The One Call Close – Recruiter Style

As a sales guy, I have worked just about every kind of deal possible from long term government contracts to six month enterprise sales cycles to one call closes. I can tell you that there is nothing like the thrill and immediate gratification of a one call close. When everything falls into place and you hear “yes” from a customer, you know you killed it. As a recruiter though, the job can sometimes be a grind of searching resumes/profiles, interviews, submissions, and days of waiting. Yesterday for me was an exception. It all started last week when I interviewed a young lady named Esther for a position in San Francisco with a brand new client of ours. She blew me away from the start with her energy and passion for what she did. Her resume was the most unique I have ever seen and ended with “Hire Me…you know you want to”. She was a perfect fit for the job and had even worked for the client’s competitor in the past. Esther had everything needed to be a huge success for the client. I wrote up my profile and submitted it to the client. They scheduled a face to face interview with her immediately. That’s all pretty standard when things just fall into place, but this story doesn’t end there. I called Esther, as I always do before an interview, to prep/pump her up and make sure she was fully prepared. Not only was she ready, but she said to me on that call that she intended to get an offer from them at the interview. Candidates often say things like that but she actually meant what she said. I loved her tenacity and enthusiasm and sent her on her way to impress my client. What I didn’t know was how serious she actually was. At the end of the interview, she went for the close and asked how she did. The Director of Sales put his pen down, looked her in the eye, and said “I want you on my team.” BOOM, now that’s a one call close! She did exactly what she set out to do….she got an offer on the spot. Just as an additional bonus to my day yesterday, this candidate was the first hire for my client. I mentioned this only because as recruiters we often face competition from a client’s internal recruiting teams and other contracted and competitive recruiters. This time we are facing our rival recruiting company and we got there first! As George Peppard (Hannibal Smith) of the A-team used to say……”I love it when a plan comes together.”