Maria Estrella Cabaña-Matunog, PFA, RFC, started recruiting on the first day of her career in insurance, looking to family and friends for warm leads. Now, 18 years later, Cabaña-Matunog’s recruiting process has become a system of using social media and leveraging the entire team.
Cabaña-Matunog has long since tapped out her personal network, but still finds success by focusing on referrals. Her biggest sources of recruits are her team members and leaders themselves.
“I started recruiting by inviting friends and other parents where my kids were at school,” said Cabaña-Matunog, a district manager for AIA in Cebu City, Philippines. The first step was the person expressing interest in her job. “Once they’re curious, I bring them to the office and tell them, ‘Let me know if you want to be a client or a partner for life in this mission. I am inviting you to explore this profession.’”
From this seed, Cabaña-Matunog’s team grew. She now has 150 advisors and 23 leaders under her district, which led her to focus the agency’s recruitment strategy more toward using referrals to reach potential candidates. “It has really changed a lot because I realized it’s what works,” she said. “It’s all about referrals, introductions and endorsements. And the beauty is my advisors and leaders are now referring.”
In the last several years, Cabaña-Matunog recognized that recruiting had also moved online, but she was unsure how to integrate this approach into her process. “I am really effective in warm markets and referrals, but the one thing I wasn’t successful in was social media.”
Reluctant to reach out on Facebook after seeing co-workers get blocked for recruiting, Cabaña-Matunog decided not to pursue that avenue. It wasn’t until she took a closer look at LinkedIn that she recognized it was the missing piece of the recruiting puzzle.
She met with her leaders to talk about a LinkedIn recruitment strategy, which she had learned about in a conference she attended in 2019. Moving forward became even easier when one of her team members asked to be her recruitment manager.
The team member noted that while Cabaña-Matunog had a premium account with LinkedIn, she wasn’t actually doing anything with it. Cabaña-Matunog made a deal with the team member. “I’ll give you a per diem every time you convert someone,” she told her.
The recruitment manager works in the evenings, posting to reach potential recruits and to screen those who express interest. “She’s very articulate and she just posts and posts and posts,” Cabaña-Matunog said. The substance of her frequent posts combine stories about successful advisors, general financial tips, and health and wellness strategies.
“One thing I like about is LinkedIn is that you can’t be there if you’re not in business or the corporate world,” Cabaña-Matunog said.
The recruitment manager handles the initial screening, including the first phone interview with the candidate, before inviting them to attend an online business opportunity orientation with the agency. Candidates are also asked to submit their résumés prior to attending the orientation.
At this point, some of the candidates screen themselves out, either opting not to join the orientation or letting the recruitment manager know they’re not going to pursue the opportunity. Those who move forward are tracked, and their attendance is logged. Later, the team will follow up to assess interest.
When a candidate decides they want to pursue the job, they meet with the recruitment manager, the agency business manager and Cabaña-Matunog herself. The business manager handles the onboarding process.
Although using LinkedIn and a dedicated recruitment manager are relatively new for Cabaña-Matunog, she is already seeing a bigger field of candidates and a better conversion rate. “I am excited about LinkedIn,” she said. “It’s giving us a lot of contacts and candidates to interview. We developed a script for screening our LinkedIn applicants and enhanced our process, and now it’s almost smooth sailing.”
Cabaña-Matunog believes there is no recruiting process that works for everyone. “Our recruitment strategy must match with our current situation, process and support ecosystem,” she said. “It has to be how we want to build our team.”
Contact: Maria Estrella Cabaña-Matunog ez_matunog@yahoo.com.ph
