Not Our Business As Recruiters

Elite law firms passing over qualified candidates whose accents don't fit.


Some elite London law firms are passing over well-qualified, white working-class job applicants in favour of middle-class graduates from elite universities who they think they are better for their image, new research says. The firms studied had successfully recruited ethnic minority candidates as part of diversity programmes, but rejected able working-class students because their appearance or accent was not thought ‘smart’ enough.

Dr Louise Ashley of the Centre for Professional Service Firms at Cass Business School, which is part of City University London, interviewed 130 staff at five prominent London law firms, many of them in senior roles. Her findings are detailed in the Work, Employment and Society journal due to be published this week by the British Sociology Association and SAGE.

Dr Ashley said that though the firms were publicly committed to diversity in the workplace almost all of their lawyers came from more privileged backgrounds. More than 90 per cent of lawyers who took part in the research at the five firms had fathers who had been managers or senior officials, and at two of the firms more than 70 per cent of lawyers were privately educated.

The elite firms told her that they didn’t recruit students from less prestigious universities because they believed they were less academically gifted. However, Dr Ashley found that the firms turned down candidates who looked or sounded working-class in order to preserve the up market brand, even when they were well qualified.

Is it really any of our business, aren’t we the ones as recruiters who are meant to stay objective, impartial.
Candidates apply to which companies they wish, that is their prerogative, now sorely that has to go both ways, it is then the prerogative of companies to choose who they wish to employee, they are paying at the end of the day.
Just my thought’s ?

The Recruitment Cycle

Ben Frank

Benjamin Franklin was one of the founders of the United States of America, he was well know for making all of his difficult decisions using this technique, hence it known as the Ben Franklin close.
All he would do is list the pro points in Yes and the negative points in No and see which was longer, hence making his decision for him.
We use this in the same way, but you control the list, from your candidate registration form write out the bad points of why the candidate would be interested in leaving their current position and in the Yes column opposite write the positive opposite from your client, hence bad current job and the role you are speaking to them about has the answer to each point.
Write this out yourself before meeting or speaking to the candidate and then go through it with the candidate getting them to write it for them selves.
The Benjamin Franklin can be used as a pre-close or final close.

What If Pre-Close

This works the same as the “I Think” pre-close, if you prefer this one or usually you have already used the I Think, this works just as well.
The simple principal being you bring up a point like healthcare plans, the candidates current company has a healthcare plan that covers their hole family, but you already know your client’s healthcare plan is only for the employee, this can be a deal breaker.
By putting the point on yourself it gives you breathing space and let’s you head off potential problems, so by saying to the candidate “what if Client only has healthcare just for you” let’s you find out if it’s a big problem or not.
If they kick off and say they won’t take a job that does not have a healthcare plan that includes their whole family, you can back off it by simply saying, that was just me wondering, don’t panic, that sort of thing.
You can take this information to the client and say we could have a bump in the road here, could you include the candidate’s family in the healthcare plan or not?
If no and the client does not wish to loose the candidate over a small point, maybe they could just add on £50 a week to their basic, so the candidate can add their family in the healthcare plan themselves.
You can then take this point back to a pre-close question with the candidate, don’t be afraid of a little rumbling on the candidate’s part, it lets it out beforehand and at offer stage they are expecting it.

Candidate Management

The example below is on money, but you can take the principle and change it to suit what’s needed.
Money example;
You can say I think they are going to offer you XYZ but tell them a couple of grand difference.
I.e. the candidate is after £90k and you know the client is going to offer £85k, negotiate with the client and get a pay review after six months instead of twelve months.
Call the candidate and say I think the offer will be £82/83k, I know this is less than you were looking for, but please remember all of the other aspects of the job and the company you liked. (go through a few)
The candidate will complain, let them get it off their chest, just reiterate the positives.
Now when you go back and give them an official offer of £85k + a pay review in six months, they will be happier about it.
Justifying the difference,
Client name, have a policy of offering slightly lower basic’s/package than people ask for. This is done because a lot of people in the past have over sold themselves and have not been able to do the job.
So client name want proof before upping peoples salaries.
Now nobody is worried about that with you, but if they broke their own rules, you would not respect them and if it got out into the company it would be very uncomfortable for everybody.
I’m sure you can understand that, even if you don’t like it too much.
As they will be a bit disappointed that it’s not £90k, they will be quite happy it’s £85 + a pay review in six months and not £82k especially as there is a solid business reason as well.

