Impact Profile

To meet the basic qualifications for this role you will have legal authorization to work permanently in the United States for any employer without requiring a visa transfer or visa sponsorship. To be a good fit you also should have:

• At least two years of experience with Internet sourcing, including advanced search strings and power searching. Quick question for you - click here
• Experience with targeted networking, including a demonstrated ability to leverage blogs and chat rooms to find the right information quickly.
• Strong Internet savvy, including knowledge of where to look and how to leverage the nuances of different job boards and search engines.
• A proven ability to develop and execute a sourcing strategy to find resumes and generate names, including experience with:
  • Search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Live.com, and ExaLead.
  • Power searching for resumes and people.
  • Networking to expand sourcing strategies, such as using professional organizations and conferences, colleges, targeted networking sites such as LinkedIn, etc.
  • Peer searching.
• Solid computer skills and familiarity with MS Word, Excel, and Outlook, including the ability to set up email templates that get a response.
• The ability to maintain robust attention to detail even while working quickly and efficiently.
• Outstanding written communication and grammar skills.

Preferred but not required:

• Prior experience working from a home office.
• Advanced Internet Recruitment Strategies (AIRS) certification.

Decision Toolbox's unique virtual model offers many advantages, and a key element of the model's success is that our employees bring a high degree of professionalism and initiative. While there will be a degree of flexibility with scheduling, you will need to be able to commit to delivering results within a specified time frame. You also will need a computer, high speed Internet, and a quiet environment without distractions in which to work.

Role Insights

If you're a good fit for this position, you already know most of what this job entails. However, to be sure we're providing a complete picture, here are some details.

You will report to our Sourcing Manager and take your assignments the way everyone at Decision Toolbox (DT) does -- as they come through the door. It may be spread out through the week, or you may get three new projects in one day and then nothing for a couple of days. One way or another, however, you can count on working 20 to 30 hours a week on a consistent basis.

You may support the same three to five Recruitment Partners (RPs) on multiple projects, or you may work with any and all of our RPs. You should be prepared to work on positions in any profession -- from software developers to financial analysts to research scientists -- although if you have specific expertise we'll put it to good use.

Your projects will be full circle endeavors, involving more than just searching online. Here's how a typical project will unfold:

• You will sit in on a "discovery call," a 45-minute brainstorming session involving the hiring manager, the RP and writer, and often a representative from the client's HR department.
• You will provide the RP with strategic input, such as conducting exploratory searches to assess the degree of a project's difficulty. Within two days the writer will develop and submit the Jobinfo Writeup (position description) to the hiring manager. During that time you'll do the majority of your part, planning and carrying out your sourcing strategy. Quick question for you - click here
• You will collect all candidate info in a virtual "bucket" in Recruiting Machine, our innovative proprietary recruitment process management system, for the Recruiter to make the initial contact with those candidates via email and phone.
• For each project you'll document your plan and provide brief information on what worked and what didn't.

After a couple of weeks, if we're not seeing the results we expected, we may revisit our tools and strategies; in those cases you'll re-calibrate your sourcing tactics and invest another hour or two in searching.

More Good Reasons

High impact -- Decision Toolbox is constantly evolving and improving, and we're adding this role to enhance our already-strong performance.

Vibrant, innovative business model -- Decision Toolbox has been challenging the status quo in recruitment since 1992. Today we boast robust technology, a mature creative team, and a compelling track record. Just as importantly, our focus is not on getting a lot of easy money out of our clients, but on building long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships. We've been delivering RPO since before it was an acronym, and we're recognized as a thought leader by organizations such as SHRM, PIHRA, and the NHRA.

Proof in the pudding -- we're thriving, with a nationwide list of clients in just about every industry vertical, including smaller startups as well as major names like Makita USA, Caesars Entertainment Corporation and BASF. We've administered over 15,000 client satisfaction surveys over the years, and our median score is 94%. We're confident enough in the quality of our processes that we offer a 12-month candidate warranty, unrivaled in the industry. In 2010 we doubled in size without a sales force because more than 95% of our revenue is repeat business.

Virtual is its own reward -- everyone at DT is virtual and everyone loves it. When our CEO meets with a client, she calls it a "mascara day." Otherwise it's come as you are. In addition to being unrestrained by geography and time, in the virtual model we are able to:

• Be productive and flexible.
• Work with diverse cultures, geographies, backgrounds, etc.
• Learn new technologies AND we provide input on improving those technologies.

