I recently transitioned from the IT world of recruiting to healthcare, working for two of the most presitigious hospitals in the Pacific Northwest. My new manager, Steve Wojack, also joined the team a few weeks before me. He has been recruiting for a long time, and I decided to interview him to get his unique perspective based on his long tenure in the profession.

Steve, how long have you been in recruiting, what is your background? I have 25 years of recruiting background 10 years as a Director of Recruiting in Healthcare and government staffing. My first 15 years was spent in both contingency and executive search.

What major changes have you seen in that time? How have they affected recruiting for better/worse? Stoneages to the Space Odyssey. I think that has caused some of the problems that recruiters have today. I believe that the technology available to the recruiters have de-personalized the business.

How has OFCCP impacted your industry? It forces us to make sure that our documentation is up to date on all candidates. I think this is a great thing but it does task our employees with a tremendous amount of administrative functions.

When you are evaluating a new recruiter to hire, what do you look for? I look for attitude more than anything else, that "can do" presence. I look to see if the person will be comfortable with using the phone to connect with candidates so I give them a job description and have them call me about this great job. I don't care if its polished or not; I want them to make the call. If they do it in less than 10 minutes I know I have someone who is not afraid.

Third party recruiters are having a really tough time in today's market. As a potential client, what should account managers know about contacting you? They should know who they are calling and something about their company. I hate it when I get a call and the recruiter has no clue what we do or what our business needs are.

What sort of sales calls impress you? What are some of the things that irritate you? Impress? That's hard to do, so I'll share what irritates me. I stop listening when a recruiter calls telling me they have a great candidate with xx years of experience in X and would be an ideal fit for your organization. See above! That type of recruiter is transactional and not interested in developing a relationship. I'm impressed with a recruiter who calls me stating what they do and what they would hope they could do for my organization. Calling in saying they have a great candidate that would be a perfect fit when they don't know who we are is a turn off.

Do you have any words of wisdom for both unemployed recruiters and those that are still employed but overwhelmed? Recruiting is a passion; either you have it or you don't. If you're unemployed and want to stay in the industry, networking is still the best way to find a great career. Go to the association meeting, join LinkedIn, ere or any other networking site and get yourself recognized. If you are overwhelmed, stick with it. Our economy will come back and you will have the help necessary to get the work done. Today's economy forces employers to run lean and mean forcing the recruiters to do more with sometimes less.

Any other thoughts you'd care to share? I can't emphasize enough about not being a transactional recruiter. Take the time to learn your industry, the key players and find ways that you can be of service to them. Figure out what your differentiators are and how they can benefit your client. Remember we hear "I have an outstanding candidate with XX" at least 5 times per day, so don't waste my time.

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From a professional perspective, I've been impressed with Steve's views on recruiting, his forethought regarding social networking and value he assigns sourcing (and his sourcer! :), and his down to earth management style in general. I look forward to his mentoring, and learning from the rest of our team. (And boy am I learning!)