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Everyone’s enjoying the healthy economy, but probably no group more so
than our nation’s professional recruiters. There is little or no
talent in the scant labor pool remaining and it seems the only viable
option is to steal bodies from the competition. Although a certain
degree of musical chairs has always gone on in every industry, the norm
was usually for employers to wait for the competition’s frustrated
employees to make the first move. Most never overtly recruited from
competitors – but it’s a whole different ballgame today. The competitors who used to work so hard to win away your best clients are
more interested in your best employees now. Before any talent is lured
away or shows up in your office to see if you will meet or beat another
employer’s offer, here are some steps you can take to protect you’re
the company’s most important assets – its people: 1. Identify key people and make sure they stay happy and motivated.
This is your first line of defense. If employees are happy, they’ll simply
tell recruiters, “Thanks, but no thanks.” To do this you need to identify who it would hurt to lose. Then set up a
system that ensures you spend time with these people. No matter whether
it’s a monthly lunch or a bi-weekly meeting; the key is for it to be a
regularly scheduled activity. Your purpose will be to understand what
motivates these people and what their goals and objectives are. Use this
time to let them know they’re important and keep them in the loop
about what’s going on. 2. Don’t help recruiters do their job. The most glaring example of this mistake was when Burger King ran ads in
national magazines that listed their top 27 managers. They realized too
late they’d just identified their key players to every recruiter in
the fast food industry. While you may not run a national ad, think twice before you hang Employee
or Salesperson of the Month plaques in the lobby. Don’t make your
interoffice phone directory easily available and check with the people
who answer the phones to see how requests for people’s names and
titles are handled. Look at your web page too. On the other side of the coin, before you call your local headhunter to
fill an opening, ask yourself: 1. What are we looking to hire? Whether you opt to use a recruiter or not, you won’t know if you’ve
found what you need if you haven’t defined exactly what it looks like.
Even if you have a written job description, it may miss the mark because
it only includes general language about responsibilities and a list of
specific duties. To really know what you’re looking for you need to
define the capacities, attitudes, personality traits, and skills needed.
Covering these four bases looks like this: Looking for VP of Sales & Marketing with strong problem solving
abilities who is able to travel 40% of the time. The ideal candidate
understands our clients and their problems; loves to take-charge, be in
the spotlight, and has demonstrable presentation skills. While many recruiters offer to develop this document for you, you are
still the authority on what the ideal candidate looks like, so it’s
best to have something prepared the recruiter can help you develop
further if you decide to go that way. The next questions to ask yourself is: 2. Do we really need to hire someone? The labor shortage is predicted to last for at least the next 10 years.
What if you can’t find a suitable candidate? If you can’t, it is
vitally important that you do not lower your hiring standards. If you
do, you will be tempted to do it again and will slowly, but surely,
erode the strength of the entire organization. Instead, ask yourself if the job could be outsourced or automated. Maybe
parts of the job could be handled by the latest software or technology
innovations. Could a sophisticated, interactive website do part of what
the VP of Sales & Marketing used to do? There is also a growing pool of executive and high tech talent out there
today who prefer to work on a contract or temporary basis. Consultants,
e-lancers, and independent professionals are all over the web. 3. If we found someone, could we tell if the person is really a good match
or do we need outside expertise? Do you have the time and resources in-house to test for intelligence,
attitudes, and personality traits; to conduct serial, in-depth
interviews; and to do background checks? If not, then the decision is
whether or not to develop these employee selection core competencies
in-house or to use recruiters. 4. Why should we use an outside recruiter?
Have you looked inside your organization for candidates? Promoting from within boosts everyone’s
morale. Do you solicit referral candidates from your employees? Do you
regularly network through trade and community organizations? If you do,
you should be able to come up with a list of potential candidates on
your own. Have you asked all your stakeholders (customers, vendors,
etc.) if they know of potential candidates? I recently did a presentation for a modular building industry client whose
management’s loudest complaint was that they had not been able to find
any new estimators for over four months. My response was to ask how many
of those in the room had recently come from other companies. Five of the
25 people raised their hands. Then I asked, “Were there any estimators
at the company you left that might fit the job here?” Turns out there
were four good possibilities. Leave no stone unturned. Finally, have you thought of looking outside your industry? Just as ethnic
diversity is strengthening the American business community, recruiting
people from other industries can lead to fresh thinking and innovation.
You just have to be willing to give the person an in-depth orientation
and training period to get familiar with your practices, processes, and
technical jargon. (I know you think you can’t wait, but, if the
candidate is carefully selected, the benefits are innumerable.) If your answers to these questions tell you it’s time to hire a
professional recruiter, then you need to ask yourself: 5. Which type of recruiter should we choose?
Your choices are either those who work on a contingency basis or those who work on a fee basis.
Both have pros and cons. Some argue that those on a contingency basis are, in fact, commissioned
salespeople whose only goal is to place a body and go on to the next
sale. If you prefer the potential cost savings of contingency work, just
be sure your recruiter is of the highest ethical standards and/or has
been in the business at least two years (this tells you the person
understands the value of repeat business and is working for the
long-term). The converse may be true of those working for a fee. They may not be as
highly motivated to beat all the bushes and deliver the best candidates.
Especially if another client is paying a higher fee because you have
negotiated a lower than normal fee. (The only leverage you really have
to get a lower fee and the best possible service at the same time is if
you have a sufficient level of activity and guarantee all your business
will go to one firm or individual.) Bottom line, the same caveat about
ethics and experience applies. When compiling your short list of potential recruiters, you’ll also want
to find out who else they’ve worked with in your industry and how well
they understand your industry and what other industries they could draw
candidates from, if any. Finally, ask how many candidates they normally send to each client. “It
depends,” is not a good answer. You are paying the recruiter to search
and screen. A thorough screen should yield no more than five highly
viable candidates. If they send more, they are not doing what they’ve
been paid to. Once you get answers to these questions, interview two or three firms that
meet your basic criteria and compile a spreadsheet like the following to
compare the services they offer. Services Provided Firm A Firm B Firm C
There’s no doubt, professional recruiters can deliver a great deal of
value and be a sensible, cost-effective use of your resources. This is
just a heads-up to help you ensure it’s not easy for them to tap into
your talent and that you do get your money’s worth should you employ
one. |
