Impossible Search? Or Are You Skipping a Strategic Step?

Spring 2016

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impossible search? or Are You skipping a strategic step?

Conni Ladouceur, R/RS, President and Chief Sourcing Strategist, ExecuQuest Research Corp.

We’ve all recruited for tough-to-fill openings, hard-to-please hiring managers, less-than-competitive salaries and even not-so-favorable company press. But what if you’re recruiting and you simply can’t identify the qualified talent? The list of must-haves is long; you’ve searched your ATS and external resume databases, posted your jobs on the most compelling sites and utilized all of the latest social networking tools, but the quality of the candidate pipeline is still lacking.

Did you know that 32 – 83%* of the US professional working population is UN-identifiable online?

Without a doubt, LinkedIn is our best-yet online directory for talent. There are currently more than 230 million LinkedIn profiles worldwide, 81 million in the U.S. “White-collar” workers (management, professional, sales and office administrative) nationwide constitute 37.7 million or 44% of the 88 million white-collar workers in the U.S. Surprisingly, fewer than half of these are degreed. Many pockets of talent consider it prudent and downright mandatory to be findable online. But what if the person you’re searching for is choosing to keep a low profile? Can you risk not considering what might be the best possible talent for your challenging need? What steps can you take to identify these qualified individuals? Sure, you can source for this talent when speaking with a contact and he or she may recommend someone qualified for the role. But do you want to take a chance on receiving suitable recommendations or do you want the ability to identify all of the passive, top talent from your hiring manager’s most sought-after target companies?

Many position openings, said to be “challenging” or “difficult,” are neither. It’s just that the qualified talent has not been identified, called and compelled to consider the opportunity. Many recruiters and talent acquisition and staffing specialists settle for nearly-qualified hires because they have forgotten the free resource that can produce the on-target talent they seek: the telephone. There is absolutely no substitute for calling into a company, identifying the individual who heads your hiring manager’s competing organization, and identifying that person’s entire team. We all can identify and reel in the heads-down, doing-their-jobs, gainfully employed, truly passive qualified talent from the very companies from which our hiring managers most want to hire…but not necessarily online.

Most recruiters today are “digital natives” but those of us who are “digital immigrants” grew up identifying the talent we needed by phone. Unfortunately, some were “raised to ruse,” given a phonebook and told to find the talent any way they could, and many still resort to misrepresentation in

developing telephone research. The fact is, most just don’t know that there are efficient and ethical ways to map the passive, qualified candidates we all seek.

Investigative, evidence-gathering, questioning skills, the what-you-say and what-you-don’t say over the phone, can raise the quality of talent you identify and hire, and build your reputation as the “Deliverer of Results.” These strategic pipelining skills have propelled many corporate recruiting, sourcing, and search professionals to excel in the most challenging of recruiting projects, and this identification technique is effective in all industries, all functions, at all levels, worldwide. Original telephone research delivers the added ROI your company seeks.

Telephone research is real-time, primary research while what we find online is secondary research. Utilize LinkedIn to identify a name that will get you into the target department and company, and then control the call to map the entire team and their respective levels. Titles are not synonymous from company to company, and also asking how many people a person manages can greatly shorten the search process and time-to-fill. The information we gather from calling into a company simply cannot be found online. The key to succeeding in recruiting is learning how to increase candidate quality, create talent-rich pipelines, and maximize your competitive intelligence, while spending a minimum amount of time managing the information overload. Just as your hiring managers are experts in their fields, your responsibility is to meet (and exceed!) their most pressing hiring goals via your skills, talents, and consultative solutions. Supplementing Internet findings with original telephone research elevates candidate quality and empowers the proactive pipelining we all seek.

It’s amazing what’s available for the asking! Polite, professional, and persistent identification is the tack we take to successfully obtain the information we need by phone. The lost art of telephone research has been called “audacious,” and rightly so. Other deserving describers might be courageous, creative, enterprising, tenacious, and undaunted. Wouldn’t you like to see these adjectives on your next performance evaluation?

We at ExecuQuest Corp. have been developing on-target telephone research, talent mapping, and passive candidate development for over 30 years. We develop our original telephone research while simultaneously searching online for the data we need to efficiently identify by phone. We also reverse-research* our telephone findings for three reasons: 1) to gauge our clients’ YFRI (Yield for Research continued on Page 5

NAHCR 913.895.4627 •• Fax: Fax:913.895.4652 913.895.4652• •Email: Email:nahcr@goAMP.com nahcr@goAMP.com NAHCR• P.O. • P.O.Box Box14365 14365• •Lenexa, Lenexa,KS KS66285-4365 66285-4365 •• Phone: 913.895.4627

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Impossible Search? continued from Page 4

Investment), 2) to measure our telephone results vs. our Internet findings and 3) to become better-skilled at online research. Our clients rely heavily upon the accuracy and insight of our primary research, which provides top talent otherwise unknown to them, and is the foundation of our success. We charge hourly for our research services and you are encouraged to hire one or all for the one-time research fee. *The following are compelling telephone results: Specialty Pharmacists for a top 10 worldwide health insurer: 92 on-target individuals were identified via ethical telephone research and reverse-researching all the names found that 83% were not identifiable on the web.

Physician Assistants from the leading competitor in (city) in New England: 9 qualified individuals were identified via ethical telephone research, 6 were UN-identifiable online.

Director, Patient Care Services for a VA Hospital: 8 Nursing Directors were identified in two phone calls, 4 were UN-findable online. ** UN-identifiable? Challenge that!

How to Identify Qualified Talent by Telephone BEFORE THE CALL …..In order to identify qualified talent to minimize candidate development time: 1. Gather previous research into this target company in case this individual has been previously identified, do not reinvent the wheel. Online research will continue throughout the talent mapping.

