Getting the Most out of your BrokerHunter Account

(Recommended - also see:
Recruiting — Planned, Purposeful Activity
By William Willard, CLU, President
Market Planning-Plus

Consistency in Advertising
by Pilcher & Barnet,
Marketing and Public Relations
The Inspirational Job Posting
by Peter Weddles
White Paper: How to Implement an Effective Referral Program
by Steve Testerman, President
BROKERHUNTER.com

Properly used, BrokerHunter can be a very powerful tool helping you find qualified Securities Industry Candidates. We are compiling this list of "Tips and Techniques" that have been helpful to others; we hope it can help you. We wish you great success in your search!

Firm Profile

The Firm Profile is the starting point when using BrokerHunter. The reason it is so important is; good Candidates like to do a little research on your Firm before they commit to sending their Profile. Wouldn’t you do the same?

Elements of a good Firm Profile
- Logo - There may not be much that you can do about your Firm logo and then again, if you are in the position to make these decisions, maybe you can. Your logo is the first impression that you will make on a Candidate (and potential client for that matter), and in this Internet environment, it may be one of the primary elements that go together to portray your image.
- Firm Background - This should answer the all-important questions, who, what, where, when, how and why! This is much different than the specific information that you will include with your SmartAd (Job Posting). Often this information is already available, professionally written and compliance approved, in Firm brochures or on your Firm’s website.
- Firm Website - A good website is important in attracting the better Candidates.
- Here is an example of a good Firm Profile:

SmartAd Job Postings

If BrokerHunter is a tool, then SmartAds are the drill bit, that does all the work by drilling down through the database of Candidates to find, notify and help convince qualifying Candidates to apply to your job opportunity!

First of all, here is what a SmartAd does for you:
- Using your criteria for Location, Gross Production, Assets, Years Registered, the SmartAd performs a matching function 24 hours per day / 7 days per week, notifying and delivering via email a link to your SmartAd opportunity to Candidates who meet or exceed your SmartAd criteria.
- You may establish "blockers", preventing Candidates, not meeting your criteria from submitting their Profile to you.
SmartAd Dos and Don’ts
- Do - have an attention getting "headline" that can draw the reader in and encourage them to learn more. Here are some examples, which of these grabs your attention the most?
  - Tired of Big City Hassles, but not Big City Clientele?
  - Searching for a firm committed to growing your independent practice?
  - Hi Payout Potential!
  - Work from home or on the road!
  - Receive personal attention, advice, and coaching!
  - Offer a wide array of Products and Services!
- Do - Stress your Unique Benefits
  - Sell the things that you uniquely can offer the Candidate. Here are some examples:
    - Private office
    - State-of-the-Art Technology
    - Outstanding Payout
    - Generous 401-K/Stock Purchase/Full Medical and Dental (Instead of just "benefits"
- "A little pizzazz goes a long ways" Use color and images to entice the reader. This says volumes about the attention to detail and the probable dedication of the branch manager to recruiting and hiring. BROKERHUNTER.com has a sales and technical staff that can assist you with laying out an eye-catching SmartAd once you are ready to begin.
- Criteria - The criteria specified in your SmartAd should be balanced between attracting a reasonable number of Candidates and eliminating Candidates that are not qualified.
  - Geographical Location - This is the broad geographical area where the job is located. You may specify the exact location by customizing your SmartAd. Optionally, you may decide to exclude Candidates who currently live outside of this or other specified areas.
  - Registrations - Check only the Registrations that are REQUIRED for the job. Some Registrations might fit into to the "nice to have" category, but are not vital or can be easily obtained after hire. The Series 63 or 65 and certain insurance licenses sometimes fall into this category. Don’t forget to consider whether a Candidate with a Series 6 would be OK, if so check the Series 6 OR Series 7 checkbox, instead of just the Series 7.
  - Minimum Years Registered - Consider some scenarios before you eliminate potential Candidates based upon this number. What about a young broker who is doing a good job of gathering assets and meeting your Gross Production specs? Do you really want to prevent them from applying?
  - Gross Production - Decide what is your hard and fast minimum and post based upon that. Lower requirements will give you exponentially more Candidates, so some balance here is important. Obviously, there is a big difference between an "up and coming" broker doing 100 and someone in the business for 20 years doing 100. Unfortunately, prescreening can’t help you here, but why not gather the Profiles and err on the side of getting too many? We have some productive ways to deal with too many Candidates, but not enough Candidates just hurts us all.
  - Assets - Coordinate your Assets minimum with the Gross Production to help screen brokers with high Asset turns or those brokers who don’t really have a book (i.e., Discount Broker Call Center reps, etc.). For example, if your minimum Gross Production is $100K, then maybe you want to specify $5-10M for assets? A broker doing $100K on less than $5M may be over trading their accounts.
  - Blockers - Once you have established your Criteria, we allow you to optionally place "Blockers" to prevent those Candidates "not meeting your criteria" from being able to apply. You may block on any of the above and the Candidates current geographical residence location.
Here is an example of an effective SmartAd:

SmartSearch for Candidates

SmartSearch is allowed for any of the geographical areas, for which, you have placed SmartAds. Remember that your SmartAds have already contacted all Candidates who meet or exceed your Criteria. In addition, the SmartAd will contact new Candidates, who meet or exceed, as soon as they register on BrokerHunter. However, SmartSearch is useful in a couple of situations:
- Slide in under your criteria in your SmartAds to find Candidates that may be of interests to you and send them an "I’m Interested" message. For example, your SmartAd says Gross Production Minimum of $400K and 5 years, but you can selectively SmartSearch to find some "rookies" who are doing good production and may show some promise.
- Use SmartSearch to reiterate interest in Candidates who have already received interest from your SmartAd. We allow this to be done every 30 days only (to prevent spamming) and it can be helpful in increasing the percentage of Candidates who respond to your SmartAds.
  TIP: Set up and save SmartSearches to accomplish multiple goals:
  1. Search for Confidentials only and then click "Contact all eligible candidates with one click" - this will send a "SmartSearch" letter to all confidential candidates meeting your criteria in our database. This is a great way to contact passive candidates with very little effort.
  
  2. An additional search for non-confidentials is a vital part of a proactive campaign. Here you have the flexibility to click on their email address and send them a personalized email or even better to contact them directly by phone (or even direct mail). When working the non-confidentials you should limit your search to only the freshest candidates, ie those who have UPDATED their profiles most recently. Depending upon your resources you can go back 30 to 60 days, but the best ones are going the be the candidates who have just posted within the past day or two. for this reason, it is best to do these searches daily.

Candidate Contact

CONTACT GOOD CANDIDATES IMMEDIATELY!
- You are using an electronic media and are in the Internet age! Things happen fast and your quick response to Candidates is probably the single most important thing you can do to enhance your success!
- We have provided editable "Stop and Go" letters for your use. A Go letter (actually an email) is a way to say to the Candidate, "I got your Profile and I’m very interested. I am going to try to call you right away, but in the meanwhile, feel free to call me." (or something like that). This is the beginning step in creating a sense of urgency with the Candidate and being there first. Treat a good Candidate in the same way you would treat a prospective client with a million dollars to invest. A "Stop" letter is a courtesy to say "thanks, but no thanks", you never know when a marginal Candidate can become a stellar performer down the line (don’t burn any bridges behind you, as they say).
Have an Action Plan for Candidates.
- This will vary by type of Firm and individual Hiring Manager. If the Candidate is local, get in front of them right away. Schedule the first interview and get the ball rolling! If the Candidate is remote, (as in Independents hiring Nationally, etc) then schedule a phone interview. Either way have a packet of information for the Candidate that gives them more information about your Firm and the specific opportunity.
Verify Candidate Information
- At some stage, (very early in your process with Broker Candidates), you should have them supply you with proof of their Gross Production levels and Assets in their book. This should ideally come from a recent Production Report for GP and from a Moneyline report for Assets. (One of the follow-up questions that accompanies the Gross Production and Assets questions for brokers registering on BrokerHunter is: "Do you have written provide to support these numbers?" Yes or no.) The answer to these questions appear in the Profile that you are provided for the Candidate.
  If a Broker is trying to misstate their production levels, then there will be excuses and a reluctance to provide this information or a "No" answer to the written documentation questions. Personally, we aren’t aware of any broker/dealers who do not provide this information in one form or another, and it would be a foolish Candidate who neglects to make a copy of it for their own records - so the choice is yours to make, but if you don’t ask for proof, it is hard to tell what you may be getting!
Moving the Process Along and Close the Deal
- Timelines and processes vary, but if you have a Qualified and Verified Candidate, you must try to move them through the process as quickly as possible.

Candidate Profile

The following is a Sample Profile as it appears after the Candidate has applied to a SmartAd: