Lars Leafblad Principal, KeyStone Search Founder, BePollen.

com October 2011 October 2012 Insights after Four Five Years in Retained Executive Search Industry - Most candidates dont expect a timely, professional process based on their previous experience with search firms /recruiters Still holds true. As an employer, if you proactively close the loop with candidates who were not hired to thank them for their interest and to let them know who was ultimately hired, you will positively differentiate yourself from 99.8% of your competitors. - Candidates in career transition you take the time to help rarely remember you when theyve landed This remains true with the majority of people I network with who are in career transition or active job search mode. Candidates who send out an Ive landed, thanks for your help during my job search email (or handwritten thank you note) to individuals they have networked with during their search are the exception, not the norm. - 99% of unsolicited networking requests = help me or someone I know find a job please Before you network with someone youve never met, please invest in buying and reading a wonderful new book by two of my colleagues from KeyStone Search, Dr. Marcia Ballinger and Nathan A. Perez, called The 20-Minute Networking Meeting. Learn more at their website -> http://www.20mnm.com - The questions, or lack thereof, posed by candidates are a crucial insight into how they think The strongest candidates in any interview process inevitably ask the best questions during their interviews. Learn more about how to conduct interviews that elicit great questions via an interview my partner Mike Frommelt conducted with Minnesota Business magazine -> http://www.minnesotabusiness.com/article/interviewing-leaders

- Candidates use of pronouns I/me versus we and they/them versus us reveals insights into their potential fit with an organizational culture. Learn more via a December 2011 article in Harvard Business Review entitled Your Use of Pronouns Reveals Your Personality -> http://hbr.org/2011/12/your-use-ofpronouns-reveals-your-personality - Personal hand-written thank you notes from a candidate or networking contact are memorable, impactful, and rare Absolutely still holds true. Read Its More Important to Be Kind than Clever via Harvard Business Review blog -> http://blogs.hbr.org/taylor/2012/08/its_more_important_to_be_kind.html - Traits that matter in all candidates -> Curiosity. Empathy. Positivity. Honesty. Energy. Listening. Follow-up. Gratitude. Vision. Mental Agility. + Resiliency. Integrity. Passion. - Think of your resume as a Choose Your Own Adventure story what matters are the choices you faced, what you chose, why you chose it, what happened as a result of that choice, and what you learned from the decision. You can see two visual examples of this thinking via BePollen.com -> http://bepollen.com/pollen/a-new-kind-of-shipbuilder-kate-madonna-hindes.html & http://bepollen.com/pollen/a-legacy-of-doing-whats-right.html - Your reputation matters. Thank those that help you along the way. You never know who will ultimately influence a hiring executive(s) in their own assessment of your reputation and candidacy. We dont live and work in a six-degree world anymore. We live and work in a twodegree world. Behave accordingly. - Leaders in career transition who view it as a period of life to learn, share, grow, and help others throughout the process will leave it more quickly, with greater fulfillment, and with much more value gained from the experience. Framing your job search in your own mind as an opportunity rather than a challenge, inconvenience or struggle, is an important, but difficult, first step for job seekers.

- Without exception people help people they like. Be likable. Help others without asking for anything in return. Say thank you. Follow up. Actively listen. Be present. Read Dale Carnegies How to Win Friends & Influence People http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034 or Robert Fulghums All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten http://www.amazon.com/Really-Need-Know-Learned-Kindergarten/dp/080410526X - Own your weaknesses and failures as a leader and as a professional. All leaders have them. Answering openly and honestly to Tell us about your greatest failure or mistake often leads to the most pivotal and insightful conversation between a candidate and hiring manager(s)/search committee. - Human beings have an incredible authenticity-filter/radar/antenna regardless of formal education/training/job. Be real. Gain additional insights on behaviors that trigger positive and negative responses from hiring managers/search committees via my partner Dr. Marcia Ballinger -> http://candidateschair.com/interview-performance-in-transition-candidate-versus-theemployed-candidate/ - We all want to be heard and respected. Listen first. Make eye contact. Dont interrupt. Consider repeating a question(s) back to an interviewer to ensure youve heard it correctly. - Say thank you, a lot, to everyone in your circle. Just do it. - When interviewing, think of it as a conversation, not an interrogation. Its appropriate to pause, think, and reflect before responding. Body language is 80% of how were heard and perceived, especially in an interview. See Your Body Language Speaks for You in Meetings in September 2012 Harvard Business Review blog -> http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/09/your_body_language_speaks_for.html

