Marketing Headhunter

You know it's true ...

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living but not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years.

— (via kari-shma)

Hat tip: ItsOnlytheWind

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A NEW WAY OF THINKING: "Federal Budget 101"

In the wake of tonight's big S&P downgrade [pdf], my Dad sent me the following email from Dave Thomas, CEO of Equitas Capital Advisors LLC.  Until now, I hadn't considered the situation in this light ...

The U.S. Congress sets a federal budget every year in the trillions of dollars. Few people know how much money that is so we created a breakdown of federal spending in simple terms. Let's put the 2011 federal budget into perspective:

• U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
• Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
• New debt: $1,650,000,000,000
• National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
• Recent budget cut: $38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)

It helps to think about these numbers in terms that we can relate to. Let's remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family.

• Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
• Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200
• Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
• Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
• Amount cut from the budget: $385

So in effect last month Congress, or in this example the Jones family, sat down at the kitchen table and agreed to cut $385 from its annual budget. What family would cut $385 of spending in order to solve $16,500 in deficit spending? It is a start, although hardly a solution.

Now after years of this, the Jones family has $142,710 of debt on its credit card (which is the equivalent of the national debt). You would think the Jones family would recognize and address this situation, but it does not. Neither does Congress. The root of the debt problem is that the voters typically do not send people to Congress to save money. They are sent there to bring home the bacon to their own home state.

To effect budget change, we need to change the job description and give Congress new marching orders. It is awfully hard (but not impossible) to reverse course and tell the government to stop borrowing money from our children and spending it now. In effect, what we have is a reverse mortgage on the country. The problem is that the voters have become addicted to the money.

Moreover, the American voters are still in the denial stage, and do not want to face the possibility of going into rehab.

Now, do you get how serious this is?

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Feed your mind.

An old Cherokee told his grandson, "My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment , inferiority, lies & ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, & truth." The boy thought about it, and asked, "Grandfather, which wolf wins?"

The old man quietly replied, "The one you feed."

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CRAZY THOUGHT: "If I were an unemployed CFO, here's what I'd do ..."

If I were an unemployed CFO ... I'd buy the domain "FinanceRecruiting.com" (which is currently available on SnapNames for $5,492) and I'd award it to the first finance recruiter who found me a job.  After all, if an executive can expect to hunt for a new job one month for every $10K in earnings -- then $5,492 is less than three week's pay.

Plus: Think of the publicity!  Start a blog at FinanceRecruiting.com and watch as people back-link to it in droves.  Then, you'll not only be giving away a domain -- you'll be giving away a shot at a lifetime of SEO mojo in Google.  If you think I'm kidding, I'm not.  MarketingHeadhunter.com has dominated Google's marketing recruitment SERPs for five years.  I speak from experience.

Seriously.  According to recruiting research king, Shally Steckerl, there are >900,000 recruiters on Linkedin, and I think most of them are totally undifferentiated.  They could use a domain like this.  And don't say you can't afford it.  Wimp!!  Simply put it on your credit card and then hold out for a fat sign-on bonus from your next employer.

Anyway, that's what I'd do.  Here's the auction.  Don't forget:  You can review my tutorial on how to find industry-specific recruiters on LinkedIn right here ...

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JOB SEARCH TIP: "Write the resume you want to have."

ATLANTA, GA - This week I hired an intern to help me with some of my research needs around the office. The intern will support me and Allan Seibert, my new recruiter who's kicking all kinds of butt. Since hiring Allan after passing on him, I have been trying to figure out how to hire more people like him.

It's not so easy.

One time I hired a guy from Wharton who didn't work out. Another time I hired a lady from Brown who didn't work out. Allan, on the other hand, is a hungry as hell kid fresh out of the University of Georgia's Terry business school, and he's working out great.  It's amazing to see this guy's growth in such a short period of time.

At least in my business, the formula for success seems to be 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Allan is not above anything: He'll call anyone. He'll do anything. He'll handle any search, no matter what level. He's not above anything. Totally can-do. Man, I sure do love that. Finally!

And clients, be forewarned: Allan sounds like he's from the sticks (because he is), but he's "dumb as a fox" as we like to say in the South.  You'd be crazy to underestimate him. Wicked street smarts, I tell you. AND: Over time, his southern accent is disappearing. I'm very proud of him and wish I could buy 10% of his earnings in perpetuity.

Anyway.

We get this new intern, and I'm interviewing him. Smart kid. Soft-spoken. Well groomed. Very likable. University of Georgia B-school student in risk management.  Allan recommends him highly, so I figure what the heck?  At 10 bucks an hour plus big project completion bonuses, what can I lose? In fact, my mind's kind of made up that I'm going to hire the kid before I even interview him.

