Talent Spotters
Your headhunter may recruit from a contacts book. They may recruit from LinkedIn. They may ask for referrals. These are well-proven methods, but what happens when talent decides to change career paths, or has been out of the industry, the country or a job?
Lesley Uren, Chief Executive of HR headhunters Jackson Samuel, says: “We did some resourcing research for a client recently and it showed pretty conclusively a journey towards direct recruiting.
“As a result, organizations are getting a lot better at keeping their own databases. But no system is foolproof, and the interesting thing is that the way the information is dispersed means that there is still a space for search at the upper level.”
Uren sees recruitment on a trend towards organizations building their own resourcing plan. “Individuals are much more active themselves, and what that is doing is creating a new role for the third party – the transactional role has become personal, there has to be something in it for everyone and each party has to up their game.”
When asked if the role for headhunters is simply creaming information from ready resources, Uren disagrees. “Headhunters aren’t just collating information. I would go one step further: LinkedIn is just one weapon in your armoury, but the best guys will still use direct resourcing and market research. It is also about going where it isn’t immediately obvious and then presenting it. Firms that just clean up databases will struggle.”
Uren recalls the case of one individual who wanted to change markets and contacted senior people in that market 12 months before gearing up for the transition. “The people that want to move will be making those contacts anyway, but search organizations that are really good will be mapping out who may want to go through personal conversations which you won’t get with a networking site.”
Uren sees the desire for cross-sector experience as one potential driver for direct resourcing, as the individual can target their own potential employers and avoid a gatekeeper of a headhunter who doesn’t believe that the skills can be transferred.
Similarly, if talent has been unemployed, getting past the headhunter can be a motivation for going direct. “There is a perception that if you are out of work, then something is wrong with you. But that of course depends on why you have been out.
Even after sabbaticals, international moves or redundancy, those candidates who are constantly networking will only improve their long-term employability.
The full article was originally published within The Grapevine – March 2011.