2. Determine whether your target group is centralized or decentralized. (If centralized, identification should take less time. If decentralized, ID into the two/three most appropriate or two/three largest or closest geographically to the position city) 3. Review the target companies’ career sites and indeed. com for job descriptions and respective titles.

4. Open available directories, consult www.Healthgrades. com, www.healthline.com, www.npidb.org, American Board of Medical Specialties www.abms.org, state and federal plan provider lists (Medicaid), insurance company provider lists, state licensure sites and hospital or provider group sites. To obtain additional information consult your local public library for resources i.e., Business, Science and Industry Department of the Philadelphia Free Library 215-686-5394 or a Medical Librarian associated with hospitals or providers in your target area.

5. Select the Objective Qualifiers, one/two most appropriate phrases to begin the telephone inquiry, i.e., title, responsibility or qualifications, and begin the telephone research as you continue data mining 6. Upon reviewing directory listings and previous ID … breathe, relax, and practice efficient professionalism.

dURiNG THE id CALL …..

7. Call the most appropriate number or the provider/ hospital’s main number and ask the operator: “Who oversees (or Who is in charge of?) Physician Assistants. Who is the ___________ (Practice Administrator, Practice Manager or Supervising Physician over Neurology or Orthopedics)?”

“What is his/her direct dial number for future reference? Cell phone number?”

“What is his/her exact title please?” “And what is that department called in your facility, please?”

8. If “top-down” fails, try “bottom-up” … i.e., instead of identifying the head of the group and his/her reports (for example, call the receptionist, or administrative coordinator and never forget the “Interns”, CNAs or assistants.

9. When in doubt, ask another way to verify the data. (i.e., once you’ve asked who is the Practice Administrator or Manager, and who reports to that individual you would say, “And who manages the Nurses or Administrative Staff” or “who manages the Physician Assistants at your satellite office in ____________?)

10. When rebuffed, don’t forget these other sources not to be overlooked: Supervising Physician’s Nurse or Assistant Human Resources (ask them to check an organization chart) Scheduling/Appointments Professional Organizations, i.e., American Academy of Physician Assistants www.aapa.org, Association of Family Practice Physician Assistants www.afppa.org, Physician Assistants Orthopedic Surgery www.paos.org, American Association of Surgical Physician Assistants www.aaspa.com Medical Records Department Mailroom Medical Librarians and Medical School Staff in the target area or call EQC to assist with Identification/Talent mapping via our 20+- additional sources wHEN CALLiNG THE PROPSPECTivE CANdidATES: What if he or she is qualified and says “no”?

“I encourage you to take a look at this opportunity until you know fully what you are saying no to.”

“Do you see yourself as open-minded enough to consider a new opportunity?” (Could YOU say no to this??)

“Don’t you owe it to your career to consider this outstanding opportunity?”

How do you fill your most challenging positions? Are you hiring the most qualified talent or the most available talent?

Let us train you in our search strategies and techniques which focus on identification/talent mapping, candidate continued on Page 6

NAHCR • P.O. Box 14365 • Lenexa, KS 66285-4365 • Phone: 913.895.4627 • Fax: 913.895.4652 • Email: nahcr@goAMP.com NAHCR • P.O. Box 14365 • Lenexa, KS 66285-4365 • Phone: 913.895.4627 • Fax: 913.895.4652 • Email: nahcr@goAMP.com

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impossible search? continued from Page 5 development, the further building of competitive intelligence and sourcing for additional qualified talent, all via direct, ethical, telephone outreach and within the context of the consultative, proactive approach. We can develop a program specific to your recruiter learning needs with case studies on the very open positions and target companies that are most critical to the participants. These strategies and techniques are effective in all industries, all functions, all levels, worldwide. We have developed learning programs for international executive search firms, MetLife, HSBC, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Starbucks, Wells Fargo, TJx, etc., here and abroad, and are now developing programs in financial services, pharmaceutical, management consulting, defense, healthcare, retail, not-for-profit and mining.

The mission and commitment of ExecuQuest Corp. is to provide outstanding search/research solutions, truly passive candidates, expeditiously. As hourly research providers, we endeavor to impress search firm clients with our on-target talent mapping and insight and are careful stewards of our client’s research investment. We develop the information as efficiently as possible each and every time, for each and every client, with each and every phone call. We are relied upon for our primary research development, training and one-on-one coaching and take great pride in our work.

Call us to discuss our strategic search/research services, customized recruiter and sourcer training and one-on-one coaching.

About the Author: Conni LaDouceur Chief Sourcing Strategist and Trainer, ExecuQuest Corp., 1-410-667-8400, conni@eqcadvisors.com Conni LaDouceur is Founder and Chief Sourcing Strategist of ExecuQuest Corp. in Baltimore. Previously with Heidrick & Struggles, Inc., Conni and her team challenge identifying and developing the most qualified talent via their direct, ethical and efficient telephone sourcing.

A graduate of the University of Maine, Conni speaks on Empowering Your Recruiters, The Art of the Call, Quality-First Sourcing, strategic search/research solutions, time vs. yield measurements, ethical identification of passive talent, the reeling-in of reluctant, qualified talent, adding value to the business via a consultative approach, improving recruiter/sourcer performance and developing internal sourcing groups at annual corporate recruiting summits and other professional gatherings. She has delivered workshops globally to executive search firms, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Starbucks, TJx, HSBC, GlaxoSmithKline, David Lord’s Executive Search Academy, NAHCR, IACPR, Executive Search Roundtable, Kennedy Information’s Recruiting Conference, the International Executive Search Federation, SourceCon, Corporate Sourcing Leadership Exchange, SHRM, NAPS, ASA and other organizations.  Reprinted from 2013 Fall Issue Vol. 37 No. 3.

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