Dear Danny: Is it just me or is there an increasing trend of hiring execs only making themselves available for interviews at ridiculously inconvenient times - usually phone, but we just had one do this for an in person, final interview at the end of a two-month process. In the last month, I've had several HA's who have been impossible to nail down for a call with a candidate offer, "I'm only available Friday at 7 am or Sunday at 9 PM" for a call with the candidate. Another - (a COO at a $400 mm company who insists on interviewing both on the phone and in person every candidate they hire making around 90K or more) just flipped the final onsite interview from 3 pm to 7 am. When I protest and tell the HA the time is too early, too late etc. and that the candidate may not be on their game as a result of getting up at 5 am and traveling to make a 7 am series of in person interviews, the client starts with the "Well, he must not be that motivated then if he can't make an early interview.", or, "It shouldn't be a problem, we'll have coffee for him." I even [...]

Hi Danny, I have been Recruiting for two years now and in my mind, I am a good Recruiter. Last month, I had 25 Send Outs and as of yet, no offers or placements. I continue to be productive/active with my recruiting calls, follow-ups, and new searches. Keep in mind, that in my current position, I am only recruiting, not doing "both sides". My question is, what if any advice can you give me? I am getting a little frustrated and feel my confidence sliding a bit. I know I need to keep my activity up. I have new candidates interviewing daily and I am averaging 1-2 sendouts a day. I would appreciate any words of wisdom you may have. Don't get me wrong, I do realize it's a "numbers game", but I just want to make sure it's not me, when in fact, it may be something else. Danny's response, It is a numbers game, if you’re the one controlling the numbers. But if you’re only the candidate side, and someone else controls the process of send outs, debriefs and closing, you can only impact the front end of the numbers, and therefore relying on the old axiom is tremulous at best. 25:1 is way off the [...]

Hi Danny, I very much appreciated your recent newsletter about the evolving methods of recruiting professionals through social media, email blasting, and more. In the same line of thought I was hoping that you could talk about work/life balance. Our top biller in the office leaves at 4:25 in the afternoon (while the office stays until 5 or later). He also has between 30 and 40 calls during a day, and talk time around an hour per day. Yet the result is between 60 and 100K per month on the board in solo deals from him. Similarly, the next couple of top billers in the company have similarly low call rates, and yet our President continues to drive the importance of doing all prep work and planning at home, and staying late, and being on the phone above all else as a means of guaranteeing effectiveness and revenue. It has always been my contention that quality trumps quantity and that in order to live a healthy life-style there needs to be a break in the time that one works, to after hours. I've always thought that if a person can't do the job really well in the 8 hours we should be at our desks, that employee either [...]