Insight

It’s clearly tough attracting critical talent in today’s red-hot job market. This is in marked contrast to just a couple of years ago when companies had their pick of potential candidates.

Different times bring different challenges. If you have not scrutinized the way you are recruiting and changed it to suit the current environment, you are already a little late.

Let’s take a look at some of the traditional ways we recruit.

Newspaper recruitment

The time-tested method that is effective especially for entry level to mid-level management positions. Main disadvantage is the relatively high cost and limited effective exposure as it only reaches out to people actively looking for jobs rather than the best qualified. The other disadvantage is that HR has to sieve through a large number of irrelevant responses.

Other versions include recruitment advertisements in trade publications and international business publications such as the Economist. This is effective in reaching out to more senior, global executives who tend to keep themselves up-to-date on industry and business news.

University Recruitment and Recruitment Fairs

Another traditional method that is appropriate for entry-level positions. University recruitment is good for targeting bright young people at the start of their careers. But, in a tight market like the current one, well-qualified undergraduates are spoilt for choice.

On line recruitment

The Internet has had a major impact on recruitment in the last few years. Online recruitment takes several forms. Company websites will list out jobs available and invite applications. However jobseekers will have to actively search these websites, so this method is only good at reaching people actually looking for jobs and interested in the company.

Job portals are another alternative. People looking for jobs register their qualifications and skills with the portals and indicate their interest in terms of type of jobs. Employers, for a reasonable fee, will place their job requirements on the portals. Portals are a little more proactive as they will alert prospective candidates that a job matching their interest and qualifications has been posted. In effect is very similar to newspaper advertisement but more the process is more automated and proactive.

In house referrals

One of the more effective recruitment practices, especially in larger companies has been to set up a scheme where employees are encouraged to recommend people they know to take up available jobs in the company. The recommender is usually financially rewarded when a candidate is successfully hired.

This has worked well as current employees are actively on the lookout for people to recommend since they make some money out of it and they probably know what type of candidates would fit well into the organization’s culture. The disadvantage is that recommendations may be made more on friendships and for financial incentives. However, on balance, this is a reasonably good resource to use.

Larger companies are also now building their own active candidate databases (sourced from direct applicants and agencies) and can recruit directly from these databases.

Recruitment agencies

There is much confusion in the marketplace about recruitment agencies. One cannot lump them all together, they work at different levels. At the low end are agencies that provide manual and domestic workers. Other agencies provide contract technical or clerical staff, this is especially true in the IT and Oil and Gas industry.

Then there the agencies that specialize in middle to senior management positions (as Resource Dynamics does) and, at the highest level, firms that only place Senior level managers. These are staffed by experienced senior executives and provide a highly exclusive and expensive service. The people they recruit are at the CEO, CFO, EVP, SVP and Board of Director levels.

The similarity among the various types of agencies is that a fee is paid, usually a percentage of the annual salary. This can range from 10 percent at the low end to 33 percent at the high end. Also, for middle to senior positions, significant portions of fees are paid upfront and at various stages of the search (this is called a retainer). The lower level firms tend to work on a "contingency" or, in other words, fee paid on successfully placing a candidate.

The main advantage in using the middle to senior executive search services is that the consultant assigned has the expertise and takes the effort to understand the hiring company’s culture, the hiring manager’s style and the skill sets and personal qualities needed to be successful in the position being filled.

The consultant also combs the entire market, seeking passive candidate who fit the requirements ideally but who may not actively be looking to change jobs. In this way the best available candidates are identified for a given position. Getting the right person for the job can mean a significant amount increased profits so the high cost of these executive search services can easily be justified. However, the opposite can be said if the wrong person is identified - all the more reason to work with a firm that has experienced consultants and a good track record in your industry.

Some of the newer, more creative recruitment trends

• Tapping alumni networks: several of the larger companies are using this. This is a powerful resource as ex-employees who return are often much easier to assimilate and also have the requisite skills. On-line methods are used to keep in contact with alumni especially through blogs, email or regular on-line news letters.
• Tapping social networks: many professional online communities sprouted out in the past several years – one of the most successful being "LinkedIn.com". You can create your own network of professionals by inviting others to join and accepting invitations from others. You can build thousands of contacts all over the world and company recruiters actively build on and trawl these networks for candidates. The disadvantage of this is that your network soon becomes too large to manage. All the same it is a powerful resource.
• Using software to match skill sets to available jobs: increasingly companies are investing in sophisticated software to match existing skills needs with existing employees skill sets. This enables more effective use of the current workforce.
• Using HR policies to retain and recruit: companies are using flexible work arrangements to retain and attract talent. Such arrangements include working from home, flexible working hours, work sharing, etc.
• Outsourcing jobs to individuals on a project basis: This is how it works - you have a project to do that require 3 man months to complete, you go to a website like "Elance.com" where you specify the job and ask for bids. Small companies, self employed individuals or even working professionals who want to earn some extra money can bid for the job. You then select the companies or individuals who then complete the job and send it back to you. There are of course several issues of quality and project management and security and it is more suitable for jobs that do not require too much group work, but these are issues that are being overcome. The main advantage is that costs are controlled and you can reach out to a large pool of expertise.

The Executive Search Consultant – a strategic resource

In this current environment, the executive search consultant has become an even more strategic resource. Typically the responsibility of a typical search consultant is as follows:

1. Meet the hiring manager and convince the person to use your services and agree to your fees.
2. Understand very clearly the specifications of the job, the qualifications, experience and qualities required.
3. Understand the company culture and the Hiring Manager’s personality and management style to ensure best fit in terms of compatibility.
4. Carry out the actual search identifying qualified candidates through various sources including competitors, other companies that may have people with the relevant skills, internal databases, personal networks etc. The main thing is to cover the market so you can identify the best candidate.
5. Interview the candidates and carry out thorough and discreet reference checks for the more promising candidates.
6. Profile the top candidates and arrange client interviews and provide and receive feedback.
7. Negotiate the final offer to the successful candidates and help them transition into the new jobs.

There are many more steps in between but this is the gist of it. It’s a tough but rewarding job.