QUESTION: I work with large companies and everything is going through HR and VMS systems. How do you get around this? – Nigel, London, UK
ANSWER: I did not work with large companies and honestly do not know how to get around that with relatively little effort. I didn’t target large companies when I was working high tech, and my clients that are working in almost every niche do not target large companies. They work with smaller to mid-size organizations. Many recruiters will say that this does not work in my niche. Yes, it does.
I am not saying this does not work, but my honest assessment is, I have not had a client that when I took him out of the Fortune 1000 size companies and I put him into companies between startup phase and $215 million and we talked about all the marketing strategies that I teach, did not have a quick turnaround in the level of cooperation on the upside and the level of bureaucracy significantly decreasing when they went after smaller companies.
So the best advice I would give you is within that market niche that you are working, hire a researcher and/or start developing companies. Tech startup was really viable because they were a growth, but $10 or $20 million to $250 million, and for me the sweet spot was actually startup to $60 or $70 million. That is where the best of the best was. The way to work around it is to avoid it.
There are just so many levels of approval that occur in a Fortune 500 company. The only way I have successfully gotten into large companies, and I did with a couple, was when I was walked by the hand, figuratively, down the hall by an executive who got me variances on their fee agreements and on their systems and the processes where I would involve human resources, but still work directly with the executive.
In every one of the situations where that occurred successfully, I had a relationship with the executive from a smaller company. So, I am not saying there is not a process out there that does not work. Just knowing the other trainers and coaches in the recruiting industry pretty well, there are little techniques, but you might have a pocket with one person in a big company but it is incredibly difficult.
Great question. I hope that helps.
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