2026
–A Ten Part Series–
Part Seven
by
Bob Marshall
June 16th, 2026
Part Seven – The Recruiting Target Area
One of the primary objectives of a quality Qualifier Job Order is gathering enough information to conduct what I call Rifle Shot Recruiting.
Too many recruiters still practice “shotgun recruiting”—posting a job, collecting hundreds of resumes, and hoping the right candidate appears. Big Billers have always taken a different approach. We identify exactly where the talent is and then go directly after it.
That process begins with a simple question:
“Who would you like to hire for this position?”
At that moment, there is no confusion about what we do for a living. We are recruiters. We are headhunters. We are asking for a head to hunt.
Some recruiters object and say, “If the Hiring Manager knew exactly who they wanted, they could recruit that person themselves.”
Not necessarily.
There are many reasons companies use professional recruiters even when they know exactly where the talent resides.
First, most Hiring Managers are not recruiters. Recruiting is a specialized skill. Identifying, approaching, qualifying, recruiting, and closing passive candidates requires experience and expertise.
Second, companies often prefer to keep a buffer between themselves and their competitors. Direct recruiting efforts can create tension, salary wars, or even accusations of employee poaching.
Third, many Hiring Managers simply do not have the time. Their primary responsibility is running a department, managing projects, and delivering results—not spending hours identifying and recruiting candidates.
Finally, there is risk. Direct conversations between competitors can expose sensitive information or create uncomfortable situations if the candidate declines the opportunity and returns to a competing organization.
For all of these reasons, many Hiring Managers are willing to tell a trusted recruiter exactly who they would hire if they could.
When they do, your search becomes infinitely easier.
But what if they cannot provide a specific name?
Then ask the next question:
“Give me three, four, or five companies that you respect and would like to hire someone from.”
Notice the wording.
You are not asking:
“Who are your competitors?”
That distinction is critical.
Years ago, a recruiter asked a client who their competitors were. The company identified a major competitor, and the recruiter spent months recruiting several highly qualified candidates from that organization. Every candidate was interested. Every candidate was thoroughly qualified.
When the recruiter called to schedule interviews, he discovered a problem.
Although the company considered the other organization a competitor, the presidents of the two firms had an informal agreement not to hire from one another.
Months of recruiting effort were wasted.
The lesson?
If you are a specialist in your market, you should already know who the competitors are.
Instead, ask:
“Which companies do you respect and want someone from?”
That question tells you exactly where to focus your efforts.
And if they still cannot answer?
Ask:
“What industries do you respect and want someone from?”
At this point, you are attempting to establish recruiting parameters.
Remember, vague job orders create vague searches.
You cannot recruit every engineer, accountant, salesperson, or operations manager in America. There simply are not enough hours in the day.
The more specific the target, the faster the search.
In today’s market, this information is even more valuable because it allows you to identify talent pools, compensation levels, career paths, and geographic considerations almost immediately.
Local talent is often the quickest placement. Relocation costs are minimized, onboarding is faster, and retention tends to improve because families are not being asked to uproot their lives.
Even when relocation is involved, understanding where candidates currently work helps you determine whether the client’s compensation package is realistic.
And that may be one of the most important benefits of Rifle Shot Recruiting.
Suppose your client offers a salary range of $58,000 to $62,000.
The Hiring Manager gives you three target companies.
You recruit one candidate from each company.
The lowest-paid candidate is earning $62,000 and would require a meaningful increase to make a move. The other two candidates are already making substantially more.
Now you have valuable market intelligence.
You can call the Hiring Manager and say:
“I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I found three qualified candidates from the exact companies you identified. They’re interested and willing to meet. The bad news is that the compensation isn’t competitive enough to attract them. The lowest-paid candidate is already earning $62,000 and would need at least $65,000 to consider a move.”
At that point, the Hiring Manager has three choices:
- Increase the compensation.
- Reduce the experience requirements and target more junior talent.
- Cancel the search because the position is not realistic at the current compensation level.
Notice what happened.
Instead of spending months trying to fill an impossible job order, you uncovered the problem almost immediately.
That is exactly what a professional recruiter should do.
One of the biggest mistakes recruiters make is investing enormous amounts of time on marginal job orders. We become so determined to make a placement that we continue searching long after the evidence tells us the assignment is flawed.
Eventually, we find someone willing to take the job—not because it is a great opportunity, but because their current situation is even worse.
That is not a winning strategy.
The time spent trying to force a poor job order to work could have been invested in quality clients, quality opportunities, and quality candidates.
Rifle Shot Recruiting is not just about finding candidates.
It is about quickly determining whether the opportunity itself is viable.
The best recruiters do not merely fill positions.
They qualify opportunities.
And the faster you identify an unrealistic search, the faster you can move on to one that will actually generate a placement.
A Short Story
One of my coaching clients once spent nearly four months trying to fill a highly technical engineering position. He searched relentlessly, recruited dozens of candidates, and couldn’t understand why nobody would move forward.
Finally, he went back to the Hiring Manager and asked a question he should have asked on day one:
“Which companies do you respect and want someone from?”
The manager named four companies.
Within a week, the recruiter had spoken with candidates from all four.
The result?
Every one of them was earning 20% to 30% more than the client’s salary range.
The recruiter hadn’t been working a difficult search.
He had been working an impossible one.
The client increased the compensation package, interviews began immediately, and the position was filled within thirty days.
Sometimes the fastest way to make a placement is not recruiting harder.
It’s qualifying better.
Next week: Part Eight – The Personality of the Hiring Manager (HM)
Bob Marshall began his recruiting career over 45 years ago at MR in Reno, NV. In 1986 he established The Bob Marshall Group, International, where he has trained recruiters throughout the United States and also in the United Kingdom, Malta and Cyprus. With a dedication to executive recruiting, he continues to offer his proven training systems to individuals, firms, and private corporations both domestic and in select international territories. To learn more about his activities and descriptions of his products and services, contact him directly @770-898-5550/470-456-0386(cell); bob@themarshallplan.org; or visit his website @ www.TheMarshallPlan.org.
Bob Marshall
President
TBMG, International
247 Bryans Drive, Suite 100
McDonough, GA 30252-2513
770-898-5550
520-842-5550 (fax)