By Mary McLoughlin.
(This is part two of a three-part series on Be a Rocket Launcher: Onboarding Strong Recruits). Part One can be found here.
They won’t call me back! I can’t even connect to get them started.
This common complaint is a top frustration for recruiters. As a coach, I kept hearing this and began to wonder why, when someone was interested enough to sign up, they wouldn’t want the knowledge to get off to a great start. Here are three hard truths I uncovered.
- The recruiter and the recruit have no relationship.
- The recruiter doesn’t want to seem ‘pushy,’ so she doesn’t contact the recruit right away.
- The recruiter has one favorite form of communication and only reaches out one way.
Perhaps you noticed that each of the truths begins with ‘the recruiter.’ When I hear complaints, they usually start with my recruit doesn’t… If you want different results, you must change the only person you can, YOU!
- The recruiter and the recruit have no relationship. This shows up in a couple of different ways. The most common is that the recruit signed up online. It might be a lead through the home office or someone you connected with on social media. As the recruiter, you haven’t had a real conversation. Perhaps you did meet this person but focused only on signing her up and not on building a connection. People connect and spend time with people they know, like and trust. So, first, get to know her. Take time to ask some questions about her. Part one has some good ones to ask. Show your recruit that you care about her as a person, not just a business asset.
- The recruiter doesn’t want to seem ‘pushy,’ so she doesn’t contact the recruit right away. The recruit receives the message that her recruiter doesn’t think she is important. Buyer’s remorse, fear, and doubt have an opportunity to creep in and soon, the recruit loses interest and never gets started. As the recruiter, your responsibility is to support your recruit. You would never onboard a new employee without training and mentoring. Why would you expect a recruit to know how to start successfully on her own?
- The recruiter has one favorite form of communication and only reaches out one way. Phone, texting, FB messaging and email are all ways to connect. Which one do you use most? Are you aware that different behavioral styles like different types of communication? Millennials. Gen X & Y and Baby Boomers all communicate differently. Mix it up. Ask. Find out your recruit’s favored communication style and speak to her that way. If you are struggling to connect, use a different form.
As the recruiter, it’s your responsibility to forge the relationship and provide the communication to help your recruit start strong. Once you have made a concerted effort to connect without results from your recruit, it’s OK to bless and release. Your job as a leader is to build successful team members. It starts with recruiting lots of people. Keep building relationships to recruit new people and don’t get stuck on the one who doesn’t want to respond.
How Do You Learn to Avoid Mistakes?
We know that it’s lonely at the top. It’s hard to find commonsense truth that fits you and it’s even harder to find a confidante. You need to take support wherever you can find it.
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