With the rise of social media and more online sources to help recruiters identify candidates, conferences and recruiter training programs all seem to be focusing on the technology side of the business. This extreme focus on training people on the technology side of the business has created a new generation of recruiters and sourcers that are great at finding talent online, but do they know how to close a deal? TalentNet Live took a step last month to bridge that gap between “old school recruiting” and new technology by offering a Candidate Closing Workshop to its attendees. In true “unconference” style, Craig Fisher and I showed up with one slide and let that slide guide the discussion. With over 100 sourcing and recruiting professionals in the room, this led to some great conversation and we all walked away with some great new ideas to help us bring candidates through the process. The slide was simple:

• Closing starts on the first call!
• Closing tips pre-interview
• Closing during the debrief call
• The "oops" call
• Sealing the deal

Key takeaways from the discussion:

• Closing starts on the first call! This means you need to gather as much information as possible early in the process. It’s important to move beyond money and location. To do this one could ask a question like: “Tell me three things that are going to be important to you in your next opportunity that have nothing to do with benefits or salary”. This question is meant to get you closer to what is really driving a person to consider a change. The easy answer is “I want to make more money”. We are looking to learn more about what really motivates the candidate. An example might be “work life balance”. After you get the first answer continue probing until you have at least three good reasons they would consider a change. Next, continue digging in to each of their reasons by asking questions like “What does work life balance mean to you?” The information that comes out is critical because it is something you can refer back to each time you talk to the candidate during the entire process. .
• The “oops call” is something that a number of people in the room were familiar with. It refers to a call that is made to the spouse of the candidate at some point during the recruiting process. The call is made when the recruiter knows that the candidate isn’t available. It gives the recruiter a chance to chat with the spouse to uncover any concerns the spouse may have and to make sure both parties are comfortable with the new position. This is especially important when relocation is a consideration.

What do you think – are we losing the true art of recruiting by focusing too much on the administrative process and technology side of the business? What "old-school search" techniques are recruiters forgetting to include in their recruiting processes? .