Recruitment Cycle First Interview

1, Interview
Make sure you have covered the bases and sent by post and e-mail an interview pack, this is designed to remove hearing the words “I didn’t know that” from the candidate.
This pack should contain at least, map & directions, a cover letter with time, date, who their meeting, also a copy of the job description and any special points that need covering.

2, Emotional Feedback
For the candidate side you should work on the 10/10 rule, the candidate should ring you within 10 mins or within 10 feet of leaving the interview, if they don’t there’s a problem, at the very least with your candidate control.
Interviews are usually scheduled to end at a curtain time, if they over run it is usually a good sign, but check, ring the receptionist to check they arrived and to see when they left.
This feedback from the client and candidate is all about their emotional response, don’t worry about facts here just go with their gut feelings, how they felt.
It is quite often the case people take what they feel and make the facts fit that later on, this also gives you a good idea if you need to start pushing together or slowly pulling apart.

3, Feedback Fact
The next day you should have arranged to speak again about the interview, you will find the feedback is slightly different, as they have had a night to let it sink in, this will naturally be more factual information from both the client and candidate.

4, Interview 2
If it goes to a second interview this is usually quite different, as the parties are speaking together about the facts of working together.
You as the recruiter need to have found out what if any questions still need answering on both sides, make a list and send it to the client and candidate so it gets covered.
There might be points the client or candidate does not wish to speak about, you need to know these and cover it before and after.

5, I Think Pre-Close
This will get all of the candidate’s objections out the way before the official offer is made, it is a take away, drawing the candidate in further and this will also enhance your candidate control.
It is only a matter of a few phone calls to change an offer at this point, but when an official offer is made it can take weeks to change it.
The point of “I Think” pre-close is you can use it for what you wont, by saying the simply words of I think, you are bring up a subject to see if they will agree or not with it, so getting their objections out of the way even before the offer is made, makes the final close simple.

You might need to add in Candidate Management here, depending on the offer coming.

6, Client Negotiations Get Pre offer from Client
Stages 5 & 6 are quite intertwined it is quite often the case you will have got some of the information for a potential offer before stage 5.
This is the art and science of the job, the science of your excellent information gathering making life easer now and the art of feeding info back and forth.

7, Offer Negotiations
If you have done your pre-closes, there might not be that much to negotiate.
It is worth giving candidates 24 hours to let it sink in, don’t rush to get a “yes”.
A lot of the time both parties have been speaking as if it was going ahead without anybody saying anything.
If more work still needs to be done, the points are covered, but your still getting humming and haring from the candidate, it usually nerves, you could use a “Ben Frank” close here or go back to pre-closing again.
Other things that work are, arranging a walk about of the company or even just taking the pressure off, just letting it sit for a minute.

8, The Close
It should be as simple as saying “so do you won’t this job”?
This question should only be asked when you know the only answer you will get is a “yes”, if you don’t know, you need a lot more pre-closing.
You can have fun with this by saying things like there I go again with my high pressure sales.

Throughout all of this it should not be pressured, your selling a lot, but it should not look like it.

Go to after the YES, your not finished yet.

Recruitment Cycle Job

1, Job Description
Get a full job description and company profile, go onto the companies website, do you know anybody working there with an inside track information, try to get a real feel for the company and their ethos, the more you know the better you can sell.

2, Write the Pitch
Writing the pitch now let’s you see if you have enough information to sell.
Write out your verbal pitch as well as your written e-mail one.

3, Sourcing candidates
A great deal time is taken up by searching for candidates, apart from databases, recommendations are an excellent way of finding people, also advertising and headhunting are worth looking at.

4, Sell the Job to Candidates
If the candidate is unregistered give them a brief overview of the job and company (without names, locations), make sure before going to far they are a decent candidate.
For know candidates, sell your socks off, remember to target their current dislikes to the roles strengths.

5, Sell the Candidate to the Client
You have a few candidates to send to the client, write your short sales pitch on each and their e-mail pitches, phone your client and sell them with conviction, if you can’t your candidates are not good enough.

6, Set up the Interviews
Use the few call’s your making between the candidate and client arranging times and dates to get a bit of extra selling in, a few positive points here can have a big impact.

