Rockstar Recruiter Series: Kareo

I’m impressed when a candidate: Follows up with me on LinkedIn with a personal message after they have applied. At the very least I take a moment to review their candidacy to see if I have anything that may be a fit for their skills. Less than 1% of applicants do this and it really makes them stand out to me. I am also very impressed with a candidate who does their Kareo homework and has good questions about our product and understands the value it brings the healthcare community. I’m impressed when a recruiter: Sends a personalized emails on LinkedIn. Most recruiters will “spray and pray”. It speaks volumes when in-mails are tailored to the individual, perhaps noting a mutual contact or referencing a particular accomplishment. If more recruiters took a minute to try and make a genuine connection they would be able to build a pipeline that would serve them for future placements. I have been in the recruiting industry: 25 years. I started out in Recruiting, shifted to Human Resources and have come back to Recruiting. I call it the happy place – I never got flowers for keeping the company from a sexual harassment lawsuit, but have received several tokens for appreciation from both candidates and hiring manager for changing their lives for the better. I know I’ve done a great job hiring when: The candidate brings me referrals, the hiring manager sends flowers, my boss high-fives me and it brings joy to my day. I get a great deal of satisfaction from putting the right person in the right job. I also know I am doing a great job because I love coming to work at Kareo. I get a lot of support from the people here and the hiring managers are the best I have ever worked with. So if I do a great job hiring, it is because of the team. It is a collaborative efforts and we play off each other’s expertise. They manage the on the job experience and I manage the candidate experience – by the time the offer comes around the candidate is so excited to come to work for Kareo. That is ultimately when I know I have done a good job. The biggest challenge recruiting candidates today is: Finding the purple squirrel when they don’t want to be found. This is also the best part of my job. Awesome candidates are busy making an impact where they currently work and finding a way to connect with them can be challenging. But when they respond and want to have a chat and “hear a little more” I have accomplished something big. I stay cutting edgy by: Providing an amazing candidate experience. It sounds simple and it isn’t “cutting edge technology”, but it is surprising how many recruiters/companies do not put an emphasis on the candidate experience. When a candidate is on the receiving end of this high level, professional level of service, it feels cutting edge and creates a positive experience. I’ll invest more efforts in: Proactively reaching out to candidates to create a pipeline, giving back and paying it forward. I am often asked what is my “secret sauce”? I call it karma recruiting – do nice things for others/candidates and good candidates will find me. So far, this has been a great blueprint for success. Executives see employer branding and recruiting as: A complimentary union. If one is great, the other will follow and visa versa. I feel like Kareo accomplishes this in a huge way! Twenty-five percent of my jobs are filled with people who apply to our jobs and these candidates are exceptional. I couldn’t do it without our amazing branding and award winning culture. I use Glassdoor because: I find more relevant information for the hiring landscape than I do anywhere else. I also use it to get a better understanding of the candidate’s perspective as well. If I understand the knowledge they are working with it is much easier to relate and make a connection. My success is most closely tied to: My network, my integrity and LinkedIn. I have been working in Orange County for the past 20 years and have developed a deep network of professionals. LinkedIn is the tool that holds that network together. I could improve my reputation as a recruiter if I did this: Blogged, wrote articles and participated in particular industry boards. These are the things I always think about doing, and I sure do have a lot of opinions about a lot of things and some would call me passionate, but I always seem to find the time to do other things instead of write.