Overcoming Objections
As you may have already experienced, there are times when candidates will present cer- tain objections to working with you. Don’t take it to heart. It happens. Objections will surface even if you have been awesome at differentiating yourself. If you’re not comfortable with the word “No”, this probably isn’t the industry for you. On the ip side, there are ways of overcom- ing objections that are unobtrusive and sometimes result in a quali ed candidate coming to work with Optomi. Objections are the typical result of misunderstanding. Overcoming these objections becomes a part of your everyday grind.
So what are some examples of typical objections?
1. “I’m currently on a contract.”– In our market, this objection comes up very frequently. Getting past this objection is as simple as asking when their current contract is expiring. This opens up the conversation to further discussion about their current role, their ideal position, what they are currently making, etc. Even if they don’t want to come off their current con- tract for professional reasons, building that relationship now will help you down the road.
2. “I don’t like working with staf ng rms.” – This is the sign of someone who’s been burned in the past. Try and get to the bottom of this objection by asking questions around it. Try to nd out what brought them to this conclusion. Have they been made empty promises in the past? What happened the last time they were on contract? You essentially want to do your best to reassure the candidate’s con dence in staf ng rms, and more importantly, their con dence in you as a recruiter.
3. “I won’t work for less than X per hour for contracts.” – Some people have been blinded to the market by previous contracts/positions. When you have a candidate that asks for a ridiculous amount of money, call them out on it. Ask them why that is their minimum rate. It’s okay to express your expertise to a delusional candidate. Let them know that you’re not an expert on determining someone’s worth, but that you have a fair idea on the going rate for someone with their amount of experience. Typically, people will understand that you know more about pay rates in a market than they do.
4. “I’m not interested.” – This objection pops up once in a while and it’s usually tied to not doing a good job on CLAMS discovery. Again, getting to the root of this statement can be dif cult, but try to gure out why. If they have a decent resume, this candidate may have just gotten 30 calls about the requirement you’re working on. If that’s the case, let them know that while they may already be submitted, you have other opportunities that to which your competition may not have access. See what you can nd out from them by asking them for referrals. Taking the attention away from them will sometimes get candidates to open up.
ASSIGNMENT 29: Review the Overcoming Objections WebEx presentation.
ASSIGNMENT 30: Make a list of the top 10 candidate objections and start building your Over- coming Objections modeling format for them. Be sure to post your work around your work- space so you’ll have them ready for future use.
Supporting Other Of ces
If you haven’t noticed, Optomi is much larger than just your of ce. We are a national compa- ny. Part of your job as a recruiter is to keep an ear to the ground when it comes to opportuni- ties with Optomi outside of your market. If you have a great candidate who is able to travel, why not submit them to opportunities around the region or country?
What does this do for you? You still receive your portion of the revenue/commission.
ASSIGNMENT 31: This is a multi-threaded assignment. You are to get at least one submit to a requirement outside of your market. This can come from a candidate that is willing to travel, or possibly from a requirement that actually sits in your market. Additionally, you are to call at least one recruiter in two other Optomi of ces. Introduce yourself as a new recruiter and do some networking. It is always good to know people in other markets!
Candidate: __________________________________________ Requirement location: _________ Recruiter: ___________________________________________ Of ce: __________
Recruiter: ___________________________________________ Of ce: __________