3 Questions Every Recruiter Should Be Asking

So the big question is this: how do recruiting leaders like us who have 12 to 15 other job responsibilities win at this game of recruiting? How do we build a system that allows us to recruit effectively in a minimal amount of time while motivating recruits towards meaningful change? That is the question, and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Richard Milligan, and welcome to Recruiting Conversations. Hey everybody, it's your host Richard Milligan here with Recruiting Conversations. And if you haven't ever tried cutting a podcast by yourself, you don't fully know the struggle of trying to come up with something original for an intro every single time. So I'm laughing because there are times where I will cut this 3, 4, 5 times just to get some basic intro down to make it different. And so that struggle is real for those of you that have ever tried to launch a podcast or do a podcast. That struggle is real. Well, I'm glad to have you today. And I think I can bring you some value through a framework of some questions that you as a recruiting leader should be asking. Recent conversation with one of my coaching clients, they were struggling motivating their recruits, the people that they were recruiting, to take any next steps. And so as we got into the conversation, one of the things I became very aware of is that they had very little information around what actually motivated the recruit. And I think it's a mistake that a lot of recruiting leaders make, and that's why I want to talk about it here with you today. And that mistake is this, is that we typically try to recruit and motivate people through the lens of our company value proposition. That's a huge mistake in my opinion, because that falls into what I would classify as what I call the opportunity improvement offering, which is that we just say we're a little bit better. And what we know from data is that most people say when surveyed that they're satisfied or very satisfied where they're employed at. So if you show up and say your opportunity is a little bit better, that— there's not enough motivation for the majority of people to make a change. When you go back and think about all of the things that are wrapped up in a change, Man, there's a lot there that's required of someone to actually make a change, right? Even if you just take it down to some of the basic elements of like changing insurance, changing doctors, you know, the lag in paychecks from one company to the next company. If they're on the sales side, reestablishing the pipeline, learning the new operations platform, operations system, the new Point of sale, the new CRM. I mean, these things begin to pile up and we've only just begun in what is required of someone to move from one place to the next place. So, we're asking a lot of people— we're asking a lot of them when we ask them to move from where they are to where we are simply for something that's a little bit better. So, it's got to be bigger than that. And when you understand that, it's got to be bigger than the company. We understand that we have to figure out how we motivate that individual through the lens of what's important to them. I know in a recent survey they said that 95% of Americans said that they preferred culture over compensation. And I think that the epiphany to having that is that compensation, while it is important, it's not the most important thing. In recruiting. So I'm gonna give you 3 questions that help you get to the most important thing, okay? So we're talking about the most important thing. I think that this idea around why, what is their why, what is their largest motivator, I think that's an important part of this. And how I classify why, it's this purpose, cause, or belief that inspires you to become more, right? So for me, I had this epiphany in 2007 when I was going through a difficult season. My why is actually my family. It's my wife of 21 years. It's my 4 kids that range in age today from 7 to 18. And I would— that is that purpose, cause, or belief that inspires me to become more. But most— what I know is that when I reflect back on my career, the people that recruited me and the companies that I joined, I never had anybody while recruiting me get to that. No one ever asked me the questions that led to that place. Or they could motivate me through the lens of that. And if they had, they would have had a much greater chance at recruiting me. What most people recruited me to was their, their platform, whatever that was. It might have been their better operational team, their better support system, their better compensation model. You have more control if you're in this position with our organization than you have where you are now. And those were all peripheral things. They weren't at like the highest, highest forms of motivation for me. So one, we have to establish like there, that there's this larger piece in play that goes beyond money, and we have to be able to hack into that, right? As a recruiting leader, ultimately what we're doing is the most difficult thing on the planet. We're trying to motivate unmotivated people to make a change. This isn't like selling something, right? The assumption is that when we go to sell something, that there's already an understanding where there's a need there. Like, if I walk into a furniture store to buy a La-Z-Boy, I've already identified that I need a La-Z-Boy. If I walk onto a car lot to buy a car, I'm already interested in purchasing a car. We arrive on the scene and no one has any interest in what it is that we have to offer. So this is the most difficult thing. on the planet to do, in my opinion, is to motivate someone who's unmotivated to make a change. So we have to get to something that's much larger in terms of motivation. So here's 3 questions that will help you do that. Number 1, ask this: what do you want? What do you want? What do you want from your career? What do you want from the next 10 years in this industry? What do you want personally? Outside of work? What do you want takes us to a better conversation. If someone would have asked me that question when they were recruiting me, I would have said, I want more time with my family. I've got all 4 kids at home this season. This window is going to be small. I want to take advantage of this time. That's what I want. And if someone could have convinced me that they were going to offer me more of that over more compensation, Over a better system, over a better operations team, over more control. That would have been a better way to motivate me. Now, the next question to ask as part of this series of questions is not only what do you want, but why is that important to you? If you don't understand why it's important to them, you don't really fully understand the context of this. Someone might say, and I'll just we'll just. pontificate here for a moment. Someone might say, you know what, my 20-year wedding anniversary is coming up and I want to take my wife to Bora Bora because when we got married, I promised her that on our 20th wedding anniversary that we would do that. Why is that important to you? I need to know that, right? Not just what do you want, why is that important to you? Well, it's important to me because my mom and dad were married for 50 years. I saw how beautiful their relationship was. I want to be able to look at my wife at the 50-year window if we're both still alive And celebrate that moment. That's why that's important to me. I'm