The executive recruiter role moving forward

It has been stated many times recently that Canada has become a service based country.

Canadians can no longer expect to attract or replace hard good manufacturing facilities to any great extent.

The global economy will simply not allow for that type of protectionism.

Service industries and companies that provide unique services and high service levels will continue to be the point of difference.

Companies that understand this will be the ones who are successful.

Service related industries also have one other key element that distinguishes them from other industries and that is that they have multiple firms that are vying for a share of voice.

Because of this fact, there will always be multiple firms chasing the best talent within a particular field.

Good recruiters will always be required to deliver top results.

What good recruiters provide in this type of economy:

-A recruiters key role will be to specifically target top talent that is not currently looking to make a career move.

Website advertisements or advertisements on LinkedIn will not attract these candidates.

Passive candidates are not looking for change on LinkedIn or other sites and they require attention and need to be individually courted.

Searches are so specific now that I rarely post opportunities that will only garner mostly unqualified candidates.

-When specifically targeting candidates who are passive on behalf of a client, the recruiter must be able to clearly communicate the benefits of the opportunity regarding both the company and the industry.

So good recruiters must also be in tune with multiple organizations and industries so that they can communicate the point of differentiation of their client’s behalf.

Many company’s own human resource departments often struggle with an answer when asked about their company’s point of differentiation.

A good recruiter will want to know their client very well, and will ask the key questions in order to arm themselves with the most information possible in order to “sell” the opportunity to the candidate.

In house recruiters are typically missing this sales skill set which allows for gaining the attention of top candidates.

Sales minded people tend to be in sales.

-Good recruiters are also a wealth of knowledge to their clients.

With positions becoming more specialized and constantly evolving, recruiters can provide clients with information on specific roles and ideas around how other companies are addressing similar issues as well as allowing them to consider alternative concepts that could also satisfy their needs.

Remember, the above is what a “good” recruiter is able to provide their client.

But in keeping with the theme of this article, recruitment falls under a service industry which consists of many companies with various levels of service.

Make sure you ask others which recruitment companies are worthy of a partnership when it comes to executive search.

A tip is to ask companies from outside your industry, as many firms do not want to provide referrals for companies that are in a similar field to them.

Vacation season is now upon us so the next blog entry will not be until July 29

th

2013.

Farewell,

Mike