Naturally, I start messing with him during the interview. Not in a mean way, but in a Charlie Rose way where I'm seizing on every little point and trying to develop a conversation that's actually going somewhere.  I won't get into the specifics because I'm sure that Allan, who reads this blog, will show Thomas, the new guy, this blog post. Let's just say that Thomas didn't exactly "lean into it" during the interview because they don't teach you that in college.

And I asked Thomas “If this is an internship and your real goal is to get a job in January as a risk manager, what kind of experience would you like to get to make you more marketable to any company who's going to hire you?”  Naturally, Thomas gives me a blank stare.  Whoever heard of such a question? Nobody at Terry, that's for sure.

At the end of the interview, I said to Thomas “Your first assignment from me is to submit a resume with the experience that you want to have by January. Monday is a holiday. Have it on my desk by Tuesday."

In a perfect world, this would be a fairly standard thing with all job seekers. You have your current resume, and you decide your current job sucks or whatever, and you decide to look for new job. Wouldn't it make sense to create a future resume with your ideal next job?  With the ideal next title? The ideal next responsibilities? The ideal company? The ideal industry? You get the idea.

Like most people, I'm a very reasonable person. I understand that life is about trade-offs, and if you are willing to come into my company and help me grow my business, then I should give you something in return above and beyond money.  Just tell me EXACTLY what you want, and I'll do my best to get it for you.

But here's the kicker: Before you can tell me what you want, you have to know what you want.

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EMAIL MARKETING: "Vote for Austin ___."

ATLANTA, GA - I love my next door neighbor, Bill.  Great guy, and I'd do anything for him.  Maybe he knows this, because today he bcc'd me on the following email ...

Please consider voting for my step-grandson, Austin ___, to win a one-week stay at Orphanage Outreach. Austin loves helping others and has helped the less fortunate in Tanzania, Africa and in the Dominican Republic in the past year. Thanks for your help.  Click here. -Bill

When you "click there," you are advised that "To vote, enter your email address below.  Once you click "vote" you will receive an email with a link to verify your address before your vote is counted."

So I voted ... and relinquished my email address knowing that I might pay for it in the future -- entirely because Bill asked me to.

I have seen alot of slick ways to build a double opt-in email list, but never one that relies on relationship marketing, "Tom Sawyer paint-the-fence" style.  Have you??

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LINKEDIN NEWS: "Thanks for being in the first 1% to join LinkedIn."

ATLANTA, GA - Today I received an interesting email from my friends at Linkedin, who just signed up their 100 millionth member.  See below.

We've done a ton of business with Linkedin over the last -- what is it -- five years already?  And in that time, I can honestly say that LI has done wonders for my recruiting business.  My company owns two of the top five ecommerce groups on Linkedin, and my personal network includes 4400 ecommerce executives (and only three recruiters).  Invite me to connect!

I'm amazed at how many clients and candidates actually READ my testimonials.  Those things have been instrumental in helping me establish trust and credibility among my new users.  I'll explain why this is important at the end of this post.

Not too long ago, I saw Reid Hoffman on Charlie Rose, and Mr. Hoffman said that he could envision 25% of the world's white collar workforce on Linkedin.  Twenty five percent.  With that kind of liquidity, it's not hard to see how Linkedin might develop a labor marketplace like Workmarket (backed by Fred Wilson's USV), or Elance.  Check out the following video (also shown below), in which Mr. Hoffman confirms that Linkedin is a platform for the free agent nation -- and that all of us are basically micro-enterprises.

I can't wait to invest in Linkedin's IPO.

Imagine the revenue opportunity for any company that can monetize the trading relationships of +100 million people.  Years ago, I wrote a white paper about a web-enabled U.S. beef industry and learned that the number of trading relationships in any market is (N*(N-1) / 2.  Try that formula with 100 million nodes in the network ...

New Day Rising

Last year, my Linkedin sales rep told me that there are +900,000 corporate and third-party recruiters on Linkedin. That's insane, but it makes sense: 900K is less than 1% of the community's membership.  Still, that's a lot of recruiters.

When I'm a party and I meet someone, they often ask me what I do.  When I tell them I'm a contingency recruiter, they roll their eyes as if I were a real estate agent or an insurance salesman.  It never occurs to them that I could be a marketer and an entrepreneur.  There's a stigma:  Being the best contingency recruiter is like being the tallest midget.  That's cool. I get it.

But that stigma doesn't absolve a recruiter of his obligation to iterate; to look at how the wold is changing and search for relevance.  Recruiters need wake up and realize that increasingly, they're working for their candidates -- not their clients.

