and over, 0.8 percent; age 20 to 64 years, 1.5 percent)
Retired (age 15 and over, 37.9 percent; age 20 to 64, 13.7 percent)
Going to school (age 15 and over; 19.1 percent; age 20 to 64 years; 9.6 percent)
Taking care of children, others (age 15 and over, 13.2 percent; age 20 to 64 years, 26 percent)
Not interested in working; or other (age 15 and over - 3.6 percent; age 20 to 64 years, 5.3 percent)
Other (age 15 and over, 2.9 percent; age 20 to 64 years, 4.3 percent)
Full Story
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It’s time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
There’s a question posted over on LinkedIn in the last day or so and it asks:
For sourcers/recruiters: What is the very best candidate sourcing training you ever had? I'm responsible for training our global staffing team and one of the key competences is sourcing. We are looking at various options but I would appreciate some feedback. Is AIRS good, Shally, Adlers bootcamp etc? Ted Meulenkamp
Staffing Manager Europe @ Agilent Technologies
You can visit the question here and answer it. As Dave Mendoza tells us, LinkedIn offers us “…a fast and accurate answer to your business question. By providing the best answers to questions, you earn expertise."
"Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training." ~ Anna Freud
It’s time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
Another reason why telephone sourcing works so well...
Jobs go to the perfectly qualified
Here's how to have a frustrating job search:
Sit in front of the computer and send 500 resumes -- all the same -- to every job you find on the Internet that looks even remotely possible. Part of the problem is that hundreds, maybe thousands, of job hunters are doing the same thing. They're flooding job boards, corporate Web sites and human resource in boxes. Most don't have a snowman's chance in you know where.
Here are the facts:
Employers -- especially the ones using Web-based applications -- are trying to make their hiring process more efficient. Some have cut their human resource staffs, a cost-cutting fate typical for non-revenue-generating departments.
There often isn't much staff power available to cull through applications. They're going to look only deep enough to find a handful of qualified candidates.
They're going to look for the perfectly qualified candidate.
Along with consolidating and outsourcing HR departments, many companies also have cut training budgets. They want employees who can hit the ground running.
This puts career changers and semiqualified candidates at a disadvantage. And it gives the unqualified or unclear candidate no chance at all.
Read the whole thing here.
It’s time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
Ask an Expert (Steve Strauss): Give workers an entrepreneurial nudge
Q: When I worked for Mercy Corps, it was a very entrepreneurial enterprise. For instance, if we wanted to take on a new project, we had to own it. Isn't that how most small businesses are run? — Mara
A: Unfortunately, I think the answer is "no."
The question above came from a conversation I had at dinner one night when I was in Jordan last month while eating kebabs at a breezy outdoor Lebanese restaurant. The woman who posed it had previously worked for that great humanitarian-assistance non-profit Mercy Corps (MercyCorps.org) for a number of years and I was fascinated with her explanation of how the organization is run.
Essentially, much of what they do is based on what they call "social entrepreneurship"; an idea that is, ironically, too often missing in most small businesses. What became obvious to me over the course of the evening was that by treating its employees as entrepreneurs, Mercy Corps empowered them to be more than just employees. They were able to be creative individuals with the chance to think big and implement their vision when it made sense.
Isn't that what we all want from the people we work with? People who think beyond merely doing their job and look to see how the whole can be improved? Yet how many of us have actually created organizations and businesses that empowers the people we work with in that way? I would venture to say not many of us.
Is it not ironic that entrepreneurs rarely foster entrepreneurship in their own businesses? I think most are so busy, happily being the boss, that the idea of people acting entrepreneurially is almost scary.
Read the whole thing here.
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It’s time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
If it impacts housing there's a good chance it'll impact employment...
Census Bureau Report Shows Surprising Demographic Changes That Will Impact Housing In the Future
The latest 1,200-table American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates key changes in social, economic, and housing characteristics for the nation including more older workers and more households with non-English-speaking occupants.
Wages have not kept up with inflation, which is one of the reasons why nearly one in four people between the ages of 65 and 74 (23.2 percent) are still in the labor force (either working or looking for work) in 2006. That's an increase from 19.6 percent in 2000. States with some of the lowest rates of older workers in the labor force include West Virginia (15.7 percent), Michigan (18.8 percent) and Arizona (19.4 percent). Michigan and Arizona were not statistically different.
Some of the highest rates were found in South Dakota, Nebraska and Washington, D.C., all with about one-third of people in this age group in the labor force. Among the 20 largest metro areas, Washington, D.C., had the highest percentage of people in the labor force in this age group (31.8 percent). Others with high percentages include Boston (28.1 percent), Dallas-Fort Worth (27.9 percent), Minneapolis-St. Paul (27.4 percent) and Houston (26.5 percent), none of which were statistically different from the other.
More here:
Full Story
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Think beyond. You can do it.
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Mapping Your Way to Success
Technology has helped create a global marketplace and with it, increased competition from around the world. Builders and developers operating globally and seeking a competitive edge are turning to advanced aerial imagery to engage real estate consumers.
Reading this, I was reminded how delighted I was when I first discovered Keyhole (it later became GoogleEarth in 2004) and was able to "look" at my targets from satellites.
"Google Earth combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips."
What I saw amazed me and facilitated my job as a telephone sourcer - looking at a company's "campus" I could see how many buildings they had - information I was able to "use" as follows:
"Can you please tell me which building Jane Doe works in?" sometimes gave me just that hint of familiarity with a Gatekeeper that prompted her to help me just a little bit more than she may have been obliged to, to begin with.
In what ways do you see this tool helping us sourcers?
This information is not to be re-published for commercial purposes in any form without my prior written permission.
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It's time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Hear Pam (the STAR! of the popular telephone names sourcing video) and me on the Recruiting Animal's Radio Show answering your questions about telephone names sourcing LIVE on September 12!
It drives me crazy when I see the subject of money down-played in job descriptions. We had this discussion last week in Austin and it seemed to be the general consensus of the group that money was THE most important component in a job offer and some complained privately to me that they felt they were severely handicapped in the market-place by employers who just "didn't get" that they had to be most competitive in this space.
"Owners especially have tunnel vision about their own companies and are blind to the fact that outsiders can see their warts. They have to PAY to have those warts minimized..." one earnest middle-aged woman half-whispered to me, glancing around to make sure nobody was around, as if what she was telling me was some kind of heresy.
No kidding, Sherlock. (Actually I could use another word, but you get my drift.)
Tunnel vision. Blind spots. Indifference. Greed.
All these things contribute to what employers want you to buy into when they ask you to find persons to fill positions that are not paying commensurately with the marketplace. Don't get sucked in. Wages are VERY IMPORTANT to your potential candidate. Punch them across - don't be shy about talking about them especially if you're in extremely tight markets like defense, certain hardware R&D, biotech/pharma and the Big 5.
Get their attention with the money and then fill in the blanks. Talk loud and talk first about it. Money is an extremely powerful tool - make no mistake about it. It is also laden with all kinds of emotional baggage AND FOR SOME REASON carries a discussion taboo around it. It's as if we're not "supposed" to be interested in it. Are you kidding me? It's ALWAYS what grabs my attention. I want to see prices posted for services on websites, I want to hear it spoken about UPFRONT and openly. I respect someone who can do that.
When they say "it's not about the money", they're usually lying
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This information is not to be re-published for commercial purposes in any form without my prior written permission.
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It's time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Put the word out...
$25 Million in Prizes Is Offered for Trip to Moon
The group whose $10 million prize spurred privately financed rocketeers to send a small piloted craft to the cusp of space in 2004 has issued a new challenge: an unmanned moon shot.
With the audacious new contest comes a much bigger prize: up to $25 million, paid for by Google, the ubiquitous Internet company.
The “Google Lunar X Prize” was announced yesterday in Los Angeles at the Wired magazine’s NextFest. The contest calls for entrants to land a rover on the moon that will be able to travel at least 550 yards and send high-resolution video, still images and other data back home.
Read the whole thing here.
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If the job market weakens further, more Americans may soon need to turn to unemployment compensation. And many of them will be shocked at the system’s painful inadequacies.
Ostensibly, most workers have unemployment insurance because their employers pay a federal unemployment tax on their behalf — $56 per employee per year — and state unemployment taxes as well. On average, benefits replace about a third of a worker’s previous weekly earnings and run out after 23 weeks.
In practice, however, only about one-third of jobless workers qualify to collect benefits. Women, especially, are routinely denied because many states’ rules disqualify groups that are largely female, including low-income employees, part-timers and trailing spouses — including military wives who leave their jobs when a husband must relocate. Those gaps came about because the program — a joint federal-state effort — has been largely unchanged for decades, even as the work force and economy have changed dramatically.
Both the House and Senate are now considering bills that would allocate $7 billion over five years to states that enact sensible and needed reforms to their programs. The money would come from extending a surtax on employers that expires this year and accounts for about $14 of the per-person federal unemployment tax. Extending the surtax is so uncontroversial that even President Bush’s latest budget assumes it will happen.
Read the whole thing here.
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There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It
Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813
Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Hear Pam (the STAR! of the popular telephone names sourcing video) and me on the Recruiting Animal's Radio Show answering your questions about telephone names sourcing LIVE on September 12!
