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 grid. As my top producing friend TK Konnerth says, “most recruiters just practice being recruiters.” When you send in someone who is not seriously considered, that’s practice. And as Alan Iverson famously said about 1000 times in two minutes, “practice doesn’t count.”

Recruiters on the candidate side need to take ownership. I know you can’t control the client side without causing a mutiny, but you can value your work and sit the account manager or Client Side recruiter down and say, “If you and I were running a full desk, and someone looked at 25:1, they would say:”

1) Either the candidates are wrong. (In which case you need to be educated and shift your search criteria EARLIER)

2) The Jobs aren’t real. (Are the jobs being filled by ANY source? If yes, fine. If no, there is a job order qualifying issue.)
3) We are getting offers but they are being turned down. (A candidate seriousness OR a job order compensation issue.)

4) We are working with HR who demands resumes but is non-responsive. (Time to walk away and work another job.)

You need to do a Post Mortem on all of these lost send outs and each situation. This will uncover a trend, which should then dictate who is at fault and what best practice remedy needs to be implemented. Keep this objective, calm and cool. If the jobs are weak, it’s not your fault per se, but it IS your fault if you recognize it and keep waiting for the “numbers” to kick in. That is a myth. They won’t. Not if the quality is poor. If the analysis shows your recruiting is the issue, have the humility to accept it and the determination to change.