Articles - Business / Client Dev & Marketing

What do you do when you are on the phone with a new client who has just agreed to use your services, provides a brief list of selection criteria but suddenly becomes reluctant to answer further questions regarding the nature and scope of the position, the company, hiring process or history of the opening? Many times they simple state:

I’ve told you what I’m looking for so just send me resumes of people who match.”

Sounds reasonable from the client’s point of view and for the inexperienced or poorly trained contingency recruiter, it presents an objection many are unable to overcome. However, sending a resume, even a blind resume is not the answer. Rather, the first thing you should do is determine “why” the client is reluctant to answer your questions. There could be one or a combination of the following reasons.

1.    The client has no previous experience in working with a professional recruiter and therefore does not understand the process.

2.    The client has worked with recruiters previously and found them to be of limited value and therefore does not see benefit in spending valuable time answering your questions.

3.    The client views recruiters as a “commodity” and therefore believes the best approach to take is to dictate a simple process to follow.

4.    The client has taken time in the past to answer the questions of recruiters only to have them present candidates who were poorly matched to the job requirements.

5.    The client has always worked with recruiters in this manner and does not realize its limitations

6.    The priority the client places on filling the position is not high enough to justify taking the time to answer your questions.

Therefore, ask a question or questions similar to the following:

“Why the reluctance to answer my questions?”

Or

“I could send you resumes. However, can you envision a scenario where this might not be of benefit to you?”

Or

"If I did send you resumes, what would be the next step in our process?”

(Notice you didn’t say you would send resumes.)

Or

“Sending you resumes at this point could prove to be a waste of time for both of us. Do you know why?”

These questions are designed to engage the client in a dialogue in which they can express their concerns (if any) and you can establish a valid basis for asking your questions.

Time is the only commodity we all have in equal proportion. It is also our most valuable asset. Therefore, never waste your client’s time, your candidate’s time and most importantly, never waste your own time. Sending resumes on poorly qualified job orders can be a waste of everyone’s time.

Remember

A client cannot hire someone who does not want to work for them or their organization.

When working with a client, our responsibility is to only present candidates who are both interested in and qualified for the position on which we are recruiting. This is our primary justification for asking questions about the position (including compensation), the manager, the organization, the history of the opening and the hiring process. Consequently, if we send a resume to the client before we have established an interest on the part of the candidate to interview with our client, we may have wasted everyone’s time.

Therefore, if the client is reluctant to answer your questions, qualify their reluctance, and then, in your own words, explain the following:

“Sending you resumes of qualified candidates who may not have an interest in your position would be a waste of your time as well as mine.”

“The only way to interest a candidate is to have the information available to answer their question about your open position, your organization, and of course, questions about you.”

“Because of their overall experience and skill sets, the candidates we recruit are in high demand. They have earned the right to be selective when determining where they will invest their interview time. If I do not have enough information to interest them in your organization, they will not interview. At that point they become an asset that is not available to you.”

A variation on this approach is to use role reversal. Here is an example.

“If the roles were reversed and you were the candidate, how would you respond to an interview request with a company and a position for which you had little or no information? You wouldn’t agree to go on an interview unprepared, would you?”

By placing the client in the position of the candidate, it should open their eyes to seeing why it is important for them to answer your questions and insure you have the information needed in order to do your best work on their behalf.  However, if, after exploring all options they remain reluctant to answer your questions, then I recommend you use a “take away close” similar to the following:

“Sending you resumes on candidates that cannot be properly qualified in advance as to their interest in your opportunity would prove to be a waste of everyone’s time. Therefore, unless you are willing to provide me with the necessary information, it would be in our mutual best interest not to work together at this time. Do you understand my reasoning?”

Optional

“When I became a professional recruiter, I made an important decision about my career. That decision was to only work in those situations where I could apply, in an unencumbered fashion, the full resources of my expertise and therefore, bring the greatest value to those I serve. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be one of those situations.”

Those of you, who have experienced my training or read any of my previous articles on this subject, know that I am not a fan of sending resumes. However, I do realize many who read this might in fact do just that and perhaps even under circumstances similar to those presented at the beginning of this article. That’s a business decision only you can make. Nevertheless, it’s my hope that the information presented here will, when customized with your own words and presentation style, allow you to achieve improved results.

As always, if you have questions or comments about this article or wish to receive my input on any other topic related to this business, just let me know. Your calls and e-mails are most welcome.

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Biography

Recipient of the “Harold B. Nelson Award”, Terry Petra is one of our industry’s leading trainers and consultants.  He has successfully conducted in-house programs for hundreds of search, placement, temporary staffing firms and industry groups across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, England, and South Africa.  To learn more about his training products and services, including “PETRA ON CALL”, and “BUSINESS VALUATION”, visit his web site at:  www.tpetra.com.  Terry can be reached at (651) 738-8561 or e-mail him at: Terry@tpetra.com

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