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/animal
Deloitte & Touche Tops List of BusinessWeek's Annual 'Best Places to Launch a Career'
Accounting firms dominate BusinessWeek's second annual ranking of the "Best Places to Launch a Career": Deloitte & Touche is No. 1, followed by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young. The last of the Big Four, KPMG, moved up four spots to No. 11.
BusinessWeek's 50 Best Places to Launch a Career
1 Deloitte & Touche
2 PricewaterhouseCoopers
3 Ernst & Young
4 IBM
5 Google
6 Microsoft
7 Walt Disney
8 Accenture
9 Lockheed Martin
10 Teach for America
11 KPMG
12 General Electric
13 Goldman Sachs
14 Boeing
15 Abbott Labs
16 Merrill Lynch
17 JPMorgan Chase
18 BP America
19 U.S. State Dept.
20 General Mills
21 Hyatt
22 Capital One
23 Peace Corps
24 Johnson & Johnson
25 Macy's
26 Enterprise Rent-A-Car
27 Northrop Grumman
28 Raytheon
29 Exelon
30 Prudential
31 Lehman Brothers
32 Eli Lilly
33 Vanguard
34 UPS
35 L'Oreal USA
36 Harrah's Entertainment
37 Travelers
38 Verizon
39 Chubb
40 Intel
41 Wells Fargo
42 UBS
43 Philip Morris
44 St. Jude Medical
45 Marriott International
46 Sprint
47 New York Life Insurance
48 Kohl's
49 Merck
50 CIA
SOURCE BusinessWeek
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Hear Pam (the STAR! of the popular telephone names sourcing video) and me on the Recruiting Animal's Radio Show answering your questions about telephone names sourcing taped LIVE on September 12!
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It
Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813
Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
The following was sent to me from one of my attendees at the MagicMethod Austin seminar last week - I thought it would be of interest to any of you who attended and to any of you who are interested in this arcane subject of telephone names sourcing.
Telephone sourcing is a simple process but it's not always easy. The first thing we have to do is get out of own ways. With that being said, it's obvious CD has experienced a breakthrough in that area!
Maureen,
I just called a Director's office over at _____ and it was a cold call - I actually want to speak with this guy, not get more names...all I said was "Yes, Susan, this is CD with ___________, can you please put me through to Jeff's vmail?” The admin didn't ask anything more, I was immediately transferred.
And BAM, I'm in!
I hung up smiling b/c it was so easy, and the trick is not to over think it and let fear set in.
CD, Major Biotech Company Recruiter
Nice, huh?
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This information is not to be re-published for commercial purposes in any form without my prior written permission.
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There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It Go href="http://www.ere.net/events/2007/fall/ataglance.asp">here to
read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYZmGoefp5M">Video
If you want to hear me (and Pam - the star of the telephone sourcing video) on yesterday's taped radio program go href="www.blogtalkradio.com/animal">here.
David Perry's FREE webinar is for people affected by the subprime
mortgage meltdown in the US. The webinar is TODAY and all details are
here.
“The moves most mortgage and financial professionals have made to
advance their careers to this point are probably exactly the wrong
things they should do to find work in the current job market,”
cautions recruiting professional David Perry, managing director of
Ottawa, Ontario-based Perry-Martel International.
Here are 3 typical wrong moves most mortgage/finance job seekers are
making now:
• Networking with colleagues
• Searching on Monster.com
• Reading help wanted ads in the newspaper
None of these techniques address the real problems in finding a job
today, according to Perry and job-search expert, Kevin Donlin,
President of Edina, Minn.-based Guaranteed Résumés.
During the webinar, mortgage professionals hit by the sub-prime
meltdown will learn how to:
• Google for the best jobs
• Craft a compelling resume that cuts through the clutter
• Apply “job search judo” techniques in the interview
• Get more job leads using Social Networking tools like LinkedIn and
ZoomInfo
Any questions contact David Perry at dperry at perrymartel.com or
call him at 613-236-6995 x114
We had that discussion last week in the Austin MagicMethod seminar how 800 numbers UNBLOCK Call Block. Someone made the remark that cell phones will also UNBLOCK all blocked calls, and being a techno-idiot, I went along with the program. That, and the fact that I don't call many cell phone numbers - I don't find them particularly helpful when sourcing names. But something stuck with me, bothering me, and the subject came up again yesterday in my Radio Interview with the Recruiting Animal (I was answering Caller questions about telephone names sourcing) and I may have concurred on the subject once again but now I WANT TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT. Cell phones DO NOT unblock Call Block - I just called Bob's (my husband) cell phone from my Call Blocked landline and it came up "restricted" as several calls to my cell phone have come up in the past. Try it - I believe you'll find the same. We use Verizon Wireless as a provider - maybe other providers react differently - I'm curious to know. Anyone want to scout around and report back?
Another Urban Legend (maybe) laid to rest...
But here's an interesting question that came to me yesterday in email:
"... one more question if it’s not too much trouble, on your radio show today, I wasn’t sure if I heard correctly. If I call into an 800#, and my landline is unlisted (not a *67) can an 800# line still decipher my unlisted phone number?"
Can 800 numbers decipher UNLISTED numbers? Anyone know?
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This information is not to be re-published for commercial purposes in any form without my prior written permission.
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It's time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
There’s still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE’s Fall Expo in D.C. on 16: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
If you want to hear me (and Pam - the star of the telephone sourcing video) on a taped radio program go here.
Going to the Fall ERE Expo?
Would you like to SEE and HEAR Gatekeeper wrangling? Do you want to learn attitude and stance that successful telephone sourcers possess? Do you wish to see a riveting real-time telephone names sourcing video demonstration that will make your heart pound and leave you breathless?
Then be sure to attend the Pre-Conference A workshop I am conducting at ERE’s Expo Fall Conference in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday October 17, from 10:00am–1:00pm. I'm looking forward to meeting you there and I promise you'll be delighted!
Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It
Go here to read all about it!
Watch the lead-in to the exciting telephone names sourcing demo here.
SESSION DESCRIPTION
Does your staffing function suffer from the same ol’-same ol’? Do you dare to blow the roof off your recruiting results? Telephone Names Sourcing is that killer application that has the potential to change your company’s brand and your own life.
You'll see how the pros source. You'll better be able to train others on proven techniques of names sourcing. You'll get sourcing scripts. This presentation will discuss the arcane subject of telephone names sourcing, both art and science.
Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813
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Hear Pam (the STAR! of the popular telephone names sourcing video) and me on the Recruiting Animal's Radio Show answering your questions about telephone names sourcing LIVE on September 12!
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Health insurance premiums rose 6.1% this year — the lowest rate of increase since 1999 — but that fact offered little solace to employers and workers, who have seen overall premium increases rise far faster than wages or inflation during that same period.
"Health insurance is becoming increasingly unaffordable for many employers and working people in the country," says Drew Altman, president of the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation. "We're seeing this more and more every year."
The average cost of a family plan purchased by employers this year hit a new high, $12,106, according to the survey Individual coverage premiums averaged $4,479 .
While the percentage of the premium paid by workers stayed about the same as last year, the dollar amount paid by workers toward their share of family coverage rose $308 to $3,281. Single employees paid an average of $694 toward their coverage, up $67.
Wages rose an average of 3.7% this year, and inflation went up 2.6%, Altman said
The cost for family coverage has risen 78% since 2001, while wages have risen 19% and prices for goods and services have risen 17% in that period, according to the report.
Read the whole thing here.
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FREE! Hear me on radio this Wednesday, September 12 at noon (est) on the Recruiting Animal's Radio Show. Call in with your telephone names sourcing questions and we'll answer them!
Call in to talk: (646) 652-2754 To Listen: Go to the website at show time. You'll see a box that says "click to listen".
Upcoming Animal shows:
September 19: Donato Diorio, CEO Broadlook Technologies
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
NOTE: If you're interested in becoming a MASTER at approaching Gatekeepers in different situations, then invest in yourself by studying the subject!
A huge mistake you’re probably making right now when you approach Gatekeepers
When you approach or start talking to a Gatekeeper that you want to get information from, what is your attitude towards her? How do you treat her? What are you thinking about?
Do you start the interaction by trying to figure out if she's going to be helpful?
Do you assume that she is probably going to rebuff you?
Do you read her as if she is rebuffing you?
Do you try to pretend like you're not interested in her in any way and instead try to give her the impression she is there to serve you?
Are you even aware of your strategy of talking to Gatekeepers at all?
Do you have a strategy?
Do you think you need one?
Most people are unaware of what they’re doing!
Most of us are running around doing things that we're not even aware we’re doing. If we are aware of what we're doing, we're probably not aware of how other people experience our behaviors.
Most of us allow others to control most or even all of how we act. We don’t readily admit that we try to do or say whatever we think will appease a Gatekeeper and we’re not aware that we're even mentally anticipating what she's going to think or say and do and how we’re reacting to it – but it’s happening.
It’s happening all the time!
In fact, if we could just get a realistic look at how much we think we’re realizing how Gatekeepers think and stand back and watch ourselves in silly action, we’d be appalled.
Consider the following:
You're at your desk, and you pick up the phone and dial a company where you want to find out who all the persons involved in storage management are. These persons can go by any of the following nomers: storage professional, storage architect, storage consultant, storage administrator, network administrator, storage engineer, backup specialist, SAN (storage area network) engineer…you get the idea – the possibilities are wide and varied. They’re usually found in or attached somehow to the IT (Information Technology) department and nine times out of ten they’re male.
Okay, you have the Gatekeeper on the phone; she sounds young and friendly. You know how these sound right? She even asks you if she might be of assistance.
You're thinking to yourself, "I wonder if she’s going to tell me what I want to know/I wonder if she knows anything about the IT department/I wonder if she know what I’m “up to”/I wonder what I can say to throw her off my scent/I wonder what I can say to make her feel she must help me/I wonder if I should just hang up and try all this tomorrow/I wonder/I wonder/I wonder.
Then, you remember the lessons contained in my MagicMethod series or you recall what I said at the speaking engagement you attended or recall the article I wrote last week on overcoming your fear and you decide to try some of your new-found techniques.
You say, "Hi, Melissa (she told you her name when she answered, didn’t she?), this is Tom Jones, can you help me? If you can I’ll be eternally grateful and send you a box of chocolates. I don’t usually do this but I’m desperate!”
She laughs and tells you that you don’t have to do that – she’s on a diet anyway – what can she do to help?
You’re on a roll.
“Are you sure? You look pretty good to me from over here!”
At this point you can “hear” her turn a blind eye. You know you’ve blown it so let’s think what could be happening here.
She might be very overweight
She might scare a dog off a meat wagon
She might be in a bad mood (you guys know what that means)
She might be offended
She might be emotionally unstable
She might have misheard what you said
She might have another line ringing (you don’t always hear it – sometimes her console just lights up)
She might have thought you were being stupid
...or the possibility exists that the technique you used might have been horrible.
But what do most people typically do in a situation like this one?
They let their emotions take over and they think, "Well, that MagicMethod stuff doesn't work", and they stop even trying to use their new-found advantage. If this is you, you need to start over at the beginning! What a mistake it is to stop trying. So you made a mistake. Get over it and move on. Try again. Learn. Don’t make the same mistake twice! Don’t stop believing. Remember the chapter(s) that touches on trying too hard? That’s what you just did – go reread one and get back on the phone. It’s an extremely important point in telephone names sourcing and you need to be aware of it. The chapters for you to reread, specifically, are:
Inner Self Confidence
Gatekeeper Comfort
Attitude and Stance
Let’s move on and turn the wild and wonderful laser of statistics on this:
Out of a random sample of 100 Gatekeepers, you’ll probably find that only 20 of them (or so) are:
- Fat or ugly
- Too busy to talk to you
- In that ‘bad’ mood
- Humorless
- Have their other line(s) ringing
- Have someone sitting next to them overhearing them
This is an estimate from my own personal experience, but I think you get the point. Here’s the important part:
Let's say that you started talking to all of these 100 Gatekeepers, one after the other, and you use the same basic attitude and opening with each of them.
What would you do?
If you treated all of them like they were probably NOT fat, or ugly, or humorless, or busy, or in a bad mood, or had someone sitting next to them or had their other lines ringing, you'd lose the opportunity to gather the information you need because you’d sound thoughtless, or, worse yet, weird, to some of them.
For instance, let's say you began your approach with a Gatekeeper who sounded friendly. You forget that she has a myriad of things surrounding her that could be going on and you don’t respect her space. You push things too far and you say something stupid like you just did or you say something like, “You probably can’t tell me this, but do you know who the storage engineers are in the IT department?” Guess what? She is either mightily offended at your too-forward forwardness or has her red flag of “Beware!” run up that flagpole next to her, remembering the HR Manager’s speech to her when she first started three months ago that there would be callers like this and this is what they sound like…and she doesn’t tell you!
You have short-sheeted yourself because of your thoughtlessness and you’ve reduced your chances far more than you have to.
On the other hand, let's say that you treated all of the 100 Gatekeepers like they were fat, or ugly, or humorless, or busy, or in a bad mood, or had someone sitting next to them or had their other lines ringing, etc. What would happen? You’d probably approach them from a different space, respecting the possibilities that could be happening in their worlds. You’d probably sound respectful and your communication would fall far short of any kind of presumptiveness. You’d sound far more professional and you wouldn’t sound so like you want something.
What do you think would happen?
Some of the time Gatekeepers will reject you (maybe 20 out of 100) no matter what. They live by a script and unless you have those special skills extremely talented telephone names sourcers possess that recognize that script and know how to get around it, you’re going to go away empty handed. It happens; get used to it with the accompanying solace that these numbers will dwindle as you hone your own skills.