- Do your homework. Its your job to be prepared and informed for a networking meeting or an interview. Another plug for my KeyStone Search colleagues new book -> The 20-Minute Networking Meeting -> http://www.20mnm.com Some additional insights Ive gained during my five years here at KeyStone Search: - If you are interviewing a job candidate, ask more how and why questions than what questions when probing prior work experience. You should be equally, if not more, interested in how theyve accomplished, and, why theyve made decisions in addition to understanding what theyve actually delivered. - Dont skip over the other interests section at the end of someones resume. Asking candidates how they spend their free time often leads to breakthrough insights about their potential fit with the job/organizational culture youre seeking to match them with. Read The Rare Find: Spotting Exceptional Talent Before Everyone Else by George Anders for more on this subject -> http://www.amazon.com/Rare-Find-SpottingExceptional-Everyone/dp/1591844258 - Use your LinkedIn Share an update feature to share links to books, articles, events or speeches you have found valuable or insightful. Think of this feature as a networking billboard to help keep your network informed of what youre learning, what youre working on, and even what networking or professional events youre planning to attend in the near future. Youll accelerate the likelihood of connectivity serendipity by sharing this kind of information with your network. - I rediscovered a love for agate hunting over the past year and recently wrote a blog post on how it connects with recruiting -> What do agate hunting and recruiting have in common? My insights on the topic are below: Get outside. Explore new paths. o When recruiting candidates, challenge yourself to think broadly about where prospective candidates may reside for your role(s). They may not be in the places and roles that first come to mind.

Do the legwork. o Finding agates requires many hours and many miles of hunting. Great finds take time, energy and effort. Do the hard work required to source the talent you seek. Simply posting a job on your website and waiting for a number of great candidates to appear isnt likely.

Pause. Scan. Probe. o These are the basic actions of a successful agate hunter out on a beach, gravel road or in a gravel pit. Have you done the same before you start recruiting? Before you rush to post a position. Pause. Can you truly describe and quantify what a successful candidate will do in the role? Have you taken the time to assess what it could become rather than simply trying to repeat what was?

Dirt, grime, and dust hide many wonderful agates. o Are you structuring your entire recruiting process to help ensure a wide net is truly cast for the position(s)? Are you asking behavioral questions that get beyond the surface to the deeper experiences of the candidate?

New construction, recent heavy rains or flooding = access to new prospective finds. o Leadership changes and restructuring creates opportunities to excavate talent from a position that they were previously cemented to. Be aware of organizations in your region or industry that might be going through major layoffs, downsizings, or office relocations. Are there opportunities to find talent there?

Tread lightly. Great finds are often right underneath your feet. o Dont fall prey to the we need a superstar/national candidate/big name mentality without thoroughly assessing and vetting your internal and local talent.

Clusters where Ive found one agate, Ive often found many. o If youve had great success recruiting candidates from one particular company/organization/agency, make sure to enlist those employees in your ongoing recruiting activity; chances are there are more gems left to find.

Agates often hide in plain sight at construction sites, bike paths, gravel roads and crumbling asphalt. o Often, the most successful candidates will not have a big name company or top-school higher education degree accompanying their background. Don't be drawn off-course by credentials that are impressive, but not meaningful to the job.

Enjoy the hunt. o What are you doing to ensure that each and every recruiting process or engagement delivers a positive, even fun, experience for every candidate, the hiring manager(s) or search committee(s)? Remember, for every one successful candidate, there are many people taking away an impression of your organization.

Ask fellow hunters for counsel. o Always ask for advice from others who are attempting to recruit within your company/organization. Whats working for them? Whats not?

Share your finds. o The search isnt done once the candidate has accepted an offer. Whats your plan to share news of their hiring within your organization? Your industry? Your community? The public? With other candidates who were not selected?

Agates are a tough rock. They have endured over a billion years of weathering. o Great candidates always demonstrate resiliency in their career path. They overcome obstacles. They deal with adversity. They see a broad locus of control within their life and within their career.

Celebrate diversity. o You can find an incredibly diverse array of agates. How are you diversifying your candidate pool to ensure that youre truly selecting from the best pool of potential fits with your culture, your team and the role?

Read the full blog post via StaffingTalk.com here: http://www.staffingtalk.com/agate-hunting-recruiting-common/

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Id love to hear your own experience and insights gained from participating in interviews and networking conversations, so if were not already connected, lets connect. Find me: Twitter http://www.twitter.com/larsleafblad LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsleafblad KeyStone Search http://www.keystonesearch.com Pollen http://www.bepollen.com Thanks again, Lars

Lars Leafblad Principal, KeyStone Search Founder, BePollen.com