Question: I had a really good year.  How do I know when I am ready to hire recruiters? Stacy – Virginia

ANSWER: I do not have more context, so I will give you a couple of scenarios.

Let’s say you are a solo operator, and you want to stay a solo operator.  One of the ways to leverage your experience is to hire somebody just to recruit on your openings. Go here to learn what to look for in a new recruiter.

Consider hiring on your desk if you are a business owner at a run rate of $250,000 in revenue.  It does not mean you have to wait until you hit $250,000.  Look for an average of $20,000 a month plus in business.  For those of you who track metrics, if you are producing at least 2 to 2.5 interviews a week on average, you can hire on your desk.

 Additionally, have four months of cash flow on hand.  Say personally and professionally I need $30,000 a month to pay my bills, I would have $120,000 in cash and net receivables.  This is the conservative approach.  If you have a lot of business coming in the next two or three months, and you know you are going to produce on it because you have openings to fill, you can shorten that window a month or two. 

Don’t wait until you feel you are “in a position to hire.”  There is no good time.  If you get a great assignment, your office brings in a project with multiple hires, you got money upfront, or you got an exclusive, you might feel you need additional help to fill the role(s).  But these are not assignments you want to put new recruiters on. 

You want to train up new recruiters for four to six weeks and then put them on “scratch and dent” assignments that you are not completely accountable for, meaning nonexclusive contingency. I will explain this in more detail in our next blog.  Essentially, put the new recruiter on your desk, and then hold them rigidly accountable to a series of activity numbers.  Yes, this means tracking metrics!

Need help getting started with metrics? Determine the exact weekly targets you and your team members need to hit to meet or exceed your revenue goals this year.  Click here to download The Recruiter GPS™ worksheet.

New recruiters must talk to 15 people a day.

Not through email exchanges, nor voicemails, they must talk to 15 people a day. 

Here is what I know most of you are going to say.  Mike, you are crazy.  No one can do that.  Yet our clients are doing it.  Those that are taking it seriously, that are holding their recruiters rigidly accountable, are getting 15 a day.  Some are even getting up to 20 conversations a day.  For some recruiters, 20 conversations is a good week.  New hires are getting it done in a day. 

Your employees are not going to need to hit 15 a day forever.  With a new recruiter, it allows them a lot of practice to fail fast. 

For a more detailed answer, we train all about hiring in our Ignite and Platinum programs.  Click here to join us at our next 3-Day virtual intensive.  Want to move forward faster? Schedule a complimentary Scale Session with one of our Growth Consultants.

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