That leaves 80 out of 100. 80 out of 100! 80% of the calls you make hold some element of promise. Four out of five times you’re going to get somewhere or something. Why stop when you only have a 1 in 5 chance of being shut down? Why stop? Believe it or not, many people do. This “thought” of rejection holds such abject terror for many people that they don’t even try. They miss the opportunity that’s out there to gather the names that could be theirs if they only tried. “The Magic in the Method” strives to teach you the skills that will better your odds in this random system. Why are you NOT using it?
Furthering this discussion, the trick here is to assume that she is going to help you, knowing that 80% of the calls you make hold that gratifying promise. You must overcome your own self-doubt and your fear of Gatekeepers in general and behave as if every one of them will help you. You must run the numbers through your head and decide that four out of five are good, and stop sabotaging your efforts by saying stupid and thoughtless things. You must accept that 80% is a more-than-acceptable risk ratio and know that there will be a few who won’t cooperate with you. So what? Does every kernel in the pot pop?
Talk to each Gatekeeper with respect and fortitude and don’t worry about the ones who won’t cooperate. Continue to develop a deep understanding of yourself and your understanding of Gatekeepers will strengthen. It won’t happen any other way. Keep using these tips and techniques – keep using them though occasionally you’re going to fall flat on your face. Don’t stop – don’t let that one in five wipe out your possibilities – your opportunities!
After all, it’s only a telephone.
;)
If you want to learn the skills of deeply connected and wildly successful telephone name sourcers, read the extraordinary literature that's been printed on the subject, both in here and elsewhere. However, MY stuff is not to be re-published for commercial purposes in any form without my prior written permission.
"My centre is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack." Marshall Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929), supreme commander of allied forces in 1918.
It's time to advance your sourcing skills. Think beyond.
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Let's Put The Housing Blame Where It Really Belongs
Economists who admonished Greenspan for flooding the economy with money, are now surprised that after 17 raises in short-term interest rates that consumers, particularly homeowners, are having a hard time making their credit card and house payments. A pullback of 4,000 jobs across the nation has put the stock market in a tailspin. Housing is to blame, but the real problem is salaries. The average worker’s pay in August 2007 rose to $17.50, a whopping 0.3 percent increase. Wages have risen 3.9 percent this year, one of the few years that earnings have outpaced inflation. Workers should be rolling in dough! But they’re not. If average workers make $3010 monthly, that’s only $36,120 gross a year. Home prices have doubled in the last five years, but salaries haven't beaten inflation. Just to give you an idea of how much that doesn’t buy, the median home in the U.S. is $228,900. That means half of the homes sell for less, half sell for more.
Full Story
FREE! Hear me on radio this Wednesday, September 12 at noon (est) on the Recruiting Animal's Radio Show. Call in with your telephone names sourcing questions and we'll answer them!
website: www.recruitinganimalshow.com
Call in to talk: (646) 652-2754
To Listen: Go to the website at show time. You'll see a box that says "click to listen".
Upcoming Animal shows:
September 19: Donato Diorio, CEO Broadlook Technologies
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
www.techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
I’ve said it many, many times before and I’m saying it again, telephone names sourcing will get you those individuals that are cocooned inside a company’s four walls, heads down at their desks, skillfully and gainfully doing the work you’d like them to be doing for you, and THERE IS NO OTHER WAY to find the majority of them unless you GET ON THE PHONE and ASK after them!
There is no magic bullet, no shortcut, no exclusionary and private way to find out who they are unless you CALL IN to the company, TALK TO SOMEONE and ask who those people are. It IS HARD WORK and no matter what someone tells you, don’t be fooled. It is EXTREMELY HARD WORK. It is long, irreverent hours and can be very stress filled. It can be frightening. It can be exhilarating. It is also wildly rewarding. It’s HUGE!
Contrary to popular opinion, you DO NOT have to call in and lie, pretending to be someone you’re not, in order to find out this most valuable of information. You simply have to understand that it’s not WHAT you say; it’s HOW you say it, and you need to understand how to approach that Gatekeeper. It is a very simple process but it’s not easy. It takes a combination of tenacity, some knowledge and GUTS. It always takes GUTS. Sometimes just GUTS is enough, though.
"A small key opens big doors.” ~ Turkish Proverb
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This information is not to be re-published for commercial purposes in any form without my prior written permission.
******
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
The question came, late morning in one of my on-site MagicMethod presentations, from a pretty young woman who appeared to be in her mid twenties sitting at the back of the room in the last row of a room of fifty or so, and it took me by surprise.
"What are we full-cycle recruiters supposed to take away from all of this?"
Surprised, I sensed a certain frustration from this individual that maybe she was there because she was told to attend by a manager and perhaps thought, really, she had bigger fish to fry back at her desk and her time could be better spent on other tasks than learning how to telephone names source.
