You've got a vacancy with a good client, you know the manager well and you can get an interview is only you can find a candidate. You've had a quick look on the database and were also looking for this spec not too long ago and there's nothing out there! I've been here many times before, you put a mental block up assuming that there's nobody out there. In reality, of there is somebody out there, and someone else will find them and make a fee out of it, so how do you make sure that is you.

Firstly, you need to remove all the assumptions and judgements you have made and return to process. My experience in these scenarios is that when the position is eventually filled, it's nearly always somebody on my database, who I missed, didn't know was looking again or some other reason I just didn't contact. It's very rarely someone I've never heard of, and couldn't have found by any means. What you need here is an exhaustive list of activities you can follow to find any available candidates out there.

Here's my 10 ten tips

• Look up anyone you have placed in this area before, call them and look for referrals, they are on the ground in the right market/geography, they will surely know people.

• Expand you search criteria back in time. That is the same profile but go back much further. People who were looking 2/3 years ago tend to go in cycles, and some will, by chance be looking again.

• Set up a bounty system for referral. A common strategy which again uses the people on the ground in the thick of it, the bounty will always be less than your reward. Vouchers tend to best for tax reasons, try £250 worth of vouchers, speak to your boss about it. You can build up a network of referrers which can be highly effective.

• Use another agency and split the fee with their recruitment consultants. 50% of a fee is better than no fee at all! If you have a small network of other agency suppliers you can drastically improve your number of placements. these fees are 50%, but in most scenarios it would be nothing without it. You are also providing better service to your client with better strike rates of filling their vacancies.

• Get a free trial on job site with a CV search facility. This may seem like a long shot, but there's always free trials going and you only have to get lucky once to make your fee.

• Do a spot of 'database maintenance' Run your search criteria for all time and call everyone on the basis of just wanting to update the database on people current position. Some will ask to be removed, which you must then do, but some will surprise you and be looking for work.

• Head hunt. you need to follow your companies call on this, some people are strictly recruitment and no head hunting. However, when you have a fee of 1000s sat waiting, it's awfully tempting. If don discretely and professionally it can be a great way to quick results.

• Call up 'all' your placements made recently, even if in different areas. We've all got friends and let's face it, they owe you one. You'll be surprised who they might know.

• Do a few searches on google and see if there's a good jobs board you've missed. A new advert on a new board may produce what you need at a fraction the cost of your placement's value.

 

• On all of the above, and any time you speak with someone, ask them if they know anyone of this description. This is an awesome practice if you do it religiously. Firstly, in my experience it produces additional candidates regularly. Secondly, you can immediately get a judgement on them as to whether they are any good from some one that knows them.

None of these activities is 100% on their own, but do them ALL routinely and methodically and your results will improve.

Good luck.