getting to a better place here in terms of motivation. Here's the critical part of this. This is the 3rd question that I'm coming to. A lot of times when people are speaking around this, depending on their personality and depending on our personality, depending on all the things going on around us, wherever the environment is, whether we're hearing them correctly or not is something that is important. There have been times when I've had meetings in a Starbucks and my ADD kicks in and I can barely focus on the meeting. Or I'll go to a restaurant and I happen to sit at a table where on the other side I'm facing the sports bar on the other side of the restaurant and there's 17 TVs going on and my ADD kicks in and I have a really difficult time focusing. Now that's just a me. It may not be a you. That's what's going on with me. So I I found the 3rd important question was, are you saying? And I would rearticulate what I heard. Now, here's what's interesting to this. One of the reasons why this is coming up recently is that a good friend of mine is actually in mediation in something, and we were having this conversation around the questions that the mediator was asking. One of the things in the mediation of what was going on in his business And what I found was striking was that the mediator was asking similar questions as these 3 questions. What do you want? Why is that important to you? And are you saying this? And when you think about mediation, you think about recruiting, there's a lot of similarities between those 2 things, right? In mediation, what are you trying to do? You're trying to take 2 parties that are in different places and you're trying to gain agreement on how you move forward. And recruiting is very similar to that. You have someone on this side that statistically is happy where they're at. They're not interested in making a move, and you're trying to motivate them to make a move, right? There's the similarity. How do you get that person to make a move? Well, you figure out what is most important to them, and then you as a leader are— it's your responsibility if, if you can help them accomplish that, to convince them that you above all other leaders Will not only help them accomplish that, but make it your life's mission to accomplish that. There's all kinds of stories of leaders who have done this in my coaching. I mean, I give you examples of leaders who have talked to someone on their team and asked this question, what do you want out of this, out of this time here? Why is that important to you? And are you saying— where someone might say, look, it's been our lifelong dream as a family to actually have a lake house. And the next thing you know, this leader has a dream board up in their office with a picture Of a lake house cut out of a magazine up on that dream board. And when that person's employee walks into the office and says, what's that? Well, I want that on my dream board every single day to remind me that that's what you want. And I'm here to help you accomplish that. And then when Christmas rolls around, they go out of their way to go get a lake magazine on the lake that they actually want to actually buy and have a house one day and give it to them as a Christmas present with a little note. So good. Saying, I'm all about helping you accomplish this in 2021, or whatever the next year is for you. Right? So this is, for us as leaders, this has got to become not just something we do on the recruiting side, but it's got to become very practical, something that we actually live out. I can't just convince you to get to my team and then not live that piece out. So this has to come from a heart-centered place. This has to come from a place of authenticity that me as a leader— Are others-focused, not me-focused. And I think that's the difference between 2 types of recruiting leaders. One is primarily focused on accomplishing what I want to accomplish. And then there's the other leader that is primarily focused on accomplishing what that recruit wants to accomplish. So one's me-centered, the other is other-centered. And as leaders, we have to move to a place in recruiting where we actually reveal to people, if we are that others-centered leader, that that's who we are. And when we do, where there's a lack of an others-centered leader where they currently work, then it's easy to convince them to come across to your team. Because ultimately what people want is they want to align their core values, they want to align their talents and their energies and efforts With a leader who wants to help them accomplish what they want to accomplish. And so as a leader, if you can authentically look in the mirror and say, that's me, then it is your job to figure out how you convince people that you are that leader. You know, a leader has this enormous impact that goes beyond the walls of their business. When you impact an employee, when you impact a mom or a dad Or a child inside the walls of your office, when they go out, they influence other people for the good, not just around them in terms of families and friends, but their communities. This is how we change our communities, is that we have leaders who want more than to close the next deal, to close the next transaction, to put out the next fire. We have leaders that are centered on things that are bigger than their Outlook, that are bigger than their voicemail, right? This is— and if you— if that's you, then it is your calling, it is your purpose to walk through a framework that helps people understand that that's who you are. And when you convince them of that, I truly believe this, when you can convince them that you above all the— all other leaders in their market will help them accomplish what's important to them Then the game's over. The game of recruiting is over. In their mind, it's not a matter of if they will join you, it becomes a matter of when they will join you. So the next part of that becomes you gotta have a follow-up system, right? Because if you're not relative in a conversation when the time— when the season for change comes, then you can be forgotten. So not only do we need to be asking 3 similar questions to this, then we need to have a follow-up system. that's built around us continuing to stay in front of people again and again and again in an authentic way that reveals that we are that kind of a leader. And if you do that, recruiting gets simple. In the long term, recruiting gets simple. We can't be focused on tomorrow or next week or next month. This is something that— this is who we are. This is what we do. This is how we recruit. This is how we lead. So the game is over in your market if that's you, because there's very few leaders that actually Lead like that, live like that, and recruit like that. I hope you found some value in this today. There's plenty of things to apply here. If you need access to me, my calendar's live. I do hours of coaching with people without any strings attached all the time. If I can bring you some value, on the outro, my calendar's listed live there. Would love to pour into you for an hour if there's something that I can do to support you. in the mission of being a great leader in your market and growing and building your team. Until the next episode, everyone, have a great week. We'll talk to you soon. Want more recruiting conversations? You can register for my weekly email at 4crecruiting.com. If you need help creating your own unique recruiting system, you can book a time with me at bookrichardnow.com.