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The More The Merrier?

As promised in the last episode, today’s the part 2 of the 7 Day Hustle System.

I’m tackling the question of “How many CVs is enough?”

If you ask this question to your clients, you will have varied responses.

The sensible answer is Just The Right CV. In other words, only 1 CV is enough and that’s ideal too, considering how time consuming it can be to vet through dozens of CVs to interview 3 candidates for the sake of hiring the right person.

With over a decade of recruitment experience behind me, I heard it all (almost).

There’s the client who always ask you to “Give me more (CV)”. My heart used to sink to the bottom when I hear this because potential CVs are not born out of thin air.

You want to give pause before ploughing in crazily to find more CVs.

Uncover the real objection first from your client, or you will drive yourself to burnout.

And then, there’s the client that KIVs almost all your profiles.

Be wary of this one. Sometimes, they re-approach “your” candidates after the 1 year introduction period is over and you cannot bill them for anything.

I’m not saying the clients do it on purpose but there is this rumor that companies use agencies to build their database. I believe the rumor is half true but not worth brooding over.

First, I don’t think that’s wrong in any sense but you can achieve win-win by being wise. Profiling 1 CV at a time per role is the wisest thing you can do. Restrain from sending in more CVs at one go. There is a time for that and I will share it in another episode.

If the candidate is the right one, he/she gets the job offer and you also save yourself plenty of time hunting around and preparing CVs. That takes a lot of time.

(You also won’t be populating your client’s database unnecessarily)

The optimal number of CV is 1. The right one.

But how do you achieve that sniper accuracy?

There are two things to focus.

1. Understanding the true requirements

2. Coaching your candidate

True requirements go beyond the job description. They are not explicitly expressed and when you don’t know, you lose your direction. Ask the HR, ask the hiring manager and be intentional about it. Let them know you want to help them find the right fit. I promise they will help you when they know you’re saving them time and money.

Candidate coaching wasn’t common in the past. Even today, many recruiters expect their candidates to perform naturally well at interviews and get the offer.

If you have been around for a while, you know this is sadly not true.

Candidates no matter how good they are on the job, may not have the faintest idea of how to “sell” their value.

Many go down in dismay at the first interview because they can’t communicate their value proposition.

In fact, I just received feedback from my client that my candidate didn’t know what he was talking about and his answers did not connect with the interview panel.

To be frank, I take such feedback with a pinch of salt because interviews are two-way.

However to be given such a blatant feedback means the candidate probably did messed up somewhere and it is pretty serious to be classified as “not knowing what he was talking about”.

It requires some soul searching and I did.

Even at my level, I still messed up. I didn’t coach this candidate and he went in firing on all cylinders and unfortunately (but not surprisingly) they hit blank.

He was clueless about how to sell his story and the rest is “history”.

Next candidate.

So what I came to learn and affirm over a decade of recruitment experience is this.

Believe in the value of the 1 CV Placement aka the Sniper Recruiter.

You don’t need a bunch of CVs. Nor can you get them even if you try hard. Not every time.

More CVs also mean more confusion. They may appreciate more choices but it doesn’t mean you are doing your clients the right service.

1 CV means time and effort saved for your client. They will thank you for it. Every time.

I never had a client who complained that they didn’t get their money worth because they interviewed and hired the right person without the need to compare with 3 other candidates.

Just 1 CV. Nail it.

p.s. Thank you to everyone who DM and booked a coaching call with me in January. It was great to e-meet all of you. I still have slots for February if you want to get better sales for your recruitment business.

p.p.s. A warm welcome to everyone who subscribed The Solo Recruiter since last week! You are now a part of this community that support one another to achieve greater results in recruitment business. 🎉

Let’s connect on LinkedIn as well!

Joo Kwang
​Author of Solopreneur’s Guide to Recruitment Business

​About this newsletter: You are receiving this email because you subscribed to my weekly TSR (The Solo Recruiter) newsletter. Every week, you learn the strategies that successful recruiters use to grow their businesses. So you can also do the same and launch your business.