Having demanded from the group right off the bat that morning that once they were seated, all comfy-cozy, that they all look to their right, and then to their lefts, and if any of them knew either of those individuals they were to move into a seat where they knew neither personage on either side. I could see immediately that some weren't too happy with this drill, revealing to me somewhat where my trouble spots were going to be for the day. Sure enough, the back of the room was excitedly in flux.
Understanding that what I was bringing to the table that morning had some of them frightened, I try to break up the affair with some light-hearted teasing to get people somewhat relaxed. This worked to the extent that it can, and the sea of eager faces before me lost much of their stoic apprehension. I could still see some stiff-necked resistance and that's okay, telephone names sourcing isn't for everyone.
But it is for those who expect to be full-cycle recruiters! I heard this answer more than once echoed by the astute in the audience and I firmly believe it to be so. What full-cycle recruiter can truly be full-cycle if he doesn’t know how to do the front-end and critically important (and becoming ever-more-important by the minute as board effectiveness wanes), activity of telephone names sourcing?
What full-cycle recruiter can afford to be without telephone names sourcing skills? Or, at the very least, has access to or the opportunity to partner in his practice with an excellent telephone names sourcer?
Yes, what I challenge my MagicMethod students to do sounds daunting. At first, it sure as heck feels scary to the majority of them! But that old saying that you "can't bake a cake without breaking a few eggs" comes up at me regarding all this.
"Get on the phone and ASK for information? Are you kidding me? Me? Get on the phone and names source? That’s so not in my job description! I so wasn’t hired to do that!"
Oh, yes you were. Read the fine print.
Magic Method isn't so much about getting on the telephone with technical instructions, step-by-step, and getting names, though there’s plenty of that in there! It's every bit as much about learning about ourselves, unraveling that mystery of our own egos, shedding the "stinkin' thinkin'" that gets us into so much trouble. It's about reading between the lines - about embracing our frailties and making them work for us, allowing them to make us sweeter, more empathetic, and more likeable. Not just to others, but to ourselves.
"You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition, what you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself.” ~ Alan Alda
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This information is not to be re-published for commercial purposes in any form without my prior written permission.
******
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
www.techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Call in with your telephone names sourcing questions!
FREE! Hear me on radio this Wednesday, September 12 at noon (est) on the Recruiting Animal’s Radio Show. Call in with your telephone names sourcing questions and we’ll answer them!
website: www.recruitinganimalshow.com
Call in to talk: (646) 652-2754
To Listen: Go to the website at show time. You'll see a box that says “click to listen”.
Upcoming Animal show:
September 19: Donato Diorio, CEO Broadlook Technologies
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
www.techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
GENEVA (AP) — American workers stay longer in the office, at the factory or on the farm than their counterparts in Europe and most other rich nations, and they produce more per person over the year.
They also get more done per hour than everyone but the Norwegians, according to a U.N. report released Monday, which said the United States "leads the world in labor productivity."
The average U.S. worker produces $63,885 of wealth per year, more than their counterparts in all other countries, the International Labor Organization said in its report. Ireland comes in second at $55,986, followed by Luxembourg at $55,641, Belgium at $55,235 and France at $54,609.
Read the whole thing here.
ONLY ONE SEAT LEFT! For those of you in TX, it’s not too late to attend my September 7 MagicMethod presentation in Austin - Dell is hosting us and it promises to be a great time!
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
www.techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
As you enjoy the day barbecuing, shopping, boating or snoozing in your hammock, here are a few Labor Day conversation starters.
Full Story
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
ONLY ONE SEAT LEFT! For those of you in TX, it’s not too late to attend my September 7 MagicMethod presentation in Austin - Dell is hosting us and it promises to be a great time!
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
www.techtrak.com
Work is a four letter word?
"The bottom line is that most of us view work as little more than a four-letter word. Many people hate their jobs and their bosses. If all that was needed to “get back” at your boss or your employer was an unscrupulous lawyer, the American labor force would likely cease to exist. We’d all be serving jury duty for the millions of lawsuits that would immediately be filed."
Go here to the Insourced blog for the links to the article "When Bosses Go Bad".
ONLY ONE SEAT LEFT! For those of you in TX, it’s not too late to attend my September 7 MagicMethod presentation in Austin - Dell is hosting us and it promises to be a great time!
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
www.techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
So much for sweating out that first job after college. Like star athletes, engineering students Julie Arsenault and Emily Reasor are prized prospects for the energy industry, which is experiencing dizzying demand for engineers.
