Thunderclap | Advertising and Marketing Recruiter

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Advice & Thought Starters

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Improve your resume by thinking three letters: RFP

Hello there, agency or client side job hunter! Your friendly recruiter here. I continually appreciate the similarities between an ad agency’s hunt for new business and someone hunting for a new job.

In many ways, an RFP response is a lot like a resume.

In new business, submit a terrific RFP, and improve your chances of moving to the credentials round. And in a job search, after you submit a great resume, you increase your odds of getting a phone call from HR or a recruiter.

So here are three things learned from successful RFPs and new business pursuits that can make your job search and resume more effective.

1. Ask yourself if you’re a fit for the job (and know why)

When an agency gets an RFP from a prospective client, they qualify it. As a candidate, you’re doing the same thing as you look at a given job. Is this job a good fit for you? Some starter questions to ask yourself:

  • How does this job match up with your past (in terms of skills, career footsteps, pedigree and more). Look at it from your target’s perspective. The more you have to stretch your past to make it work, the less chance you have of earning your prospective employer’s interest.
  • How might this fulfill your personal needs (location, commute, work/life balance, community, etc.).  How does this new gig fit in your life design? Are there tradeoffs? How might that impact your personal happiness index?

2. Move beyond what you read in the job description

In many new business situations, agencies win because they know more than their competitors. Same thing applies when you’re pitching for a new agency job. (Or even a client side one.) Augment what you learn in a job description with your own research. Check out the agency’s website. Get on The Google. Tap into your network. Ask yourself these kinds of questions:

  • How’s the work? How does it compare to your own over time? How can you impact it?
  • How do people who work there describe the agency?
  • Is the agency up or down? Winning business? Hiring? Firing?
  • What can you learn from the agency’s social media footprint?
  • Who do you know that works at the agency now?
  • If you’re applying to work on a specific piece of business, what’s the brand situation?
  • Who else is on the agency’s client roster?
  • What’s the senior leadership team like?

As you learn more about the opportunity, I encourage you to again explore the fit question.

3. Reflect what you know about the job in your application

“Application” here means more than just your cover letter. Here are three areas to think about:

Your Way In
While you can certainly apply to the opening you see on LinkedIn or some other online posting, you don’t want to swim in the sea of sameness with all the other people who get dumped into the agency’s candidate tracking system. You’ll have a better chance of being considered for the job if you augment that application with a human touch. Leverage your connections. This could include your friendly outside recruiter.

Your Cover Letter and/or Introductory Email
This is critical. Here, you’re providing a short, high-level view of how you can benefit the agency. What is it about you that screams this is a great fit? Typically, when I write about a candidate, I use bullet points. Because I know recruiters are busy and they expect me to present candidates that are already good fits for the job.

The bullet points are short one-liners that positively compare the candidate to the job. They almost always move beyond the skill set and address the candidate’s cultural fit.

You can do the same thing in your introduction, demonstrating how your skills and past experiences can help the agency and align with their needs.

Your Resume
In a new business pitch and successful RFP response, everything is hand-crafted and customized.

In your job search, your resume could be customized, which would increase your odds of earning an interview. Not many candidates do this. And I get it. This takes time. But your resume is a big part of your internal presentation (what the agency recruiter says about you). Hiring managers will see it.

Answering these kinds of questions can help you determine if it’s worth the investment to customize your resume:

  • How many jobs at the agency are like the one you’re applying for?
  • How badly do you want this job?
  • What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

We’re just scratching the surface! There’s much more that job hunters can learn when they apply agency new business thinking to their job search. Thanks for reading. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Photo credit: joannapoe 2011-04-17_14-28-47 via photopin (license)

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Why ad agency recruiters like a boomerang candidate

Hello, fellow advertising agency recruiter. I was just working on something that reminded me of boomerang candidates and how much I like them. When I take a look at someone’s resume and see they’ve been hired by one agency more than once, it suggests a potential good hire.

Why? They’re capable/proven, they might have a relationship-based personality, and you have a better sense for culture fit. Below are a few hundred words on professionals who are boomerangs at other agencies.

