When a recruit says yes, what’s next?

Hey everybody, it's Richard Milligan here with Forsee Recruiting. I'm in between coaching sessions shooting what's going to be a quick video on a relevant topic for anyone that's a recruiter or recruiting leader. In 2018, we did several surveys that revealed some information specific to the industries that we actually coach to around this loss of energy, this loss of synergy that a recruit has from the time that they say yes to an opportunity to the time they actually cross the finish line. So if you are in a position where you're recruiting highly experienced people that are bringing a book of business, that have been in your industry for a decent window of time, 5 years plus, that's just an arbitrary number, but they've got experience in your industry. And they're coming to you as someone that's highly recruited, someone that's highly what I would call reverse recruited. From the time that they turn in their notification of, hey, I'm resigning and I'm going someplace else, to the time that they actually cross the finish line to your organization. What we found in a number of surveys is that most organizations have about a 20 to 25% fallout rate from new hires or potential new hires that said, yes, we will join your organization. To the moment that they actually cross the finish line. About 2 to 3 out of every 10 will actually not cross that finish line. Now, when you think about it, it's not surprising. And when I say it's not surprising, I mean, think about this. If I am successful where I'm at and I'm wanted, I'm desired where I'm at from a production standpoint, then the moment I turn in my notice, everybody goes on red alert. So, I get treated well. I have everyone from my area to my regional to my president to my CEO to heads of department all reaching out and connecting and saying, no, don't leave. Right? So, when we really put ourselves in the shoes of a top recruit, what we know is that, man, the reverse recruiting energy that gets thrown at them the moment they turn in their resignation, it's intense pressure. And what I also know about that scenario is that that individual may have been at this organization for a long window of time. A long window of time, anything probably greater than 2 or 3 years. They've got incredibly deep relationships, people they know and they trust, people they feel like they're letting down. There's all of these emotions that are wrapped up in that moment where you resign and you feel as though you're being unloyal, you're being untrustworthy, whatever the range of emotions is that you go through when you turn that That resignation and say, I'm leaving and I'm going someplace else. A lot of people struggle seeing a decision all the way through, even if they're convinced that it's the right decision because of that. So, one of the things you have to address as an organization, and not just an organization, but at a leadership level. If you are a market leader, if you're a sales manager, branch manager, area manager, regional manager, Divisional company president, CEO, you have to address this at a company level. Heads of recruiting, you've got to address this at a company level. If 2 to 3 out of every 10 people that say they're going to join your organization don't join it because of the reverse recruiting pressures, then you have to have a plan for how you're going to counteract that. Now, one of the things that I did when I was a recruiting leader was I think I addressed this extremely well. And so, One of the things that I did was I would have all the department heads sign t-shirts. And the moment that someone said yes, that they were joining my team, I would actually overnight out to them a t-shirt that every department head actually autographed that had a short note on it. I would then also have multiple onboarding meetings where maybe at a local level, I had the local team meeting with them. At a corporate level, if there's corporate support, I would have the corporate onboarding team meet with them. And I know that Pre-onboarding— most organizations don't have anything in place for this. They wait for the date that that person shows up at work, and then they begin the onboarding. But I think that every organization would be smart and every leader would be wise if they had a pre-onboarding process. What we've been able to show here is that when we coach organizations and specifically leaders to creating some sort of a pre-onboarding process, That they can actually diminish that, cut that number in half and sometimes more of the loss that they have from when people actually say that they're going to join and the time that they actually join. And it's worth it. Think about it. If you're going to— if you're anticipating hiring 10 people as an individual team leader over the course of the next year and you capture 2 to 3 additional people out of that 10 that you're going to make an offer to because of your pre-onboarding process, process, then it's a significant win for you and it's worth an investment of your time. Here's what I want you to think about. We did a survey over the course of the last year, and what we found is that people that incorporate 6 or more people into the recruiting process win almost twice as much as people who actually have a lesser number than that involved in the recruiting process. One of the things that I teach about is this idea around belonging, affirming, and meaning. I call it the BAM zone. People want to belong to something bigger than themselves. People want to be affirmed by a life-giving leader, and people want more meaning than whatever the next transaction or whatever the next deal gives to them. So, what we want to do is focus on those 3 components in this window of time where someone says, I'm going to join your organization, and the date they cross the finish line. As you well know, that can be 30, 45, 60, sometimes 90 days before someone actually transitions out of their organization into your organization. Affirmation is one thing that I would absolutely focus on. Engaging them in a process that's extremely affirming. Get your department heads involved. Get your company president or CEO involved. A 15-minute conversation to that individual in that pre-onboarding stage. can be the difference in getting someone across the finish line. Have a plan. Address this. This is a larger issue for every industry that's hiring experienced salespeople that are going to be reverse recruited when they try to walk out the door. Hope this brought some value to you. If you'd like more videos like this, you can go to my Vimeo channel, my YouTube channel. I try to cut several of these per week. Probably seen this on one of my social channels. If you're not connected to me on LinkedIn, I have a number of great articles on LinkedIn. That will provide you with additional insight around this. And so until the next video, have a great week, everybody.