Bustling oilfield activity and retiring baby boomers, among other factors, have petroleum outfits large and small trying to hire thousands of engineers, and experts say the trend is expected to extend into the next decade as worldwide energy demand grows.
Management consulting firm Oliver Wyman says roughly eight in 10 global oil and gas companies forecast a shortage of petroleum engineers through at least 2011. The American Petroleum Institute said U.S. energy companies will need at least another 5,000 engineers by decade's end.
The shortage of engineers has been caused in part by the upsurge in exploration and a wave of retirements from baby boomers who have spent 25 to 30 years on the job.
API says low college enrollment in petroleum engineering and other majors that support the oil and gas business also is to blame — in part because of the industry's reputation as an unreliable employer.
After U.S. oilfield employment peaked at 860,000-plus in 1982, companies slashed more than 500,000 jobs over the next 18 years as oil prices per barrel plummeted to the low teens — compared with prices hovering around $70 a barrel today.
Those layoffs, an API report said, "sharply curbed entry into the industry by nearly a full generation."
But college enrollment numbers are improving as the industry aggressively touts the potential for challenging work, exotic postings and starting annual salaries at $70,000 or higher.
The number of undergraduate students studying petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University has jumped from 191 in 2001 to 507 last fall, including 52 students at a new satellite campus in Qatar. A&M's petroleum engineering school, one of the nation's largest, had 1,422 undergraduates in 1982.
Read whole thing here.
ONLY ONE SEAT LEFT! For those of you in TX, it’s not too late to attend my September 7 MagicMethod presentation in Austin - Dell is hosting us and it promises to be a great time!
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
www.techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
You like that? That's just a teaser - attend the September 7 Austin MagicMethod telephone names sourcing presentation and watch the full, real-time demonstration on how to actually do it!
Only ONE seat left!
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
www.techtrak.com
I was reading the news this morning and I came across an article that appeared to be some movie star fluff – just the kind of thing to go with my second cup of coffee, and it was called “Hey, Who’s He? With Gwyneth? The Google Guy”. Not expecting this to have ANYTHING to do with recruiting but intrigued by the Google mention, I clicked on the full story. It seems there’s some guy at Google who has made a hobby out of getting his pic taken w/celebs and famous visitors to Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA. The article mentioned, in the third paragraph, that “Mr. Tan is a 37-year-old engineer at Google, and his initial chutzpah, his quirky workplace and a steady stream of distinguished visitors have turned him into the company’s in-house Zelig.”
Wondering to myself, what kind of engineer Mr. Tan was, I read through the entire article thinking it would give the information away, but it didn’t. Curiouser than a cat, I went to google, my still-fav search engine, and copied in “Tan Chade-Meng” (in quotes so it’s sure to hang together) and whadda’ya know? The first hit was Mr. Tan’s web page!
On it, I was welcomed with a greeting to “Meng's little space”. The cheery portal continued, along with the adorable picture above of Meng as a baby, with:
Welcome
Hi! I'm Tan Chade-Meng. Welcome to my home page! I hope you didn't lose your way coming here. All my friends call me "Meng", my enemies call me worse things. ("Meng" is the name of a famous local ape). The picture above was taken during the days when I was better looking. Click here to see how I look like today. Here's a bonus: click here to see my body! You've guessed it right, the face is a fake, the body is real. I'm a Software Engineer. I used to say, "Hi, I'm an engineer", then people would ask me, "So, what type of engineer are you?". My reply was, "Well, I am a.... good engineer". This reminds me of a joke:
Q: How many software engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None, it is a hardware problem.
And THAT folks, is why it’s important to read things that appear to not be so "related" to recruiting – anyone looking for a software engineer in Silicon Valley who has “designed and built infrastructure for automated management of Network Attached Storage systems”? (Yes, his resume is linked from the page.)
By the way, did you know (I didn't, until recently!) that a Chinese name is written with the family name (surname or last name) first and the given name next; therefore "John Smith" as a Chinese name would be "Smith John".
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This information is not to be re-published for commercial purposes in any form without my prior written permission.
******
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
www.techtrak.com
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
"My centre is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack."- Marshall Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929), supreme commander of allied forces in 1918.
******
This information is not to be re-published for commercial purposes in any form without my prior written permission.
******
There's still room - register for my October 16 Workshop at ERE's Fall Expo in D.C.: Telephone Names Sourcing: What Is It and Why You Need To Do It - Go here to read all about it! Questions? Contact amy at ere.net or call her direct at 360-264-5627 or also at 212-671-1181 x813 Use discount code of DC07SP (case sensitive) to receive a $200 discount off the conference registration cost.
Watch the Telephone Names Sourcing Video
Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer
513 899 9628
TechTrak.com, Inc.
maureen at techtrak.com
www.techtrak.com
