I'm a fractional in HR, but purely focused on talent acquisition, so I'm niche in that world. However, how niche do I get in fractional TA? I'm focused on small and midsize companies, and have done everything from engineering to AI but really need to ramp up business. Would you niche down more by industry based on past experience to get more business?

I feel like I've lost what magic touch I had before I had to take an extended break for medical reasons. I'm an outside recruiter who sources candidates for non-retained searches (most searches are open to approved recruiters with fee agreements in place). I'm self-employed and have good relationships with a ton of clients. But sourcing potential candidates has been demoralizing (I'll have conversations, but they haven't converted to any interested applicants).

It definitely is a volume game--gotta keep cranking out the cold outreaches. What's been effective for you? Do you pitch searches and then follow up (a week later?)? Do you send general introductory emails that are more open-ended?

I sent out >800 emails over the last month, and it's been crickets. It didn't feel so excruciatingly hard in past years (I've been recruiting for 12 years). I don't know if it's because I started a solo business (maybe potential candidates prefer to work with someone who's part of a large team), because there are 1,000 competing recruiters out there in my space bc it's easier than ever to break in bc of AI and low overhead bc people can WFH, or because potential candidates just prefer to cut out the recruiter whenever they can (i.e., recruiters are valued less, and job openings are easier to track bc of AI).

Would deeply appreciate any thoughts you have. Is it just being that much more tenacious and reaching out more often (at the risk of being annoying)? Pitching searches vs. open-ended introductory outreach (which is better)? Trying to keep my head up!

When we (re)hire a former intern as a RFT employee, we process them as a rehire in our HRIS (Paylocity), but we don't create a new req./"seat" in our ATS. They're only in our ATS once, from when they were hired as an intern.

Starting to think it might be cleaner to create a new req./seat in the ATS for when we do this, even though we're not going through a full hiring process, we're just rehiring them as RFT. It's not technically a rehire, more of a "conversion," but it's still a new RFT employee.

What do you do at your organization?

Hi everyone,

I need some advice on something which I think I already know the answer to.

I recently took on a new client who has given me a couple of roles to fill and so far they've been good. However, I recently submitted a candidate who I discussed the role with, sold the company to and then submitted him forward. I then got a candidate permission form email saying he hasn't applied etc.

HR has now reached back out to me over the weekend to tell me they've already spoken and are in the process of setting up a call but the candidate is adamant he hasn't spoken to anyone about the role.

So, I kindly asked HR today just to send across his submission (so I have peace of mind) and we can move on but apparently their idea of a submission is a LinkedIn message request asking to set up a call to have a confidential conversation? He did accept the Inmail and sent them a time to call, but they never did?

I don't want to muddy the water this early on in the relationship but surely I have the right to the submission here? They haven't even got his CV from him, let alone had a call.

How would you go about this without upsetting them?