Recruitment: The Importance of the Follow-Up
January 31, 2012
Last year, more than 85% of the placements OpenView made for our portfolio were a direct result of our efforts to target, source and recruit passive candidates. From LinkedIn to utilizing our network for referrals, we were successful in focusing the majority of recruiting efforts on reaching out to the candidates who, although they may have not been looking, had profiles that met our target, year over year success and status as an top-performer in their field. These were not candidates who applied or reached out to us. They were “prospects” who were generally satisfied and happy with their current company and role.
As a recruiting mentor once taught me, “the happiest employees are the best candidates.” Happy employees are typically happy because they are successful and as a result, their organizations are focusing their efforts to retain these top-performers. (Of course, some organizations fall short on their retention strategy, and at some point, these top-performers will begin to feel that they are underutilized and undervalued…and you then find you’ve come across a fairly active candidate.)
When we begin a new search at OpenView, we start with a specific and individualized recruitment strategy. For many of our portfolio companies, they are seeking candidates who have experience not only with a high-growth, expansion stage software or technology company, but ideally, who are truly specialized in a target industry or segment, like Life Sciences, Higher-Education, or E-Commerce. Our recruiting efforts become very focused on several specific candidate profiles within their territory or market that we want to connect with for the search. It could be a list of 5 to 20 candidates and, on average (8 times out of 10); these candidates are generally happy or not looking.
The initial contact with these candidates is important, and there are many techniques that can be used to convince someone that spending 5 minutes on the phone with you would be mutually beneficial. I’m not going to get in to those strategies here, but I’d love to hear from you if you feel you have a winning message or technique that will get someone on the phone right away. But what do you do when your strategy doesn’t get you on the phone with the candidate after your initial touch point? It’s this critical point with a passive candidate that I have found companies (recruiters and hiring managers alike) often drop the ball. If you really want to get a candidate on the phone with you, FOLLOW-UP!
In many cases, I think people operate with fear of being seen as annoying, or unfortunately, in some cases, companies have a superiority complex (“this person should be dying to talk to me”). If done properly, reaching out to a candidate who is passive, happy and too busy to reply, a follow-up message may be taken as a form of flattery and really open up the dialog. If I don’t hear from a candidate after two days, I will reach out again via the same method. If by email or LinkedIn, I like to use the title “Follow-up to my previous message” and include just a few lines about why I wanted to talk to them specifically. If I left a voicemail, I’ll also use an e-mail, LinkedIn or other method to reach out. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I receive a reply saying, “Persistence pays off!” or “I’ve been so busy but meant to reply!” I find that my effort and time to source a candidate that I know I want to talk to much more beneficial than shooting in the dark and reaching out to a sea of candidates that might be a good fit.