The party's over.

I've long been a believer that the days of the 20% placement fee for throwing a resume over the fence are winding down -- especially for line level job openings.  You'll see a decline of that kind of thing as solutions like Linkedin and TopProspect get traction.  And, lo and behold, should Linkedin decide to become a full-blown ATS, then recruiters will be judged solely on the basis of their ability to attract the coolest searches that attract the best candidates, that, in turn, attract the coolest searches, etc.

Success will breed success, and recruiting agency "brands" will matter more than ever.  Why?  Because it will be up to the recruiter to leverage his brand (ie, trust and credibility) on behalf of his clients to attract the right talent.  In other words, clients who don't have my trust and credibility will want to "rent" my trust and credibility to attract the candidates who can build their businesses.  Make sense?  It has more to do with positioning than salesmanship.

Anway, here's the email I received from Linkedin.  Congratulations to them.

Dear Harry,

I'm thrilled to let you know that LinkedIn's membership reached 100 million professionals today.

Because you were one of our first million members (member number 143,XXX in fact!), I wanted to take this moment to thank you for playing a foundational role in building the LinkedIn community.

With your help, LinkedIn is revolutionizing how companies like yours find top talent and is well positioned to realize our mission of making professionals everywhere more productive and successful. We are so grateful for your support, and we look forward to helping you accomplish much more in the years to come.

On to the next hundred million!

Sincerely,
Mike Gamson
Senior Vice President
LinkedIn Corporate Solutions

JOB OF THE WEEK: "VP of Ecommerce" (NY / NJ)

SADDLE BROOK, NJ - EcommerceRecruiter.com is the leading executive search firm serving the DMA, NEMOA, SEMPO, Shop.org, Ad:Tech, and IR-500 communities. To get our jobs by email the minute they're posted, click here.

We are working with Semprae Laboratories in their search for a Vice President/Director, Online Marketing and Commerce based in Saddle Brook, NJ. Semprae Laboratories markets women's sexual health and well-being products that will be primarily available through direct sales and online, with some retail (Wal-Mart, Rite Aid) and etail distribution.

Semprae seeks an experienced, entrepreneurial ecommerce marketer responsible for planning, implementing and executing online customer acquisition campaigns to generate growth with online marketing team. Focus will be on paid and organic search, email marketing and social media programs.

HARRY'S COMMENTS: Through the years I have been contacted by quite a few adult-oriented online retailers to handle their searches, and I've always refused on the grounds that it wasn't good for my brand. No offense to them, personally.

Semprae Labs, on the other hand, is more like a pharma play with a chewy center: a continuity-based revenue model. Think of their product, Zestra, as a Viagra for women. No kidding. The company's CEO, Mary Jaensch, explained the need for the product and the size of the current market, and I've gotta say -- these people are going to make a TON of money, especially once their ads get approved by mainstream TV (which seems inevitable).  Check out this video on ABC's Nightline ...

Zestra is a life-sciences VC-backed product. Its production is consistent with FDA guidelines, yet because it’s all natural, it does not have to be FDA approved. There are NO side effects, and according to clinical studies, it works on 7 out of 10 women. There is NO financial risk for a product trial, and 50% of Semprae's business is repeat, continuity purchase. Ka-CHING!

There is a fantastic story to be told about the founders, the product, and the opportunity.  Truly, these are wonderful people.  But here's the rub:  I'd love a candidate who has some familiarity with DRTV. If you don't have DRTV experience, I still want you to apply. However, much of Zestra.com's traffic will be driven through DRTV, so the perfect candidate will understand that medium. New Yorkers: The company is based in Saddle Brook, NJ -- a 24 minute drive from the city, against traffic.

Bottom line:  As usual, if I didn't think this was a great opportunity with outstanding underlying economics, I would not be wasting your time with it.

Please Tweet this job, and you'll be automatically entered into our monthly drawing. Just do it and see what happens: 2010 prizes included $100 Amazon gift certs, Dean & Deluca steaks, and Keurig coffee machines ...

