Kristine Sexter

Kristine Sexter, founder of WorkWise Productions, works with organizations to dramatically increase productivity and performance by recruiting, developing and retaining their top talent. She is an award-winning professional speaker, workshop trainer, columnist and author, working for companies of all sizes from start-ups to Fortune 500, as well as trade and professional associations across the country.

Contact Soar with Eagles for more information on Kristine at 479.903.0208 or carrie@soarhigher.com

“The most powerful theme emerging this year is a strong and consistent focus on people,” said Peter Cheese, global managing partner of Accenture’s Human Performance practice. “Even though the business conversations have centered on global competition and the need for execution, business leaders are increasingly aware that nothing happens unless people-talent is engaged in the right way.”

WorkWise Productions, a consulting and training organization based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, equips their clients with specific strategies to recruit, develop and retain top talent. Here are a few tenets of recruiting shared by WorkWise Productions:

1. Successful recruiting and successful marketing adhere to the same philosophies. They are built upon the same concepts of excellent service, consistency, and ethical standards. Thus if a marketing strategy has been consistently effective for your company, use the same approach when recruiting. If you routinely use print advertising to market your company, add a few lines to the next ad saying, “Consider yourself top talent in our industry? Call the CEO of our company today for an immediate interview!”
    
2. Recruiting is a well-planned, proactive, on-going process. “Reactionary recruiting” or “panic-recruiting” — an activity which occurs when your organization is in desperate need of finding an appropriate candidate — leads to poor hiring decisions, increased turnover, loss of business, loss of reputation, and loss of revenue.
    
3. NSR: Never Stop Recruiting. You may not always be hiring, but you are always recruiting! Keeping your cache of potential new hires full so that when you need to hire, you already have a reserve of talent! Keep your eyes open whereever you go — restaurants, on planes, when shopping, etc.
    
4. NSI: Never Stop Interviewing. Be willing to interview walk-ins or those without an appointment. If you won’t, your next “star” will be walking right across the street to your competitor!
    
5. Top talent is rarely without a job but when they are, they first tap their personal and professional network. Often, their network quickly affords several job prospects. The classified ads are not usually the first tool utilized by these coveted professionals. Robert Rinner, an Executive Recruiter for the Professional Division of Express Personnel, eloquently states that the Sunday ads “usually draw the best of the unhappy or the best of the unemployed.”
    
6. Recruiting is brand-sensitive. If you or your organization plan to be ultra successful in recruiting, the recruiter must have longevity within your company. Recruiters who work for one company and are suddenly recruiting for a competitor are undermining their credibility. Being known over time as the “Job guy” for one company over the course of several years is priceless!
    
7. Recruiting is an assertive role. Just as most successful sales persons are self-confident and believe passionately in their product or service, recruiters must also exude enthusiasm for their roles.
    
8. Referrals are king! Referrals are the unwavering, irrefutable, and most effective method of recruiting new employees, associates, and members. If referrals are not your number-one, most-effective recruiting strategy, find out why. Then, make every effort to change it!
    
9. Employees are your most vital customer and recruiter! If you are in a service-committed business, your employees are the core of your business. They are the vehicle by which all customers will judge your company. They are the best recruiters you will ever have. So are you their supreme advocate? Are they treated with the utmost respect and made to feel important and vital? Do you consistently deliver objective performance appraisals, routinely ask for their input and reward them fairly? If not, any recruiting effort to hire top talent will be lost in turnover. It’s like trying to bale water from a sinking ship with a funnel.
    
10. Ethics rule all the rules. Great recruiters are never “poachers,” “truth-benders,” or “cannibals.” They never recruit from clients, speak negatively of their competitors, nor take associates/candidates from related companies or other recruiters. Being renowned for your adherence to the highest of business ethics will serve you, and your reputation, far greater than engaging in discreditable acts.

To begin dismantling recruiting as the number one concern of today’s executive, begin by building a stalwart foundation to recruit based upon these proactive principles.