The Bull's-Eye View

Welcome to another issue of the Bull's Eye View.

HBO's hit series Entourage is entertainment for many, but it can also be an education in hiring sales representatives. Massachusetts recruiters and nationwide job placement services can learn a thing or two from Ari Gold, the wheeling and dealing talent agent to the stars played by Jeremy Piven.

Eliot Burdett at Peak Sales Recruiting loves Ari, calling him an "utter selling machine” who is a

"shrewd and decisive negotiator—he knows what he wants and what he will leverage to get it, so…he typically gets what he wants.”

This is true, but is it a good thing? Ari may be able to get what he wants, but often it is all about the money, and not in the best interests of his clients. Effective, long-term sales recruiting takes balancing what the client (company) wants with what the candidate is looking for, especially when working to make an executive job placement.

Ari's aggressive tactics will get a deal made, but it is not always the deal that either party had hoped for. The stakes are high in executive recruiting, because the skills, demands and salaries of executive positions are even higher. Ari's pushy tactics may work on the silver screen, but successful executive job placement takes more finesse.

He's pushy. Ari is too intense and focused on closing a deal, any deal. Executive recruiting requires fully understanding what both the company and the candidate want, what they will bend on and what is non-negotiable.

He lies. Ari never stops negotiating, but at some point he stops offering things that are really possible. Recruiters who deal in executive job placement need to know their clients and candidates inside and out in order to make deals they can follow through on. They also need to maintain their integrity through honest dealings in order to stay in business.

There are many merits to Ari's work "ethic,” but his methods often take his positive characteristics to the opposite extreme, making a good quality (a need to succeed) into a character flaw (greed). Bottom line? He's fun to watch, but don't make him your recruiting mentor.

The beauty of Facebook is in the wealth of information freely supplied by its users and wide variety of search functions. An active "Facebooker" will include enough information about their work experience and personality to make it seem like you know them, before you've even spoken.

Social networks encourage users to reveal personal details well beyond the standard academic major and degree information found in a resume or cover letter. Photos, lengthy likes and dislikes lists and personal commenting features provide a very telling description of a candidate as both a person and an employee.

What does this mean for a job placement firm? Free networking connections and a lot of time saved, for starters. Most of these sites are free to join, and once you're familiar with the functionality, you can save a lot of time screening potential candidates before you even call them back. Take the time to join one or two of these social networks and you're almost certain to see the quality of your candidates improve.

The Fence

There was once a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him to hammer a nail in the back fence every time he lost control.

The first day the boy drove 37 nails into the fence. Then it gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive the nails into the fence.

Finally, the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. His father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father led his son to the fence.

"You have done well, but look at the holes in the fence,” he said. "When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like the nail holes. You can put a knife in a person and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say ‘I'm sorry,' the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.”

- Author Unknown

Cell phone safety

Reduce Back and Neck Strain

If you ever get a sore back and/or neck while working on the computer, try these helpful tips.

1. Position the monitor at a comfortable level, recommended at a height where the top of the monitor is even with your forehead.
2. Sit in a comfortable, relaxed, and good posture position to help reduce strain.
3. Finally, take breaks often. Get up, walk around, get a drink, and stretch.

The 10-Minute E-Mail Rule

If it takes longer than 10 minutes to compose your e-mail message, it is probably too long. Try to condense it and still get your message across. If you can't, you're wasting your time with the e-mail communication. Try calling, having a meeting, or writing a memo. You will save yourself and everyone else valuable time.

Do you need a top-performing sales professional to drive revenue?

If you don’t have time or money to waste searching for a top-quality sales person that drives revenue, Target Consulting can do the sales recruiting for you. You only pay us if you hire a candidate, and we guarantee the candidate for a limited time. Visit our Client Services section.

Call us for a confidential job search

Ten Tips For Successful Networking

1. Take a look at your present positive and meaningful relationships. Is there more you could give?
2. If you want to get to know someone, ask a mutual acquaintance for an introduction. Friends can't read your mind; you need to communicate how they can help you.
3. Make healthy connections by avoiding toxic personalities. They drain you and prohibit you from making the right kind of connections.
4. Practice patience with yourself and others.
5. Make a new connection each day. Plenty of opportunities can present themselves daily if you are open to them.
6. Be quick to laugh – things don't always go as planned.
7. Travel out of your comfort zone to meet new people. You never know when that next great contact will come your way.
8. See an article that would be helpful to someone? Make a copy and share.
9. Tap into your strengths when it comes to meeting people. For some, it's one-on-one. For others, it's large events. And keep in mind: weaknesses are only potential strengths!
10. Remember to network at home. Spend time with your family, friends, or even a good book. The more knowledge you gain whether it's about a child's sports team or the latest stock market research the easier it is to find a commonality with a new acquaintance.

Is Fear Holding You back?

What is it that you really want to do with your life? If you already know the answer to this question then you are ahead of 99 out of 100 people in the world. If you do know the answer to this question, then what is holding you back? The most likely answer to this question is fear –specifically fear of failure. Fear of failure can keep people from doing the tasks needed to accomplish their lifelong dreams. People paralyzed by fear hesitate, and when they hesitate, they prolong the period of time where they think in a manner that is not constructive.

Just think, if you go ahead and do that task you've been putting off for so long, then you will be free to move on and do the next constructive move. What is it that you are putting off doing? Is it a really difficult task to accomplish, or is it relatively easy but your mind is throwing up unnecessary and fear provoking obstacles?

What people need to do is make up their minds that they are going to do a thing, and then they need to make up their minds that nothing is going to stop them. The fear of failure has stopped many very capable people from achieving their highest levels of success.

• Don't let your fear whittle down your courage.
• Don't let your fear render your destiny to be a mediocre performance in your life.
• Banish fear – and you will meet success head on.

- Adapted from An Inspiration a Day by Jerome A. Waterman

Productive Meetings

Make your meetings more productive with these simple steps:

1. Project updates. Have each person give a quick one-minute report on the status of a project. Have them mention anything that is challenging that could hinder the completion date and ask for suggestions.
2. Follow the agenda. Have an agenda prepared for every meeting. Stay focused. Follow the agenda and leave time for pressing issues.
3. Focus on the most important issues. Don't get bogged down with issues that are urgent but not critical. The most effective meetings focus on the most important issues.

Upcoming Events

• Sales skills specific to recruiting
• How to get your name into the trade press
• How to make use of competitive intelligence
• How to create a favor bank
• Real life fee negotiations
• Candidate control and power
• Objectively pick your search assignments
• Dealing with counter-offers

Date: 09/26/2007
Time: 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Event Host: Massachusetts Association of Personnel Services
Location: Waltham Doubletree Guest Suites
Address: 550 Winter Street Waltham, MA
For more information or to register please visit www.mapsweb.org

EVENT 2: Webinar/The 7 Killers of Small Business
Wednesday October 17, 2007 2:00 PM EDT

Join us for this Webinar where Ken Cheo of Winfree Business Growth Advisors will speak about the seven killers of business growth. Whether you own a business or work in a business, this talk will be relevant to your success. Your knowledge of the 7 killers will set you on the path of achieving your full potential. Ignoring them will set you up for failure.

For more information and to register visit www.bostonconferencing.com/

Are you in need of someone to crique your resume? Or looking for someone to help you make your resume stand out from all the rest?

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