Setting you up to be exceptional -- we offer full training through modules that include culture, process, products and our proprietary ATS / CRM. You'll go through a certification process to ensure you have what you need to thrive at DT. We've also implemented an internal online university, Decision Toolbox Sourcing University (DTSU), to provide on-demand access to resources, including the latest sourcing techniques and trends, best practices, process videos, working referrals, and more. You'll be able to take advantage of these resources for your own professional development and to help in driving performance improvement.

Feeling the love -- our clients don't just appreciate us, they love us. Our leadership team doesn't just provide resources, they wrap the love around the DT team (tools, technology, collaboration, etc.). The team doesn't just love working with DT, they wouldn't work anywhere else. In this distinctive culture we get to:

• Collaborate with inter-organizational teams.
• Participate in the direction of the company and in decisions.
• Mentor and be mentored.
• Continuously develop our professional skills.
• Learn best practices from best in class people.
• Work for an incredibly ethical, compassionate, caring company.
• Share knowledge using a variety of technologies.

Support and resources -- our creative team develops a patented Jobinfo Writeup (you're reading one now) for every opening and implements the broadcast strategy in web media. To organize your projects and your schedule, you'll have access to the user-friendly Recruiting Machine, our in-house web-based ATS/CRM/ERP. DT's IT team is second to none in developing customized solutions for clients.

Diversity -- we do not specialize, so you'll have the opportunity to work with clients from a broad array of industries, from tech to healthcare to manufacturing. You'll support searches for positions ranging from Programmers and Customer Service Associates to Executive VPs and CFOs . . . and everything in between!

Video: Kim Shepherd, CEO of Decision Toolbox, was honored as Innovator of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners - Orange County at the 18th Annual Remarkable Women Awards in October 2013.

Keys to Success

Ours is a "virtual" environment -- everyone works from a home office (and occasionally Starbucks) -- and succeeding in that environment requires some special traits. For one thing, you need to have a high degree of self-discipline and a healthy respect for deadlines. You also will need to be proactive about building relationships and establishing your credibility with people via phone and email, ensuring you convey a professional but friendly persona. In addition, in order to be an outstanding Sourcing Partner, you will:

• Work quickly and efficiently, finding the information you need, pulling it, and partnering with your RP to make sure it is on target.
• Remain willing and able to commit three to four hours at a time of focused searching in an environment free of distractions.
• Recognize your internal contacts as customers and provide great service by being responsive, prompt, and thorough.
• Be flexible in interacting with diverse personalities and work styles.
• Achieve your goals independently; you'll have support, but if you're looking for lots of training and supervision, this probably isn't the position for you.

Recruitment, project management, quality . . . you'll further develop and use your expertise in all these areas. But just as important will be your interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence. From the start you should be proactive about establishing credibility with a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders. Clear, concise, frequent and timely communication will be essential. As you create success and navigate conflict, you'll keep in mind the different nuances of interacting with internal and external clients. In all situations you should lead with the end in mind, driving past the challenges to a solution.

About Decision Toolbox

At Decision Toolbox, almost everything about our approach to recruitment is unique, from our tools to our low cost pricing model to our relationships with our clients. Some companies enlist our help for the occasional overflow or difficult-to-fill opening. Others use us as their extended recruiting department on an ongoing basis. In any case, we are not about simply filling positions; rather, we become our client's recruitment partner, and work proactively to drive down costs, identify and solve business problems, and increase retention. Each project concludes with a Hiring Manager satisfaction survey, in which our performance is rated on 11 fronts. This gives us a basis on which to continually improve our service. Since 2000, our cumulative satisfaction score is 94.2%, and repeat business represents over 95% of our revenue.

Our process is known as "Recruitment Engineering", and we are not only the industry pioneers in this space, but we are also recognized as the industry experts.

We've been fine-tuning Recruitment Engineering since our founding in 1992; however, the common thread that remains is our commitment to "doing the right thing" for our clients. We have established and maintained a reputation for fair and honest business practices within our industry. Because of our unique model, our recruiters (particularly those from contingency and/or agency backgrounds) are often surprised by the level of partnership they share with their hiring managers, and the empowerment they have to act as an expert recruitment "consultant" on every project.

Even in a virtual model, DT has nurtured a remarkable corporate culture that is entrepreneurial, high-energy, success oriented and fun. Our people all have a high degree of professionalism, led by a progressive management team. Our CEO, Kim Shepherd, is a well-respected speaker and presenter, and recently published her insights on leadership success in The Bite Me School of Management: Taking a Bite out of Conventional Thinking. The title alone gives you an inkling of our culture!