Specking out 1 liners

Recruitment Cycle Candidate

1, Register Candidate
Make sure you have an excellent understanding of your candidate, it is better to fill in the candidates reg form in 5 calls not 1, as you will get to know the person more.
If you fell there is something wrong or they are holding back, your probably right, speak to the candidate about it and be frank.
Only work with people you think are good candidates.

2, Prep the Pitch
Write out your verbal sell for on the phone also write your sell for going on e-mail, look for three strong points to sell, if you are struggling to do that, that should be a flag to you.

3, Working Location
What distance can they drive to a job, what about trains or tubes, 1 hour is a good marker.
Make yourself a map and add 30 minutes to what ever they have said to be safe.
Time after time candidates say no to a distance, then change their minds when a “dream company or role comes up”.

4, Company Search
Every relevant company in your working location map should be included, don’t just trust databases, look at were else you can get company information like, yell.com or governing bodies websites as examples.
Don’t miss any out the 1 you miss could be the “yes”.

5, Target List
This will give you your target list which is your calling list, it makes it quicker when pitching to have this done first.

6, Pitching
Sell, sell, sell, if you don’t have any enthusiasm about your candidate why should a client.
Set up interviews on the phone if you can, if not e-mail over the CV and call back, remember some clients will say “send me the CV” just to get you off the phone, don’t let them, qualify before.
As a rule of thumb if you have called a client 3 times with no luck, send the CV anyway with your e-mail pitch, cover your bases.
Never go ahead without arranging your TOB / T &C.

7, Call Back for Client Interest
For ones you didn’t arranged a time and date to call back on, 24 hours should be about right, call back and get your feedback.
If the client is not interested in the candidate why?
This information will let build a better picture of your clients.The client is interested then take down the job description from the client, also bear in mind do you have anybody else that might be good for this.
You now have a job to work as well.

8, Selling Jobs to the Candidate
Write out the main selling points and pitch the job or jobs you have come up with, if you have not taken enough information from the client you will not be able to sell the job properly.
Any positive feedback you had from the client is worth throwing in here, flattery never hurts.
Same again with selling, if you don’t believe they won’t ether.

9, Candidate job Feedback / Interviews
If the candidate is not interested in the role, why?
If they are interested, set up the interview, the couple of calls back and forth between the client and candidate getting times and dates extra can be used for extra selling, save a few points for this.

Go to the recruitment cycle from the 1st interview.

If your wondering when the best time to do something is, the answer is always NOW!

Candidate Reg Form

Candidate Field...........................................................................


Name................................... Candidate Number...........................


Job Title.................................... Current Wage £..........................


Current Company.................................................................................................


Current Benefits...................................................................................................


Address...................................................... Mobile Number................................


.................................................................. Home Number....................................


Town....................................................... Work Number......................................


County......................................................... Other..............................................


Postcode..................................................... Got CV Yes / No


Candidate Source........................ Headhunt / Advert / Tracked / Res / Other


Candidate Relocation Yes / No Why?............................................................


............................................................................................................................


From........................................................... To...................................................


Expected Wage £................................ Expected Benefits...............................


..............................................................................................................................

What was their client billing hours last year...........

What was the hourly rate £............


Reason for wonting to leave...............................................................................



Job Role................................................................................................................


...............................................................................................................................



Three things that he/she most dislikes about current company and job.


1) Company.......................................................................................................


Job.......................................................................................................................


2) Company........................................................................................................


Job.......................................................................................................................


3) Company........................................................................................................


Job.......................................................................................................................



Have they discussed their concerns with their current company Yes / No


Three things that he/she most likes about current company and job.


1) Company..........................................................................................................


Job.........................................................................................................................


2) Company..........................................................................................................


Job.........................................................................................................................


3) Company..........................................................................................................


Job.........................................................................................................................



Other information...............................................................................................


...............................................................................................................................


...............................................................................................................................


...............................................................................................................................



What are the three most important thing they are looking for in the next job?


(for your information, do these three things add up with the three reasons they are leaving their current company, if not why?)


1)............................................................................................................................


2)...........................................................................................................................


3)...........................................................................................................................


What companies would they like to work for?

1).................................................................

2).................................................................

3).................................................................

4).................................................................


What companies would they not work for?

1)................................................................

2)................................................................

3)................................................................

4)................................................................


Other information










Please remember when taking information, you have two ears and one mouth, it’s a good idea to use them in that order.