Throwback Recruiting! follow this blog post

posted by Robert Stanke on July 23, 2007

For the last couple of weeks, I have really been focusing on going back in time and putting some emphasis on recruiting with a little more personal touch.  For example, after a phone call with a new candidate, the first thing I do is drop them a letter in the mail.  Now, this is not just some form letter that gets spit out of my ATS, but rather a personal, typed, relevant-to-our-conversation type letter.  Sometimes I hand-write it and sometimes I type it out.  I always include a copy of my bi-monthly newsletter, and of course a business card.  While I was not sure what kind of response I would get or if people would even notice, I had the support of our owner here at Talent, so I thought I would give it a try.

 

It didn't take long to get feedback... about two days.

 

After my first letter went out, two days later I got a phone call.  My candidate stated that she had never gotten a letter in the mail from a recruiter before - let alone one that included very detailed information we shared together on the phone.  Before I knew it, I had built a very quick personal relationship with a strong candidate in the Twin Cities.  While timing might not be right now, she assured me that she will always take and return my calls because I took the time to deliver that type of communication to her.

 

Now all of us know that as recruiters and sourcers, we are often under time crunches to deliver qualified candidates, and one might think they don't have the time to hand-write a letter to a candidate.  This is indeed the case for me, and it is true that you can't do this for everyone, but the few select candidates you do send letters too will pay off.  Ten minutes.  That is all it takes to get a letter out, but it will be the best ten minutes spent when a candidate gets it.  Heck, it takes ten minutes to write a quality email, why not just give a little extra effort?

 

So take the time and try it for a week if you are not doing it already.

 

After all, look at it from a candidate's perspective... it beats getting nothing but bills in the mail.

 

By the way, that reminds me... I better start working on my holiday cards...

 

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•  Sunil Brara sbrarahotmail.com

  1 point 2 years ago

  Yes,Robert very true that a personalized approach to a candidate not only establishes a honest relationship but also a close rapport which results in even many more refferals over the long run which are without doubt better than simply names generated.

  While handling follow ups of responses from recruiters during job searching for candidate clients most would be from just auto responders day in and day out saying with subject headings as 'Mark,Great oppurtunity for you today' etc etc.with jobs mentioned within and most of which had no relavance to the qualification even.As far as possible one should try for the approach that you mentioned and which was fruitful.

  Having been in the hospitality industry for long I have seen the personalized approach from close quarters to have max satisfaction of clients.

  I also believe that the candidate even if not having the capabilities of the particular job should be earnestly guided in his/her job search efforts.One can have few permanent files like how to write a resume,set up job alerts etc etc and send them to the candidates who will appreciate it and would feel like returning the favor.

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