RECRUITMENT Strategies
By Frank Furness

I have been working as a trainer and recruitment consultant for a number of years, specialising in the offshore financial services industry. During this time, I have had the pleasure of working with some excellent recruiters as well as some with no clue at all. Guess who attracts the best recruits? Professional recruitment is the lifeblood of any successful financial services company. Here are some tips that will help you attract the winners.

· Know what you’re looking for.
Have a profile of the type of person you want in your organisation, e.g. age, marital status, financial stability, experience.
· Have a track to follow.
Develop a questionnaire that will accurately evaluate the prospective recruit and reasons why they should join your organisation. I use a 4-page questionnaire that paints an accurate picture of the recruit and helps to evaluate whether he is the right person for the organisation.
· Use an impartial, proven recruitment tool.
I use the Sales Success Profile. The recruit completes a questionnaire. The answers to 50 questions are fed into a computer, which produces a 7-page report. This highlights the strengths and weaknesses in 13 selling skills. Important areas highlighted are whether the person is ethical, call enthusiasm, trainable or not, burned out, etc. This is also an excellent tool that highlights weaknesses and areas to be concentrated on when the person joins.
· Gut instinct.
Listen to your gut instinct. If the person looks fantastic on paper and sells them well, but your gut instinct leaves you feeling uncomfortable, don’t hire – 9 times out of 10 you will be right.
· Professional venue.
Most offshore recruiters fly in to the UK to recruit. Choose the best hotel or venue available – first impressions count. One of the most professional organisations that I work with uses the Dorchester and they attract quality recruits.
· Expectations.
Let the recruit know exactly what they can expect from you in terms of airfares, accommodation, commission, etc. Let them also know exactly what you expect from them.
· Detail the specifics of the job.
This may seem trivial, but is often overlooked. Let them know that they will be expected to cold call, detail the working hours and what time you expect them to be in the office each day. Tell them about the dress code, activity levels and any other pertinent details. Get them to agree to all the points.
· Passion.
Sell with passion. If the person is good, they buy you. I have worked with some people who are extremely boring, waffle endlessly and any strong recruit will immediately dismiss this company and look for a leader with enthusiasm. Remember, in their minds they’re saying ‘Would I like to work with this person’.
· Contracts.
If you like the person and offer them the position, courier contracts immediately. Recruits are impressed and once they have signed the contracts, they commit themselves.
· Follow up.
Most recruiters are excellent at what they do. The problems occur after the interview. After they have sold the position, they then hand the process over to an admin person. Many times this person has not been trained properly, doesn’t know how to deal with new recruits and doesn’t realise the urgency of the follow up. In my experience, this is the stage where the complete process most often becomes unstuck. It’s just like selling, if we leave the client for too long, they lose their passion to buy, or they buy from someone else.
· Keep your promises.
Follow up everything that you have promised with a letter. Meet them at the airport, welcome them, help them by joint calling and do everything in your power to help them to succeed. If you don’t, all the time and money you’ve invested in recruiting the person is in vain. High staff turnover and low morale follows.

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Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker and trainer specialising in sales and sales management. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 42 countries. His publications and sales resources have been sold globally. For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips & Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 870 240 6505. www.frankfurness.com

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