This document provides guidance for becoming a sector specialist by focusing on developing relationships with employers, finding qualified job applicants, and obtaining placements. It emphasizes researching target employers and their job openings, building company profiles, developing trust through quality referrals, tracking metrics like job order coverage and time to fill, and ongoing relationship building. The overall goal is to work as an industry-specific recruiter to match applicants and employers efficiently in a particular sector.

1. Becoming a
Sector Specialist
Part One
Presented by Michele Martin

2. To begin. . .

3. What is the goal?
PLACEMENTS!!!!

4. Placements=
Qualified Applicants Job Openings

5. Two Ways to Work
• Work the job • Work the job order
seeker—find jobs —find qualified
that they are applicants to fill the
qualified to do. jobs.

6. Sector Specialists
• Industry-specific recruiter—work the job order first.
Filled job orders build relationships with employers!
• Focus on relationships, not transactions.
• Deep knowledge of industry & job openings
• Deep knowledge of applicant pool
• Expand the applicant pool to meet employer needs.
• Expand the job order pool to meet job seeker needs.

7. Working with Employers
Thinking Like a Recruiter

8. Recruitment
Value-Add
• Speed—How can you reduce the time it takes to
identify, screen, interview and hire a qualified
candidate?
• Quality of referrals—Are you a consistent resource for
high quality referrals?
• Price—What does it cost to get high-quality applicants
quickly?

9. Remember
Companies will PAY for quick, high
quality referrals, so price by itself will
not provide you with a competitive
advantage.

10. Also. . .
Aim for relationships, not transactions.

11. The process
1. Initial research
2. Develop list of target employers
3. Build company profiles
4. Develop relationships
5. Build quality job postings/information
6. Work job leads
7. Follow-up
8. Track for Success

12. Initial research
1. Who are the employers in 3. What job openings do
your sector? they have?
• Who is already in the
system? 4. Who are the key decision-
• Google Maps Search
makers?
• C-Suite and Directors
1. Of these employers, who • Avoid HR if possible
is hiring?
• Job postings—in system,
on their website, on other
boards
• “Follow the money”

13. Develop Target List
• Identify Top 25-30 employers in your sector—most
likely for you to get placements.
• Analyze:
• What do you already know about them?
• What can you easily find out about them through more
research?
• Do you have a relationship with them?
• What is the nature/quality of that relationship?
• What have you done for them in the past?
• Focus your efforts!

14. Build Company Profiles
• Company Basics—location, # of employees, etc.
• Key Decision-Makers
• Work Environment/Company Culture
• Key Employment Success Factors
• Recruitment & Hiring Practices
• Referral Preferences
• Relationship history

15. Build Relationships
• Based on trust
• Quality work
• Understanding of employer needs
• Consistent
• Making/keeping commitments
• # 1 way to build trust is to fill jobs quickly and with
minimal hassle.
• #2 way is to build relationships, not focus on
transactions.

16. Two Relationships
• Existing Customers • New Customers
• What is your current • How can you use your
relationship? network to get connected?
• What have you done for • How can you get a “face-to-
them in the past? face?”
• What has worked/hasn’t • Where can you immediately
worked? (refer to Tracking provide them with a quality
for Success) referral?
• How can you build the • What other
relationship? information/resources could
• What can you do to you offer to begin building
improve placement rate? trust and goodwill?
• Build your network--“Who
else should I be talking to?”

17. Build Quality Job Postings
• Communicate that quality postings allow you to make
quality referrals of applicants.
• Better screening
• Chance to market company to top applicants
• Get detailed information:
• Requirements vs. Preferences
• KSAs
• Education/work experience
• Salary, benefits, work environment
• Corporate culture— candidate success factors. “Who is your
ideal candidate?”
• Document in job order.

18. Work Job Leads
• Identify job openings
• In system
• From other sources
• Search for qualified applicants
• In system
• If necessary, expand pool—do a search on LinkedIn
• Refer* at least two qualified applicants within 48
hours OR notify employer of progress.
* “Refer” means you send resume directly to employer.

19. Follow-UP
• Phone or email to employer:
• Quality of referral
• Timing of referral
• Additional information to refine referral quality/process
• Document!
• Rinse & Repeat

20. Track for Success
• Use key recruiting measures to track success
• Track for individual employers
• Track overall for the sector
• Analyze/review results to refine what you do.

21. Measures for Success (1)
• To meet employer needs, track the following:
• Job Order Coverage Ratio--% of open job orders where
at least one qualified resume has been submitted to the
employer. (Higher is better)
• Job Order Response Time—average time it takes to
submit a resume after a job order has been received.
(Shorter time is better)
• Quality of Candidates Submitted—how many resumes
are submitted before a “sendout” (candidate being
interviewed by a hiring manager)? (Lower is better )

22. Measures for Success
(2)
• To meet employer needs, track the following:
• Sendout to Placement Ratio—The number of sendouts it
takes to get a placement (3 or 4:1 is good)
• Job Order Fill Ratio—Ratio of job orders written to job
orders filled. (Higher is better)
• Time to Fill Ratio—Length of time from receiving a job
order to filling it. (Lower is better)

23. Troubleshooting
• What if your job order coverage ratio is low?
• What if your job order response time is high?
• What if your ratio of resumes submitted to sendouts is
low?
• What if your sendout to placement ratio is low?
• What if your job order fill ratio is low?
• What if your time to fill is high?

24. Ongoing
Relationship-Building
• Track and share industry-related articles targeted to
your employers’ needs.
• Connect with them on LinkedIn to keep track of and
acknowledge professional accomplishments.
• Email “tickler” file—keep in ongoing contact.
• Refer high quality applicants even if there are no
current job openings.