Successful recruiters have learned they must be able to get meaning from their own work before they can help their recruiting prospects find meaning in a new opportunity.
 
This meaning bubbles up from a sense of purpose.
 
But isn’t purpose (as it relates to an employer) a little nebulous?
 
What if your company is not tied to some big cause or trying to save the world?
 
According to Aaron Hurst, it doesn’t matter because it’s not the primary way people experience a sense of purpose.
 
Purpose is much more about the day-to-day of work — making meaningful contributions on a daily basis and having meaningful relationships. 
 
You can talk about purpose in any industry because there’s always an opportunity to build relationships and care for people.
 
If you believe in the value your company offers, you will have opportunity to build relationships and care for people as you nurture them into new positions.
 
This is meaningful work.
 
If you don’t believe in your company, you’re doomed to work in a recruiting void.
 
At this point, it’s time to look for a new opportunity of your own.

In a post from the archive, Dave Mashburn tells the story of his quest to rebuild his golf swing a few years ago.
 
It’s a great story that highlights our need to search for opportunities to improve.
 
From a third-party perspective, the recruiting methodologies look like golf swings that need some work. 
 
Does the swing need to be reconstructed completely? No, probably not. In my case, I was only trying to make some small changes to my backswing.
 
But even small tweaks are difficult to implement because humans tend to resist change.
 
Many real estate recruiting techniques have been around for years. Each technique was effective at some point, but some have lost their usefulness and need modifications to remain relevant. 

So how do you get started on the path to making improvements to your recruiting techniques and methodologies?
 
First, follow Harry Beckwith’s advice and assume your recruiting process is flawed. It can’t hurt and it will force you to improve.
 
Second, ask yourself the following questions:
 
What recruiting practices have you been using for the longest period of time and seem tired?
   
Who can you contact in your network (someone you respect as a recruiter) and ask what they’ve stopped doing in recent years, and started doing instead?
 
Once a picture starts to emerge of the changes you need to make to improve, you’ll have to make a commitment to practice these changes. 
 
The first step to making a change is determining where to focus.

Of the three types of recruiting, attempting to capture agents who are deep in the pipeline takes the most patience and persistence.
 
At any point in time, there are thousands of people in your marketplace who have a desire to start a real estate career.
 
Some have a family member who works as an agent. Others became intrigued with the process when they bought or sold a house. There are still others who want to start their own businesses.
 
Whatever the reason for the interest, a few of these individuals take the first proactive steps towards their goal each day.
 
Companies who can intersect these early-stage prospects have some distinct recruiting advantages.
 
The prospects are open to learning and trust those who provide early-stage information.
 
The prospects are moving at a slower pace so there is time to build relationships and more thoughtfully evaluate your value proposition.
 
The prospects are not talking with your competitors yet and the discussions are less feature/benefit based.
 
To be successful in this arena, you must be willing to invest the time, energy, and technical resources to develop and work a pipeline. This is no small task.
 
But those who make this investment are often rewarded with higher-quality agents who fit better in their organizations.
 
More work up front, but a better pay-off in the end.

Last week, I wrote an Insight on the three types of real estate recruiting.  
 
This week, we’re going to push below the surface and discover how to successfully recruit each type or prospect.
 
Imagine you’re walking through a busy outdoor shopping bazaar and multiple vendors are calling out the benefits of their products in an attempt to get your attention.
 
This is how newly licensed real estate agents feel when they start the process of selecting a broker.
 
At this juncture, new agents tend to make decisions based on a list of features and benefits used to compare one vendor to another.
 
If you’re going to play this game successfully, it’s helpful to have an employment brand that people recognize and admire.
 
Large companies naturally have an advantage in this arena and get more than their fair share of these agents.
 
If you’re not one of the large players, it’s helpful to develop a clear list of your features and benefits and how it compares to what is offered by your competitors.
 
Compare and contrast so a quick decision can be made. 
 
And don’t forget to close. If a prospect is not committed before they leave your office, the next broker they see will probably offer them something a little bit better and a little bit cheaper.
 
The downside of this type of hiring is it leaves little time to build relationships or to evaluate prospects beyond the surface level.
 
It’s one of reasons the real estate industry has always had high failure rate among new agents.

In a post from the archive, Sean Platt revealed the phrase and methodology he uses that returns the highest open rates of any of his marketing emails.

You’re not alone.

Why is this phrase so effective?   

Because it taps into something every human being wants—to be understood and cared about.

And because it taps a core need, it overrides some of the normal inhibitions that make people suspect of marketing messages. 

Sean offers this follow-on advice:

No matter what message you’re sending or service you’re selling, if you remind your reader that someone understands what they are going through and cares about helping them, you will become their temporary hero.

Do it repeatedly, and you will permanently solidify that position.

Use this subject line to get your email opened but treat the open as just the first step.

Once you capture your reader’s attention, prove that you deserved it by providing a useful solution to their most pressing problem.

If your message truly helps a prospect solve a problem, and it relieves them of their feelings of isolation–it’s no wonder it works!

In real estate, there are three types of recruiting.
 
Experienced Agent Recruiting: Hiring managers attempt to persuade their competitor’s agents to jump ship and join their team.
 
Near-Term New Agent Recruiting: Thousands of individuals take the proactive steps to embark on a real estate career each year. At the licensing juncture, hiring managers compete for the newbies’ attention to get quick hires.
 
Pipeline New Agent Recruiting: At any point in time, thousands of individuals are also dreaming about starting a real estate career. Identifying and nurturing some of these individuals with pipeline strategies can produce a constant flow of new hires.
 