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Position Description:

• Develop marketing strategies that ensure customer base growth with profitable returns in the context of business strategy
• Develop ecommerce and direct strategies, plans and programs to achieve business growth objectives
• Identify target customer segments in the formulation of customer acquisition strategies; develop mechanism for building more in-depth target definitions and insights
• Define, identify and implement customer acquisition strategies through online marketing channels
• Test new programs/opportunities for customer and lead generation
• Accelerate growth of per customer value through range of re-marketing strategies and programs
• Seek out new partnerships for co-marketing opportunities
• Evaluate market share and monitor competition
• Supervise two marketing managers who are implementing the programs

Position Requirements:

• Minimum of 5 years experience managing online customer acquisition campaigns for fast growing, entrepreneurial company that relies heavily on e-commerce for its direct response marketing activities
• Measurable experience in paid and organic search, affiliate programs, comparison shopping engines, email and other online programs
• Demonstrated ability to deliver a quantity of valuable new customers within the framework of ROI goals, as a key part of a successful business enterprise
• Ability to create the strategic direction of increasing ecommerce activity from a variety of online media channels to expand market share
• Ability to effectively manage range of vendors and to integrate activities with offline programs
• Skills in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) along with strong PC skills that include Microsoft Office, Excel, PowerPoint
• Minimum of B.A or B.S. required. MBA viewed favorably
• Strong oral and written communication skills

Applications for this position are being coordinated by Harry Joiner. To apply, CLICK HERE. Candidates, please be sure to ask Harry for packet #1321 of market research and company / competitive intel that will differentiate you in your candidacy. Due to the competitive nature of this search, thorough preparation for these interviews with this proprietary material is strongly recommended.

Search our site for more ecommerce jobs in your city or specialty:

SLICK TWITTER TRICK: "How to Get Celebs to ReTweet for You."

ATLANTA, GA - So, I'm goofing around tonight on Twitter, and I stumble across Questlove's Twitter feed.  Questlove is the drummer for the Roots, as well as Jimmy Fallon's house band.  He's mad famous, yo ...

Okay, so back to the story ... Evidently, Questlove's watching a slam dunk contest on TV.  He Tweets everything.  As of this writing, he's got 25,110 Tweets.  Assuming Questlove started Tweeting the very day Twitter was founded (7-15-2006), that's 15 Tweets a day -- every day -- one Tweet each-and-every work hour of the day.

You see where I'm going with this.  He Tweets alot.  And oh yeah: He has 1,479,326 followers.  So he's got that going for him.

Anyway, Questlove's watching his basketball game, and suddenly "Kiki90210" Tweets

@questlove Plz retweet! House votes to bar #PlannedParenthood from federal funding. http://www.ppaction.org/IStandWithPP #StandWithPP

And of course, Questlove reTweets it.  On his laptop, probably.  Between sips of beer on his couch.

For kicks I go to Kiki90210's Twitter feed, and she has asked several celebrities to reTweet this message.  I'm too lazy to see if they actually did -- but certainly Questlove did, which ...

1. gives the message a valuable distribution channel, and
2. tacitly endorses the message.

Of course!  >Forehead smack!<  Just ask your key influencers straight-up to distribute your message.  Why didn't I think of that??  Yo.

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HOW TO ANSWER: "What's your compensation target?"

CHICAGO, IL - I am in the relationship building business, and every relationship starts at "hello." When you and I first speak, it's safe to say that I don't know you. I am an optimist by nature, so I am prepared to like you. Indeed, I want to like you. Truly, you have nothing to fear in an interaction with me.

Like a doctor, I'll be asking you some questions about your current situation:

• "Are you currently employed?"
• "Why are you leaving your current job?"
• "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?"
• "To what cities can you relocate?"

And very importantly, "What is your compensation target, including base, bonus, options, and other miscellaneous payment in kind?"

People hate to answer this last question because they fear 1.) being automatically knocked out of the process if their number is too high, or 2.) “leaving too much money on the table” if their number is too low.  Damned if you do.  I get it.

The “How much money do you make?” question is the most blunt instrument in my grab bag of interview questions.  It's one of the only questions in the entire hiring process to which the answer isn't subjective.  It is a terrible question to ask, but I really have no choice:  It helps me determine the financial dimensions of your strike zone.

The alternative to your not disclosing this information is me bringing you opportunities that are clearly untenable for you in economic terms.  Neither of us wants that.  And trust me, my clients don't want to vet candidates who will be impossible to close later on in the process.

A blast from the past: "Negotiating a Higher Job Salary"

I am well aware that in previous posts I have warned readers in no uncertain terms to not answer this question.  That advice pertained to candidates who were dealing directly with employers.  But beware: In such instances, some HR-types will knock you out of the process for 'being difficult."

I won't!  Primarily because I'm not an HR-type.

The difference between me and one of my clients is that, as a contingency based recruiter, I make money in direct proportion to the amount of money my client pays you.  Like Ari Gold and Vincent Chase, your economic interests are completely aligned with mine:  I genuinely want you to take a step up financially.  I'm on your side!

And trust me, if my clients did not think you were worth the added investment, they wouldn't make you an offer, and we'd both walk away empty handed.

So please, just answer the question.  Honestly.

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