We’ll also take a look at creating a new boomerang, and discuss pros & cons of hiring someone who used to work at your agency.

First, let’s tackle a a candidate that another agency has hired twice.

They’re good at what they do and being a boomerang proves it

Being hired by the same agency more than once hired suggests a candidate that’s definitely worth further exploration. Because someone thought well enough of them to hire them again. So to this advertising agency recruiter, this proves not only a given skill set, but it suggests the candidate may work and play well with others, too.

This is important, because being a good human is also part of the hiring equation. Our business can be stressful and exhausting. It requires teams to spend lots of time with each other. Hire someone you think can make eating crab rangoon take-out at 7p a more enjoyable experience. Odds are good a boomerang won’t hog the sweet & sour sauce.

A returning staffer suggests a relationship-based personality

While I like boomerang candidates, I LOVE candidates who have relationship-based personalities. In many ways, a relationship-based professional is the opposite of Type A. Relationship-based personalities focus on connection. And they must feel comfortable and have trust established before they talk business. Bonds, teams and interpersonal connections are important to candidates with relationship-based personalities.

Suffice to say, if you’re recruiting for an agency that has some of these relationship-based qualities, a boomerang might be a good cultural fit for your shop. Which can help keep that professional around, thereby increasing agency staff retention, lowering your future recruiting costs and earning better fitting referrals.

These candidates better reflect their repeat agency’s culture

Some agencies have cultural pedigrees and reputations. They’re known for things. If you know what an agency is known for, and you see a candidate’s worked there a couple of times, you begin to get a sense for what spice that candidate can bring to your agency’s gumbo.

Maybe everyone likes what you’re serving up. Or maybe you need a little more cayenne pepper. Like the gumbo at that other agency.

But what about YOUR agency? Should you hire someone who’s previously worked at your shop?

Sure. Boomerangs can be known entities, easier to train, lower turnover, and yes, can provide competitive advantage. Odds are good the new role will be a more senior one for this proven professional. They’ll have picked up a skill or two since working at your agency. They may also have a professional contact or relationship that can help. All of which will help your hiring managers think you’re a good recruiter. Here’s a little bit of writing from the IT world that goes into hiring boomerangs.

Of course, there are cons, too, of course. Perhaps you might think twice about the candidate’s loyalty, or maybe the candidate has existing bad blood / experiences with current staffers. Totally understandable why you might hesitate with a potential boomerang. Your mileage will vary with a given situation.

What both the candidate and agency will be trying to do here is figure out if their respective needs match. Just like any situation. But the boomerang nature can help make that job easier due to shared culture, connections, understanding and perspective.

Be prepared to talk about what’s changed at the agency. What’s different in terms of the situation the candidate had back then versus what’s going on now. As an advertising agency recruiter, you may not know what those differences are, as this person may have worked at the shop before you were there. So, consider starting the conversation around their past at your shop. Ask those questions early so you can make those differences more clear.

If you want more boomerangs, think Bluto Blutarsky.

Think college. This writing reminded me of this idea. And as a new business guy, I’d also spend a few hours looking at college alumni marketing and fundraising programs.

I’d also look at how large law firms recruit talent and develop new business. Law firms have similar recruiting challenges, sailing on the billable sea of sameness. So why not borrow (read: steal) an idea or two from that category. There’s some brilliant thinking out there that can inspire on-brand and effective boomerang advertising agency recruiting programs.

So next time you run across a boomerang candidate, consider they might have built-in qualities. They could be proven performers, are relationship and trust-focused, and might reflect your agency’s culture.

Thanks for reading. Don’t know about you, but this article has made me hungry. And yearn for the open sea. Hope you’re not seasick or gluten-free!

Enjoy.

photo credit: Aboriginal Cultural Center Traditional Wooden Australian Boomerang via photopin (license)

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Show candidates some love with a relationship valentine

Most agency recruiters focus on filling their openings. Right now I’ve got two new business searches going. So I spend time looking for professionals that can find and win new business. But you might be looking for strategists right now. So you’re spending your energy on finding planning candidates.