Each type of recruiting has advantages and disadvantages.
 
Large real estate organizations often have the resources to focus on more than one type of recruiting.
 
Small companies and teams have more success by focusing on a single type of recruiting.
 
Because there are true experts competing in each arena, dabbling a little bit in each area is a mistake.
 
It’s better to pick one type of recruiting and become an expert.
 
The race for talented real estate agents is real—you must show up ready to compete and win.

The remarkably tight labor market (across all industries) is causing companies to consider every possible avenue for accessing talent.
 
One of the old techniques receiving renewed attention is the building and maintaining of talent pipelines.
 
In an ERE article, Mat Apodaca highlights the importance of talent pipelines and points to some critical things to consider when focusing on this strategy.
 
Invest in Your Employer Brand: Having an employer brand that resonates with potential candidates does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. 
 
Use Your Tech Wisely: There is lots of technology available to make the recruiting process more effective, but a shot gun approach will never produce great results. Pick a few tools you know work and focus on execution.
 
Stay Accessible. An important component of building a candidate pipeline is being visible. Make your LinkedIn profile visible to potential candidates and don’t snub those who reach out with interest.
 
Talk to Referrals. Referrals will always be the best source for hires. Research shows that referrals account for 40% of all hires yet only 7% of applicants. Because referrals often take time to ripen into hires, a talent pipeline strategy keeps individuals from falling through the cracks.
 
If you don’t have a tangible talent pipeline, start building one today. Even a simple spreadsheet is a great way to start.

I spoke with a high-performing experienced agent recruiter last week who makes a lot of outbound calls.
 
I asked her when she makes the most connections during various parts of the day.
 
Early morning: Since they’re frequently interacting with clients during evenings, most agents work later schedules. I don’t make a lot of connections before 10am.
 
Mid-morning: I get more pick-ups during the mid-mornings, but often get the response, ‘I’m in a meeting right now and can’t talk.’  If they say they’ll call you back later, they’re lying.
 
Lunchtime: The extended lunch hour (11:30am to 1:30pm) is a great time to connect and get people to engage in conversation.
 
Mid-afternoon: I get more voicemails, or ‘I’m with a client right now’ interactions in the afternoon.
 
Late afternoon: I get a lot of pick-ups and have good conversations during this time, as well. More agents seem to welcome a distraction towards the end of the day.
 
When you’re setting up your calendar this week, schedule some outbound calls at lunchtime and/or late afternoon and see if your connection rate increases.

Occasionally emailing your database of recruiting prospects is a good way to remind them of your presence, and it also helps them remember you’re still interested in recruiting them.
 
It’s not the best tool, but it can be used in combination with various other techniques to build a robust recruitment marketing strategy.
 
Here are a few email best practices I’ve collected (mostly from others) over last few years:
 
How long should your drip emails be?
 
The average reader spends less than 20 seconds reading your newsletter and skims for content of interest. Use easy to read sub-headlines, short paragraphs, put the links you want clicked on at the top. 
 
How often should you send your drip emails?
 
Start with once a month. If your content is really good (measured by you getting a high readership percentage), you may be able to increase the frequency a little over time.
 
When is the best time to send your drip emails?
 
Experian Marketing Services found that people responded more to marketing emails sent on the weekend. They also found that response rates were higher in the early mornings and in the evenings.
 
What is a good response rate?
 
Average view rates are between 10% and 25%. If you’re consistently getting below 10%, you’re probably ending up in a lot of junk folders. It’s extremely rare to see emails with view rates above 40%.
 
How do I avoid the junk folder?
 
Send to recipients who gave you permission to contact them and make sure your open rates are above 10%. Yes, most email providers do track this.

Once the flurry and excitement of making a new hire subsides, most recruiters and hiring managers turn their attention to the next opportunity.

That’s not a bad thing, unless it causes you to miss one of the most important data points in the hiring process—the quality of the hire.

Many high performing organizations put a little extra effort into collecting this data about six months after the new hire comes onboard. They do so by asking one simple question:

Given the chance, would you rehire this individual again?

This is a question the new hire’s direct manager should answer. If you’re in the recruiting role, go to the closest source to collect your data.

You may want to use a simple scoring system to quantify the feedback (ex. 4=definitely, 3=probably yes, 2=probably not, 1=definitely not)

Then, start scoring and tracking the quality of your hires.

The quality of the hire data equips you to make better decisions about all the other parts of the hiring process (recruitment marketing, source of the hire, hiring manager effectiveness, etc.)

Since hiring takes a lot of time, energy, and focus, benchmarking the quality of the hire ensures your resources are well-spent.

In his best-selling book, Ron Friedman demonstrates that creative geniuses tend to be people who understand the importance of high repetitions and common failures.
 
What do Shakespeare, Dickens, Tolstoy, Picasso, Monet, Bach, Mozart, Wagner, Schubert, Brahms, and Dostoyevsky all have in common?
 
They produced far more content than their contemporaries.
 
Dr. Friedman points out:
 
Today, these high performers are remembered for a mere fraction of their complete body of work.
 
Creative geniuses don’t generate masterpieces on a regular basis.
 
Yet the quality that distinguishes them would be impossible without the quantity of attempts.
 
The connection between high repetition of failure and success shows up in recruiting as well.
 
This is especially true if you want to hire high performers.
 
You’ll have to interview and engage dozens of individuals (most of whom will not successfully complete the hiring process) to capture just a few agents who will perform at a high level.
 
Since most recruiters and hiring managers are not comfortable with this reality, they destine themselves to hiring mediocre players.
 
To set yourself apart, increase your number of interviews and say “no” more often.