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Managing Your Talent Pipeline: Making Small Contributions

Once you have permission to follow-up with someone (see yesterday’s article), it then becomes important to make some sort of small contribution to the candidate’s life in subsequent conversations.

When you contemplate how to make one of these contributions, think of things that are small and thoughtful rather than large and flashy.  Here are three ideas that I’ve seen used effectively:

1.  Recognize an accomplishment.  Our world is more transparent than ever before.  With various websites, online social networks, blogs, and other venues, there is a lot of information available about people.  It is not uncommon for people to publish both their personal and professional accomplishments in some kind of online environment.  It’s also easy to search and find such information.

For example, your candidate might be part of a large company that recently won a large contract from the government.  A quick email letting the candidate know that you noticed the accomplishment is a natural way to make a connection.  If the person had direct involvement in the deal, of course it would be appropriate to congratulate that involvement specifically - If not, the general congrats is still worth the effort.  Good news is good news, and people like to talk about it.

2.  Recognize an accomplishment of someone close to the candidate.  All of us have relationships and we care about what happens to the people in those relationships.  It’s quite natural to strike up a conversation with a person and talk about their spouse, their kids, their activities, etc.  During an initial conversation, take some mental notes on these relationships and activities, and then keep your ears open for things that naturally take place around you.

When you find some tidbit of information, let the person know that you noticed their accomplishment.  This can be a simple email that says something like, “Bill, I noticed that your son’s football team made it to the district tournament.  You must be really proud.  We’ll be pulling for the team—I hope they make it to state!”

3.  Recognize a mutual contact.  Psychologist Stanley Milgram is commonly credited for conceptualizing the six degrees of separation theory.  Milgram (and now many others since then) has shown us that we're surprisingly connected to those around us through a web of relationships.  When this web is discovered, people naturally find it interesting.
 
When you find out that there is a common contact between you and the candidate you’re trying to recruit, make a point to acknowledge it.  This too, can be a short email that says something like, “Bill I ran into Paul Graham last night at Costco.  He mentioned that he did some work with you a couple of years back and had some nice things to say.  Hopefully, you two will connect again soon.”

As you make these contributions, remember the objective—keep the balance of value in the relationship tipped towards your candidate by making multiple deposits.  If the person always gets something good from you (such as kind words and attention), or hears something positive (such as remembrance of an accomplishment or relationship), or just feels some encouragement, then good things are more likely to result on the recruiting front.

Managing Your Talent Pipeline

Here is a question we often receive from hiring managers:

“I’ve identified someone who I think would be a great addition to my team, made initial contact with that person, but realize that the timing is not quite right for them to leave their current job.  Now what?  How do I stay in contact with this person over time in a way that will eventually result in a hire?”

This is where a lot of people get stuck.  They make the initial contact with enthusiasm, but there is not enough substance in the relationship to initiate further contact without feeling awkward.

Over the next couple of days, I’m going to share some things that we’ve learned on this topic from some of the best recruiting companies in the country.  Hopefully, you’ll be able to take some of these ideas and apply them to your talent pipeline.

There are two basic rules that I recommend you follow when working with your candidates:

1.  Ask for permission.  Seth Godin made his debut into the consulting/marketing world by figuring  out that people like to be respected in the marketing process.  In fact, they respond much better when they are treated with respect.  In his bestselling book Permission Marketing, Godin makes the point that respect is shown by asking a person if it is OK if you market to them.  By the way, this is where the concept of the “opt-in” email originated.

Recruiting is marketing.  When you make initial contact with a candidate and you believe there is some potential for the future, ask a simple question:  “Would it be OK if I followed-up with you occasionally?”  It is a natural question to ask, and most people will say yes.  By dong this, you show respect and you set an expectation for future contact.

2.  Add value with each subsequent conversation.  John Sumser, a recruiting expert and author, often makes the point that any communication with a candidate must provide the candidate with something of value.  More specifically, the value of what you provide in the conversation must exceed the value of the candidate’s time and attention to take the call or answer an email.  If this does not happen during each conversation, the candidate will no longer want to talk with you.

Think of it like a scale that rests on a center fulcrum - If you’re extracting value from the candidate (you want their time and attention), the scale tips towards you.  You’re getting something, but not giving something in return.  Only dysfunctional people put up with this type of imbalance.  Good hiring managers make sure the scale is always tipped toward the candidate, and not just a little bit--a lot.

In the upcoming articles, we’ll offer some ideas to help you get the scale to tip in your candidates' favor...