But as advertising recruiters we have to maintain an agency talent pipeline. So that when you have to hire, for example, an account director or a creative director, you’ve already got a list of great candidates that are good fits for your agency. Having this list can dramatically lower your time to fill and drive recruiting efficiency. It can also lower your outside recruiting costs.

But how do you do that? While at the same time, keep presenting those urgently needed account planner candidates to your team?

One of the ways I maintain a pipeline is to use something I call a “relationship valentine.” Here are few hundred words on what it is and how advertising agency recruiters can use it to maintain and build a relationship with people you may want to eventually hire for your shop.

Relationship Valentine: thoughtful love without expectations

Back in the day, account folks would rip out an article in a trade magazine, attach a quick thought, and send it over to their client. It could have been an article about anything, really. Usually, though, it was business related. Something relevant to a matter at hand. It was thoughtful. And it demonstrated you were their advocate, you’re paying attention and are thinking about them and their business. (This kind of thing still happens, of course. It’s now a link instead of paper.)

Sometimes, there would be a follow-up conversation with the client. But not always. When yours truly used this technique in new business, I emailed hundreds of agency prospects a quick relationship valentine. Without any “sales” message from your truly and without any expectation on my part. For example:

Good afternoon. Here’s a story <link> that ran in today’s WSJ that discusses “the new consumer” and how some brands are reacting. It’s a little long, but interesting: think of how the trend might impact your innovation going into the new year. It can also provide context and support for a need to change.

And another one:

Here’s a fun thought-starter: the New York Times pulled together a cool interactive graphic <link> that shows how Americans spend their time each day. You can drill down by demographic. It can help remind your team of your consumer’s daily reality and how your brand fits in; provide some media planning context for potential purchase or consideration moments; and/or spur some promotional thinking.

A third example:

Hope you had a great Halloween. thought you might appreciate knowing what Kohl’s will be up to this holiday season. This article < link> broke last Thursday…

These were HTML emails, so I could get a sense for opens, clicks, agency website visits and more. But notice there’s no sales language in any of the examples. They’re just quick ways of staying on someone’s radar screen and demonstrating a little bit of smarts (without being self-serving).

Relationship valentines work for candidates, too

Why not do the same thing with candidates? After all, new business prospects for your agency are just like great candidates that you might want to hire later. And while you can certainly send them things about your agency over time (which agencies rarely do, by the way), you can also send items that are brief, thoughtful, relevant and interesting.

This technique is particularly helpful for passive candidates. People that are happy now at their existing agency, but may be good fits for your shop in the future.

Relationship valentine topic areas for candidates and agency recruiting

Here are a few thought-starters:

  • Career thinking and advice
  • Discipline or department-specific how-to
  • Book reviews
  • Podcast suggestions
  • Local lifestyle tips

A side benefit of all this? This is material that can easily be repurposed and used for things like staff retention. If you go the how-to route, for example, you’re beginning to build a learning and development library. A cool idea might be to create a series of departmental how-to (coming from your leaders) that can be made into posts, newsletters, videos, podcasts, etc.

And of course, from time to time I’d want to include some information about the agency. This could mean a list of openings you might have, which can increase the size and efficacy of your talent pipeline. Not to mention incoming apps from qualified candidates.

If you’re thinking this is all just a form of content marketing, you’re right! One could easily take the lessons learned from content marketing gurus from places like Copyblogger and apply it to staying in front of prospective agency talent and job candidates.

Anywho, hope this gets you thinking about ways to maintain your agency’s brand awareness with your best candidates. Thanks for reading!

Other ways to lower your recruiting costs and lower your time to fill can be found here:

Photo credit: Ben Kerckx

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Earn more staff referrals and lower advertising agency recruiter costs

Being an advertising agency recruiter is hard work. Here are just a few things you do on a daily basis…

Write job descriptions that engage, inspire and increase applications from people who are qualified to do the job. Sift through dozens of resumes on your candidate tracking system to find the elusive unicorn. Find and reach out to a great candidate on LinkedIn. Get your internal team to interview candidates (and get feedback). And, of course, find, brief, manage and then pay thousands of dollars to those damn recruiters. All of which I heartily encourage!

