Corporate Trampolining

"...for accounting, press one, for human resources press two.....beep.....'hi, this Sal Governale in accounting, I cannot get to your call right now.....blah, blah, blah....leave a message"

As a good recruiter, I am never on my way home when the proverbial bell rings at 5:00. For someone who has been doing this as long as I have, you know you are never going to get to speak to the person you want to until after hours.

But what if there was a way to identify who the good candidates are versus the bad ones? Better yet, who are they, what are their extensions, and find out what they do? The answer, my fellow recruiters, lies within one of the first tricks I learned in recruiting - corporate trampolining.

So, what is corporate trampolining all about? Corporate trampolining allows a recruiter to call into an organization and press the magic button(s) (usually 0, 8, or 411) to allow someone to access the directory, should you not know your party's extension :) From there, you can type in three common letters for the last name as I usually go for S-M-I for Smith. As you would know from dealing with voicemail, a certain number of extensions will come. Sometimes you'll get the name and the extension, but most times you will only get the person's name. It's quite simple and does not involve rocket science. Here are the steps for being successful at it:

#1 - Have a pen and a pad with you to write down the names of your potential goldmine.

#2 - Leave a cryptic general message that will generate interest (we'll go into this in more detail in another blog).

#3 - Begin to put together a matrix or an organizational chart with names but not titles.

#4 - Over the next few days, call into human resources to verify the names and titles of key personnel. If you are working with a team of recruiters, this works even better as this will not arouse suspicion.

#5 - Recruit those individuals who best fit your needs in short-term, and have a list of names in your database for the long-term.

A few years ago, I practiced corporate trampolining with a rather prominent company in the Philadelphia area. Not only was I able to follow the steps listed above, but when I went to visit the company for business development purposes, I brought along with me an organization chart I developed. Although it was rather crude, the senior manager I met with was impressed and I was awarded an exclusive on the search of a finance professional.

Corporate trampolining may not work for everyone, but it is a guaranteed way to reduce sourcing time and focus more on delivering quality candidates your hiring managers will want to meet.