Good Job Descriptions Come From Good Relationships

I think there is a major difference in a “job order taker” and a true “relationship builder.” The difference in these two is monstrous and I believe strongly changes the quality of job descriptions you get from a client if they’re willing to work with you as an agency. Why would a company choose to pick you as a recruiting agency over another? It’s a legitimate question and IT Directors probably ask it every day.

I figure in this business you have about 60 seconds to gain the interest in a prospective client. I used to think it was separating us from other agencies regarding our strong points or our specialty the minute you got on the phone.  Don’t get me wrong, that’s part of it as some interest has to be there on the ways we stand out in relation to what jobs they have open. However, I’ve found over the years I’ve been doing this that being human and building a relationship with these clients is by far the most important part.

These managers don’t often have much time on their hands and are often in crisis or damage control mode. Instead of spitting out your agencies years in business and mentioning 20 skill sets that you cover, find out what this manager’s situation is and how it’s impacting them personally. That is where people open up and you truly find out where the trouble is, how this open job was created, why it needs to be filled and how quickly, as well as how this “new” person has to differ from hires in the past. If it’s a new job description or a new job created, it often has a written/formal job description that comes with it.  You need that. However, what you need more is finding out why it was created and it’s amazing if you take the time to listen to these managers, they’ll give you much more important information than the technical skill set required.

We do follow up calls all the time in this business, but I love it because on these follow ups, I’m more likely to hear about these manager’s kids and their last baseball tournament in the first 10 min of the call then I am about the company needs. Being human goes a long way. Being an order taker gets you a general job description and a salary range if you’re lucky. Building relationships gets you a colleague; a future with a hiring manager, and a call on your cell phone on a Saturday because they need help and they trust you will do just that.

The difference in these job descriptions is paramount because the additional information given makes the difference in giving them a good candidate and a great candidate for what they need. This relationship allows us to help a hiring manager get a full picture for a job description by discussing things he’d not normally discuss. This is when more personal questions are asked about what they need and what the impact will be on this manager if they don’t find a suitable candidate and fast. This allows us as an agency to not only know the lead up to why this job opened, but what the future holds for this role, the growth involved, what responsibilities this may take off the manager, the personality of the manager for whom your candidate will be working, the environment, size of the department, and even down to the people your candidate will be working with every day. All of this information makes for a very detailed job description allowing us to do what we do best and find the best match. I guess in essence, we’re a match making company on a technical level.  Maybe we should be called EDIHarmony.com