Vince Lombardi said, “Individual commitment to a group effort – that’s what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” It’s no secret that employing talented individuals make a positive impact on an organization while a bad hire can be costly. The job market is more competitive than ever, making it harder to recruit those individuals, especially while balancing the time and resources needed to make it happen. This is why many companies turn to outside firms for help with recruiting. Below are five reasons why you should partner with a headhunter for the next hire on your team:
- Time. Arguably one of the most precious commodities on the planet – TIME. There seems to be a never-ending battle for leaders to find more proactive time in their schedule versus the reactive time handling problems that arise. Hiring is part of business, but RECRUITING is a proactive exercise that requires dedicated time to do well! An outside headhunting firm can take the heavy lifting off your shoulders and help move the process along in a fast, efficient manner.
- Targeted Search Efforts. If you’re in a hiring position and have posted a job online, you understand the varying degrees of success and frustration that can bring. Some postings quickly flood your inbox with a daunting number of resumes to sift through. Others return a discouraging handful of unqualified or undesirable candidates. Headhunters, on the other hand, don’t rely on online postings to find talent – they perform a targeted search, based on research and collaboration, and dig in to the details. They proactively seek out candidates that have the background, experience, skill set, education and certifications that you’ve identified as important. Maybe you’re looking for someone who has dealt with times of high-growth or turnaround or had exposure to a certain technology. A headhunter can act as a filter and present qualified candidates who fit your ideal profile.
- Passive Candidates. Passive candidates are defined as not actively looking and applying, but open to new opportunities. Most won’t take any action without an opportunity being presented to them. Headhunters have the network and tools to reach out directly to passive candidates and share an opportunity that they 1) wouldn’t have known about otherwise, and 2) are actually qualified for! (see above for the value of “targeted search efforts”)
- Confidentiality. Conducting a confidential search doesn’t seem important, until its crucial. There are several situations where you might not want others to know a position is open and hiring a headhunter can facilitate that. Maybe you’re looking to replace an under-performing team member and don’t have the bandwidth for the role to be vacant. Maybe there are big organizational changes coming or a recent shakeup and you want to keep people in the company focused versus worrying about how hiring new executives will affect their job. Maybe the ideal candidate needs to come directly from a competitor, which can be delicate, and you need a headhunter to make those connections. Or you just don’t want your competitors to know the position is open. Whatever the situation, working with a headhunter allows you the option of confidentiality.
- Have a Teammate Throughout the Process. A quality headhunting firm will partner with you throughout the entire interviewing, hiring, and on-boarding process. Not only will they find great talent, but they will also be instrumental in getting them to the finish line. Many hiring managers forget that while they are interviewing a candidate, they are also being interviewed. They need to sell the company and opportunity every step of the way. A great recruiter will consistently gauge a candidate’s interest level, ask about other potential job offers, field questions they may be nervous to ask a future employer; all to ensure there are no surprises when it comes to offer negotiations. Headhunters also help the hiring manager by offering advice and insight on properly navigating the process to ensure a successful hire. As a bonus, most headhunting services include a guarantee that if the hire doesn’t work out within a certain time period, they will assist in finding a replacement.
Exceptional headhunting firms act as a true extension of their clients and care about the success of the organization and its people. Just like having a go-to doctor or lawyer, you should consider aligning yourself with an executive headhunting firm for your recruiting efforts. If you have an important position you need to fill or would like to explore any of the above topics further, please send an email to info@omadasearch.com.
