Maureen Sharib 3/3

Hammer Time

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

During her sabbatical, Maureen met a guy who ran a fairly large recruiting research operation. He asked her to try sourcing and she liked it. In fact, she loved it. It really turned her on when she scored.

"He's going to pay me to do this?" she wondered. It was a good question. Yeah, he was. But only until he fired her. Maureen might have found the truth and the light and the way but "I didn't know what I was doing," she says. "It was the go-go Silicon Valley days. I was sourcing for ASIC design engineers and I didn't know the difference between hardware and software."

Still, she was trying and that was enough to keep her client interested until, after a year, he stopped sending her jobs.

Maureen was very disappointed. "I couldn't believe it." she says. But, she was committed to research so she created an email list of recruiters and started soliciting business.

That's funny isn't it? Here we have someone who had been successful in business for many years and wasn't at all shy about approaching strangers. And, she loved sourcing. She sounds like such a natural. But that obviously didn't mean that she was going to be successful. At least, not at first.

Sourcing Takes Practice

The time factor is significant because, according to Maureen, it takes thousands of hours to become a good sourcer. You're not going to be good right off the bat. And, "you've got to be willing to spend the time".

What do you have to learn? Where the bodies are buried.

Over time, you gain a lot of knowledge about the way companies run. How they are structured in various industries and where, within them, certain people might be found. You also learn who to talk to and how to help them give you the information you need.

You also become sensitive to a lot of different clues that you can't even clearly identify. Maureen claims that she can tell if a company is a good place to work by listening to the voice mails of the employees though I must admit I find that a bit hard to believe having listened to many a voice mail myself.

By Sourcing Obssessed

Maureen sees herself as being slightly obssessive.

When she started out in real estate, as she was driving to work for the day, she would tell herself that she was not coming home until she got a listing. And that spirit still informs her work today.

If I have one hour invested in the job I am going to finish that job no matter how much time it takes. Because if I don't finish that job I'm not going to get paid.

And that's the way she likes it. Getting paid, not for her time, but for services rendered. That's why she charges by name and not by hours worked.

"Very few people understand that kind of a mindset, she says. "Everyone wants to be paid by the hour. What they are missing there is that that is an employee mentality."

But, it can be lonely out there on your own, especially if you are driven by a constant need to prove yourself, and although she has served her time and become a master sourcer, Maureen says that fear is still a factor in her life.

She still struggles with thoughts like, "Am I going to get it done? Am I going to get all this hay into my loft?" However, she experiences it now as being more challenging than painful.

A Bit About Her Work

What do Maureen's searches look like?

She says you have to identify fifty people to recruit to make a placement. So, customers will ask her to find fifty software engineers with .NET experience with specific company backgrounds in New York.

If they ask for only twenty contacts, she tells them up front that they are not going to have as good results.

Early in her career, Maureen spent hours doing research on the net because she didn't know what she was looking for and, also, because she was putting off cold calls for fear of failure.

Now, she needs less prep work and doesn't try to stave off fear. "You just pick up the phone and do it."

Daily Routine

Maureen wakes up around 4.30 or 5.00 and writes for her online discussion groups. By 7.00, she is at the gym (she swims a mile a day) or at yoga class. She's back in the office by 8.30 or 9.00 and the phone is ringing.

She works steadily until 11.30 or noon. Sometimes takes a lunch and sometimes she eats it at her desk. She knocks off around six or seven and is in bed by eight. I spoke to her at 6 am.

The Samurai Sourcer

So, now, in closing, let's see what we know about Maureen. A lot of paradoxical things. She's not a follower. She even has a mild contempt for "employees" who rely on someone else for work and prefer to be paid for punching a clock rather than the value they produce.

And, yet, where does her drive come from? She, herself, has made a case that it derives from an obligation to pull her own weight (and maybe a little more) that was inculcated by her parents. So, ironically, independence begins in a need to conform. And, that's not as strange as it sounds.

Freud noted that the people who are most committed to high standards of behaviour feel more guilt than those who are not so serious, because their standards are so high but also because a powerful fear of transgression is what motivates them in the first place.

It also drives independence as the person of conscience is bound to live by her code no matter what general practice and opinion might be. For when the sense of obligation is really strong it prevents the person from acting any other way.

Ironically, I suspect that a profound lack of obligation, greater than that any slacker might know, could be equally energizing and without the fear and pain that lies behind conscientious behaviour.

I don't have time, however, to discuss it here though doing so would be in complete alignment with Maureen's practice of including a quote from various traditions of wisdom literature in every one of her signatures.

Neither a follower nor a leader be

Although she is not a follower, Maureen is not a leader, either. At least, not in the sense of having a passionate need to be a "boss" with a lot of people under her command.

She does like to lead, but, as a teacher. She sent me a little note about Capricorns being naturals in this regard.

The Persistent Dick

And, I think the goat, Capricorn's symbol, does, in fact, makes a very good totem for Maureen.

It's a stubborn fighter, ready to go heads-down and butt it out until an obstacle gives way.

Mountain goats are also good at scrambling on rocks. And, Maureen's professional conversations require lot of fancy footwork. On a call, she says, "You have to be able to switch direction immediately based on what she is pitching back at you. You can't swing for the outfield every time."

So, next time, on The Recruiting Edge, when someone calls Vin an old goat, he ought to say, "Thanks very much, but I believe you're referring to her."

Next stop for the Call Girl? It looks like she might offer a six-week, live-on-phone training in what she does best.

If you're interested, you can find her at Techtrak, Sourcers Unleashed, The Recruiting Edge, Ask Maureen on ERE and at the new Legislation discussion group, also on ERE.

And, Dirty Jimmy Stroud has a live interview (podcast) here. His note says that she is offering training programs to corporations. Does that mean the companies that contain the people she is pursuing? I guess I'll have to listen to find out.

And, finally, I'll note that although I, personally, don't like astrology, I can't deny that, at least superficially, it does have something interesting to say here.

Goats are not just stubborn animals... This sign is an incredibly hard worker who will toil at a task like an experienced craftsman until it's done.

Capricorns also are blessed with a sense of organization; they might make good project managers. Just don't put them in human resources....

Stay within the rules if you work with people born under this sign.... They can be slightly self-absorbed and don't have many friends, but they are very loyal to the ones they do have.

On the upside, Capricorn is very logical and has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. They make good teachers. (Rick Levine).

FINI

I am the Canadian Headhunter and I approve of this posting.

Comments

[Maureen Sharib]

I am Maureen Sharib and I approve of this posting, too. Thank you, CH, for press I couldn't possibly pay for! Your writing is the stuff that dreams are made of.

[Maureen Sharib]

CH,

You said, "You also become sensitive to a lot of different clues that you can't even clearly identify. Maureen claims that she can tell if a company is a good place to work by listening to the voice mails of the employees though I must admit I find that a bit hard to believe having listened to many a voice mail myself."

To elaborate a little about what I meant...
I just completed a phone bank this morning - I worked it over the weekend, yesterday and today - about 1500 dials to get 700 names with direct dial extensions. It's an IT company that has recently been acquired by another monster company. (You'd know the names.) My customer wants it for a sales campaign so I don't need to title-identify, they just want the names and direct dials. Here's what I picked up as I waled through it:

The very fact that the extensions were so spread out (I had to dial 10 to get 6 names) tells me one of two things: this phone bank was once larger or the company is planning on adding additional employees. When it's spotty and in-between like this, it's usually the former.

The greater percentage sounded bored and very casual. Very few (maybe five in the whole batch) gave the caller their cellphone as an alternative reach solution - this signals to me nobody's very engaged here - it's a 9to5 operation. In fact, very few answered live past 5pm or before 9am. At a company that sounds live and on-fire, lots of folks give their cellphones.

Many gave their titles - "Hi this is Mark Kellerman, Warehouse Operations Manager" or "Hi this is Maria Lewis Deputy Director, Ya ya ya..." or "Hello, this is Steven Osborne, Contracts Manager" or...you get the picture - many were identifying themselves on their voicemails which says to me some of these folks know the trick about if you want to be found, make yourself findable... I've found at companies that are usually on the downhill slope the employees commonly give their titles in their VoiceMails.

Many VoiceMails were dated..."Hi. This is Pete Miller - November 19 is my last day, if you have a question regarding delivery timetables, contact..." Many times those contacts were gone also.

Overall, the impression I came away with was of a workforce that was disengaged, disinterested and looking for other opportunities. Not hard to imagine for a company that has just been acquired. Probably not a great list for a sales effort but surely a great list for a recruiter!

Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer

[Canadian Headhunter]

Interesting detailed comment Maureen.

However, you must admit it is a special case. A company has just been taken over.

Imperial Oil here in Toronto recently transferred its head office to Calgary. Many voicemails contained a message about the person's future status and a referral to another employee.

"The greater percentage sounded bored and very casual."

This needs some real testing. Maybe we can get a psych researcher in a university interested in testing the perception of voicemails to the actual reality.

"Very few gave the caller their cellphone... this signals to me nobody's very engaged"

Again, big assumption.

"very few answered live past 5pm or before 9am."

Interesting. Is it possible that they have a good worklife balance here.

Again, I would love to be able to test some of these findings against reality.

[Maureen Sharib]

Me too (on the testing thing) - I never said it was scientific - just my "impressions". Vague and willy-nilly and assumptive as they may be.

I agree - a company that's just been taken over is a special case. But I could give detailed accounts of others who weren't that would fit the same mold...

LOL - past 5 - before 9 - Uhhh...maybe. But then, are you trying to tell me something?

;)

Maureen Sharib
Telephone Names Sourcer