(By Dan Simmons, CPC)
(In the first part of this article, published in the previous issue of The Animal Science Monitor, Dan defined what a “MPC”—“Most Place-able Candidate”—is and what motivates them. In this part, he’ll discuss what you can do stay informed about the “MPCs” within your industry and more importantly, how you can hire them before your competition does.)
So how can you make sure that you hear about as many “MPCs” as possible? By ensuring that the relationships you’ve built with your recruiters are as good as possible. These relationships can mean the difference between hearing about the routine candidates that most hiring managers hear about and being presented with a true “diamond in the rough.”
The initial step is to trust your recruiters to first find and then bring you the best and brightest candidates. It’s important to invest time into your relationship with these recruiters. Trust them with specifics about yourself, your group, and your plans for the future.
The second step is to give your recruiters flexibility. Do you give them an assignment asking for exact qualifications that restrict the talent they present to you? Having a recruiter search for the same people you surface merely duplicates your efforts, and you can accomplish much more than that. A recruiter who is a professional will get to know you, understand the culture of your company, and screen for the type of people in whom you’ll truly be interested.
By establishing a relationship of trust with recruiters and providing them with flexibility and latitude, you’ll enable them to assume the role of your “talent scout.” You’ll be surprised and more than a little satisfied with the people they present to you, people you might never have uncovered on your own.
You may spend a few hours each month on the interviewing and hiring of additional staff, with the majority of your time spent managing your group and delivering a product. It’s imperative that you have the chance to evaluate candidates before your competition does.
By developing quality relationships with your recruiters and giving them the latitude to present their best candidates, even when you don’t have an open assignment, you can help guarantee yourself the opportunity to maximize a recruiter’s efforts, energy, and time and leverage their industry resources to your full advantage.
Are you doing everything you can to ensure that you see the best possible candidates in your industry? By how much could you increase production (and profits) in 2011 if you added two or three superstars to your team? What do you think your competition is doing to locate and hire the best in the business?
If you have any questions about this article, about “MPCs,” or about your workforce needs in the coming year, you can contact me at dan@consearch.com.
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