Recruitment Tips

How I became a Top Biller

After my last post and the help I was able to give to Marisa, I thought it would make sense to write a post on how I became a Top Biller, I suppose taking a leaf out of Bill Vicks books or should I say pod!!

Before I start I would like to say Bill’s One Minute Interviews, really does give an insight into what makes a top Biller and certainly will help you grow your business, you can either listen to them on his website at Xtremerecruiting, their comments certainly reflect mine.

Although it has been a number of years since I was recruiter, I always generated revenue as a manager and the principles have not really changed, whereas the technology has.

When I started out in Recruitment I was offered a job with a large company called Austin Benn, they had offices all over England, the funny thing is that if I had seen the job advert for the role I would never had applied. If I remember rightly it was something like, are you dynamic, hard working, want to be the best etc and at the time I did not think of myself like that, to be honest I was quite shy.

Why I was offered the Job I will never know, I will always remember walking in with patent shoes a cheap suit and I was completely naive. What made it even more unbelievable was the company was made up of aggressive young males, a little like the video from computer people, on top of this they were a hire and fire company and if you didn’t perform Keith Austin had no hesitation to fire you.

So feeling a little out of my depth I started with the company and just got my head down, when I looked up I found myself at the top of the league table, I couldn’t believe it really. So how did I beat these young aggressive dynamic colleagues I was up against, not only one month but consistently.

Well the answer isn’t to complicated, just hard work and making as many calls as possible in a working day, the funny thing is by making so many calls you can really hone your skills to the point you can achieve the same revenue from less calls.

Obviously there was a lot of training that helped me succeed on top of this, I do not want to go into every aspect here but what I thought would help is to mention the key points I focused on, which I felt made the difference

They are:

1) Continually be on the phone

2) Treat every client and candidates as if there were Royalty (take their call, would be a good start here!)

3) Never give up, you will need to have skin of a Rhino at times as this is a sales role.

4) One phrase worked wonders for me “why should some one come to work for you?” the information I gained here often made the difference.

5) Leave no stone unturned when it comes to finding the perfect candidate

6) Believe in yourself as a recruitment consult, you can make the difference between the candidate getting the job or not. (it helps to always think your candidate isn’t the favorite)

7) Expect the worst and prepare

I hope this is of benefit and as you can see and as a good friend of mine put, “it isn’t rocket science”

Powered by Qumana

4 Comments

  1. I’m just about to start with a perm IT recruitment co. and wondered how you worked your day when you was a top biller? I’m expecting a 8.30-7.30pm day from what ive been told…is that the norm?

  2. Hi Lou

    Thanks for passing by http://www.recruitment-views.com

    In response to your question I do not think I ever worked to 7.30, but I made the odd evening call from home to confirm interviews, but to be honest I preferred to sort everything from the office.

    It is also worth noting that back then people didn’t have mobiles and often the only time you could get hold of anyone was after 5.30 hence some late hours, these days I cannot see why anyone cannot finish the day by 5.30 6pm it down to time management.

    My advice to you is just to fit in and work as hard as possible and basically do not go home till you have finished, as you develop you will know what is required.

    In time you will see that recruitment can work around you, I had a friend who was married with children working part-time and earning just less than 100k more than most of her full time colleges, so it’s often about thinking smart.

    I hope this helps and best of luck with your career, oh and one big tip “you only make money when you are on the phone”

    Regards
    Stephen

  3. Lou – Nice post and I think part of wisdom is the ability to simplify the complex. Your answer is both wise and the essence of good recruiting.

    I’ll be happy to share my 10 Big Biller Secrets (there is no secret as you point out 🙂 to anybody who drops me note or visits the http://www.BigBiller.org Web site and registers.

    Well done Lou!

  4. Stephen…. Great post! You hit the nail on the head. I’m a recruiter and I live by this – Deals = ABC2 (Always Be Calling x Always Be Closing) you will not fail to make money!

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: