How employers can recruit and hire the most talented candidates proactively

May 13, 12:45 PMSeattle Jobs ExaminerTara Gowland

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How to be proactive when hiring

  I have had a few emails from employers asking when I will start writing for them, so here goes! This is for Dave who is trying to recruit and hire the best Senior Financial Analyst.

The best way to hire

The best way to find the best talent in my experience is with a proactive approach. Let me explain. Searching for resumes that have been posted on job boards (such as Monster or CareerBuilder) or on employment forums will guarantee that dozens of other companies (some may just be your competitors!) will want to pursue the same candidates you will find online, thus creating scheduling conflicts and a challenge when trying to get the person to accept an offer.

What about a newspaper ad or an ad on Monster?

These methods are known as traditional recruiting methods and they are hit or miss at best. Placing an advertisement in a newspaper or on a job board such as Monster will guarantee is a huge number of mostly unqualified individuals responding to your post, so the result is hundreds if not thousands of resumes that need to be read, inputted into your HR system if you have one, and called for a phone or face-to-face interview only to discover the majority of candidates have either just accepted another position or are not the right fit for your organization. Also, a point that many employers don't take into consideration when running an ad on Monster or in the newspaper is that if you want to maintain your general positive brand image with candidates (who may also be customers or potential customers), you will need to draft, mail or email some sort of “thanks but no thanks” letter to each one which will take endless hours - believe me, I have done it and it is not fun. I am not trying to be overly negative, but the reality is that the economy is bad so most candidates  will plaster their resumes to every posting even remotely fitting their background (if this is you, please read Secrets of a Headhunter as listed on the side bar of the Seattle Jobs Examiner page!)

How to recruit and hire proactively

Unfortunately many employers do not know how to hire or recruit proactively as this is not something that is generally taught. And since many HR Managers and Department Managers are swamped as it is, it is absolutely crucial to save time and money when hiring. But how exactly can you recruit and hire proactively? By finding and interviewing headhunting firms until you find the one you are comfortable with and whose terms you can live with, or hire a name sourcer to generate a list of potential candidates that either HR or the Manager can call and invite for an interview.

Hiring a headhunter

The first option - hiring a headhunter - is great if you have a recruiting budget and you can expect to pay anywhere from 20% to 30% of the candidate’s offer for the firm to locate, recruit, negotiate and essentially manage the hiring process for you. You give the firm the job description, salary range (with ideal salary point), intangibles such as the most desirable personality traits to fit with your existing team, educational requirements, etc and the headhunter will go through their network and find a small number of candidates to present to you. They also handle interviews and should handle salary negotiations and assist the successful candidate in giving notice. Again, wonderful if you have a good sized budget for hiring.

Hiring a name sourcer

The second option is to hire a firm specializing in name sourcing (AKA name generation) that handles the front end of the search by locating a list of talented candidates also through their network, like a headhunter. As the client, you can choose to purchase a list of names of individuals or pay for any amount of prescreening/research which may include the names sourcer to actually talk to these individuals and getting details about their background, education, etc - in essence finding out if they would be worth talking to. Then the main difference between headhunters and name sourcers come in - when purchasing a candidate list from a name sourcer, it is the client's responsibility to contact the people on the list - typically this is done by HR but sometimes it is done by the Department Manager.

How much does it cost to hire a great employee?

Names sourcers typically charge a per name fee and are at least half of the cost of using a headhunter - although some charge an hourly rate. Headhunters will charge 20% - 30% of the candidate's offer - do for example for a $50,000 Senior Executive Assistant, the fee would range from $10,000 to $15,000. Also, headhunters usually offer a guarantee that if the person leaves within 3 months, you the client will either get a credit towards replacing that individual or a replacement. (of course most headhunters won't guarantee an employee who is laid off..)

Stop competing with your competitors

Either option is a great way to find top talent and the biggest reason why this is the case is that none of these candidates are actively looking for a new opportunity, thus eliminating competition when you want to offer the chosen candidate a position. In addition, you control the number of individuals you speak to, you eliminate the sheer numbers of candidates who need a response of some sort after answering an ad, and generally you get more professional and serious-minded talent who are not looking at everyone else’s positions as well as yours and who only make a move if it makes sense for them.

Approaching talented people

You may wonder how you would approach these talented people and convince them to consider working for you. First, make a list of all the reasons why someone would work for you - think benefits, excellent vacation policies, potential growth for this position, great location, free parking, work-life balance etc - it also helps to think about what convinced you to join the company and relay your personal story. Another tip: remember, you have the advantage over a headhunter since you are approaching these individuals in a non-sales capacity and so the pressure, which many candidates complain about when using some headhunters, is not there and so the chances of you scaring off potential talent is unlikely. When the call is coming directly from the HR or Department Manager, you will have a much better response overall.

Also, when you ask them “If there is anything you would like to change about your position, what would it be?” you will be surprised how this opens up a conversation and you can genuinely assess whether this person would be a good fit for your organization. Sure, these calls take time, but the positive responses you get from talented individuals will go a long way in developing long term relationships and good referrals in the case the person is not looking to move at this time.

If you find the individual is the right fit for both the job and your team and you can offer them something they can’t get in their current position – more growth, responsibility, higher salary, better cultural fit, closer to home etc, you may be well on your way to a hire!

A happy ending

So no more massive numbers of resumes and no more late night trying to locate a perfect background - hire a headhunter or a name sourcer and let them use their expertise in helping you do what you do best - run your department or business.

I provide name sourcing services as well as train others on how to name source internally - to learn more, email me at joblady@thejoblady.net.