All It Takes: Twelve Good Calls A Year

By: Scott Love
Date: 3/1/2008

Two weeks ago I quit the business for the eighteenth time. I quit it again this past Thursday afternoon again for the nineteenth time but got back into it around 3:30 when I had six 'yesses' in a row with candidates. It was incredible. Each candidate that I talked to, one after another, six in a row, said yes, they were open to exploring other things. The recruiting gods were indeed smiling on me and I was on fire. I didn't want to stop and was disappointed that the day was ending.

This business is pure madness most of the time with minor glimpses of sanity and pleasure, just enough to suck you back into it. But that's what makes it so much fun. It's a game of probabilities, and if you learn how to master what is in your control and influence what isn't, coupled with a consistent habit of intense focus in the right areas with the right intention, then you'll be successful. Remember it was the tortoise who won the race, not the hare.

So if you are on the edge of quitting the game, losing your mind, or both, then consider this perspective. If we can boil success down to the lowest common denominator in our business, it would look like this: if your goal is to make one placement a month, then you only need to have twelve good phone calls a year, that's it. All you need is one good phone call a month with a candidate who subsequently gets hired by your client. If only we could get rid of everything else. All you are looking for is that one good call a month. And that's it.

People always ask me the secret of staying motivated in the game of recruiting. I think it is determined by what you are looking at. If you are looking at all of the negative aspects of the business then you'll think this business is negative. Slow-paying clients. Slow-moving candidates. Candidates no-showing interviews. Candidates showing up drunk to interviews. Candidates accepting the position as Bob and showing up on their start date as Bobette. You get the picture. Things can get really weird and if you are starting to see weird things happen then that means you are having enough activity. If things aren't getting weird and frustrating for you then you're not doing enough. It's always a good sign when bad things happen to you because you have enough activity to see bad things happen. And when we focus on what we want and not on what we don't want, then we attract those successes to us. Think of yourself as Lance Armstrong falling off the bike. You just pick yourself up, acknowledge the sting of the pain, and get back on the bike and start peddling so hard that you don't feel how painful things are. When you've got enough good activity then you don't seem to have time to notice those little setbacks.

Staying motivated is all about focus. Focus on that next good call. And the next good call. Whenever one of the recruiters in my mentorship/coaching program asks me about dealing with a problem or crisis on their desk, I always ask them this question: "If you had three candidates accepting offers this week and six interviews scheduled for next week, would this really be much of a problem?" I rest my case.

All of our problems go away when we have activity, and activity starts with our focus. If you are having trouble getting motivated and staying motivated, just look for one good call this month, one good call next month, etc. And hopefully when you do quit the business, you'll jump right back into it thirty minutes later.

Scott Love shows recruiters how to achieve success by following a simple and step-by-step system. His recruiter training website has free articles, tools, and downloads that can help you bill more. Visit it at http://www.recruitingmastery.com.