The point is you have a lot on your plate. Your agency’s resources are stretched. And you still need to find good people. So let’s remind ourselves of two somethings you can do today to make your advertising recruiter job a little easier and minimize recruiting headaches. And, gulp, even save your agency a few bucks on outside recruiters.

Earn more staff referrals by checking in with them

I’m not talking about the annual review that usually happens on month seventeen versus month twelve ( when it was scheduled). Nor am I referring to the candidate referral program you put in place awhile back, yet most staffers forget about.

What I’m getting at is a friendly conversation you can have with your very best staffers about how things are going for them in their day-to-day job. It’s an informal, quick check-in where you focus on what they’ve been working on and what they’re passionate about. This is an opportunity to let them know they’re doing amazing work and you’re psyched they are part of the agency tribe.

When’s the last time you did something like that? When’s the last time someone did that for you? How did it make you feel? Everyone works so hard now. We can all afford to live in a more human workplace.

A little bit of genuine, heartfelt cheerleading can go a long way towards keeping a keeper…and getting a candidate referral or two. Good people tend to know each other. So odds are pretty good this new referral is a terrific hire and will be great for your team. Making your job as an advertising agency recruiter a little easier. More fun, too.

Deliver a “you’re awesome” message to increase retention and build internal referrals

What, you don’t have time for a check-in? I get it. Unicorn candidates don’t just magically appear. And candidate interview feedback doesn’t show up on your inbox without a little bit of work on your part. If you’re too busy for an in-person visit, then consider a quick, personal email to that keeper staffer. Heck, you could even give ’em something relatively inexpensive, yet nice.

A dinner for two is always appreciated. This delivers three additional benefits: it acknowledges the keeper has a life outside the agency; it recognizes good performance in a tangible way; and is agency CFO-friendly.  What’s not to like? Pass the salt.

Consider agency size with this kind of thing

Size matters when it comes to these check-ins and “you’re awesome” messages. Do they need to come from you or your department?

If our goal is getting more referrals, then sure. It could and should come from a recruiter. However at a large shop, one could argue that someone in HR or Recruiting may not know the ins and outs of a specific professional’s performance. You can get insights from people working on the business.

When these messages come from you, this delivers an extra benefit: it makes HR seem like a closer, more positive aspect of the agency. You can help make the department known for more than just hiring, firing and benefits.

So it can come from you, but why can’t it come from someone’s boss? Might feel more natural that way. The mere fact that someone gets one will help keep that keeper productive and employed at your agency. And yes, this will also increase organic referrals. Perhaps without even having a form filled out or a staffer being paid a recruiting fee. Another CFO-friendly practice!

You could always coordinate a referral ask after the boss tells a star performer they’re awesome.

At a smaller agency, there’s no reason these kinds of messages can’t come from you. Senior leadership will appreciate what you’re doing. And others will take up the cause.

Anywho, hope this makes you think a bit. Thanks for reading!

Looking for more ideas that can make your job easier? Check ’em out:

photo credit: Dwonderwall Dusted kitchen area via photopin (license)

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Recruiters, find agency talent through marketplace triggers

Howdy! The other day I wrote about how account changes and other marketplace triggers can help agency job-seekers find their next great gig. This should go without saying, but many of those same triggers apply to advertising agency recruiters as your shop looks for its next leader.

< head nod >

I know. That isn’t particularly brilliant, right, as it relates to filling your vacancies and lowering your time to fill. So, in my own humble attempt to help, here are three quick thoughts that dig a little deeper into triggers and go beyond recruiting basics…

Let’s take a look at just one common marketplace change: you read that a competitive agency has lost a piece of business. Recruiting 101 suggests you may want to target folks at that agency. However, there are a few nuances to that idea.

Leverage client-side staff change as an agency recruiter

Sure, you could be one of the recruiters that calls a staffer when they work at an agency that’s lost business. But there’s an opportunity to get ahead of that. By taking advantage of the step before the loss. A new CMO, VP or director of marketing usually means the agency who has that business will probably lose it in the future.

To me, this client-side change (a new CMO) is more valuable to an ad agency recruiter than reading on Adweek that an agency just lost something. Because it gives you more time to build relationships with great candidates and potential agency hires at the shop which currently has the business. You also gain the advantage of potentially being first to reach out to a candidate. Which can make your pitch stand out. You can also leverage that moment when a candidate moves from being passive to active.

Share the client side change with your own agency’s new business team

This is a great way for HR and talent recruiters to add value to an agency. While it’s easy to think your new business guys are on it, there’s a lot for them to keep track of. They might have missed this news. It’s also a smart way to help your agency.

It never hurts to have more people looking for more pitch opportunities. And if your agency is a good fit for the business…someone else will read in Adweek about YOUR shop winning something.

Target the talent the agency keeps after a layoff

Layoffs happen as a result of lost revenue. Unfortunately, we’ve all been there. Good people get put out on the street. But if the agency perceives that someone on their team is really exceptional, they’ll do everything they can to keep him or her. This means re-assignment to an existing business. Or perhaps a short stint in new business. Identifying these people is not easy. But with some savvy detective work using you and your agency’s network it can be done.

Send a candidate a “congratulations” note when they get a new job – even if it’s not with your agency

Huh? I do this all the time and it’s a terrific way to build your pipeline. A personalized, heartfelt congratulations and well-wishing can go a long way to building a connection and awareness of your agency.  And who knows, maybe even create a referral source.

Anywho, hope this gets you thinking about some ways to best take advantage of marketplace conditions. Thanks for reading. And if you’d like to chat, give me a shout. Thanks!

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Two other relevant posts

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Find a new agency or client-side job through job triggers

Hello there, job seeker. No doubt about it. Places like LinkedIN are terrific places for online job listings. But what about the step that happens BEFORE a job is posted? You know, the thing that triggers the employer’s need to fill a position. The thing that gets the ad agency recruiter or client side HR involved and looking for great talent?

Why does the job opening exist? Here’s a quick look at common triggers on both the client and agency sides.

Look for these client-side triggers to identify future job openings

These things typically are leading indicators there will be employment opportunities on the client side:

  • New CEO, President or CMO (Chief Marketing Officer)
  • Existing staff promotions / departures
  • Exceptionally large business gains or losses
  • Bad business results
  • Office location changes
  • Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Macro economic indicators
  • New funding sources

Recognize the signs agencies will be looking for new talent

Looking for a new agency gig? This list of triggers is not all that much different from the client-side list.

  • New pieces of business
  • Existing staff promotions
  • New senior managers
  • New department leaders
  • Departing staffers (which may leave a hole that needs to be filled)
  • M&A
  • Missing digital / big data / social media capabilities

Get ahead of your competition and give yourself more time to win the job

One could ask, “why should I even identify these triggers?” Glad you asked!

It doesn’t matter if you are searching for a client-side job or an agency one. Here are just two reasons why identifying triggers can put you in a better position to get that coveted new job:

  • Give yourself more time to win the job. Generally speaking, with more time, you can craft a better strategy for how to differentiate your candidacy, get in front of the agency or client-side recruiter, and put your pitch in front of the hiring manager.
  • Get ahead of the competition. As soon as the job is posted, the employer and recruiter will be flooded with calls, emails and letters. By seeing the employer’s future need, you can beat the massive influx of resumes and dramatically increase the chances of being properly considered.

Consider reflecting the trigger in your customized job pitch

This trigger is news. Someone — or a whole team — is going to be hired. What is it about you that’s relevant or important to the recruiter? For example, have you worked in this category (and what kind of impact did you have)? Do you know the person who’s been hired? Do you have experience the agency doesn’t have?

If this news won’t trigger a job for you, share the news with a friend

Maybe it’s a better fit for them. Perhaps they have the category experience you don’t. Being nice and good pays dividends. Wrote the fella who gets most of his business through repeat and referral sources.  I suspect you know people who will return the favor and keep an eye peeled for you. Or heck, maybe even hire you in the future.

Anywho, hope this spurs you to think about your job search a little differently. For more career-minded thinking on this website, check out the career blog post category.

Photo credit: Anders V  via photopin

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