Want to keep your recruitment costs under control? Get it right the first time.
June 30, 2011 at 3:19 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Most business owners and managers will agree that recruiting the right people is one of the most important factors affecting the overall performance and success of any organisation; especially in mid to senior management roles. Poor selection decisions can cost employers hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
Typically a hiring mistake is estimated to cost an employer 40% to 60% of the roles total annual remuneration. While most organisations in New Zealand understand the importance of recruiting and retaining top talent, many underestimate the need to be flexible when it comes to negotiating remuneration packages with their preferred candidates.
As a recruiter I am often faced with situations where employers miss out on strong candidates simply because they are unwilling to increase their offer by $5K or $10K to meet the candidate’s expectations. Occasionally candidates are unreasonable and unrealistic (and I have a story or two to tell on this subject as well), but most of the time their salary expectations reflect the current market.
Just as in the case of poor selection, lack of flexibility in the final negotiating stages of the recruitment process can be expensive. Consider the costs associated with having to go back to the market, having gone through a long and arduous selection process involving advertising, interviewing, psychometric testing and reference checking. Not to mention the additional hidden costs arising from lost opportunities (internal disruption, incomplete projects, use of other resources while the position is still vacant etc).
More importantly, organisations may miss out on ‘the proverbial ideal candidate’ for their organisation. Such outcomes can have significant implications in the short to medium term, particularly in a candidate short market, which without a doubt is starting re-emerge in a number of functional areas and industries.
Last but not least the negative impact on the brand and overall perception in the market place are intangibles that are hard to quantify but certainly come at a cost in the long term. Candidates that go through the entire recruitment process and decline an offer made to them because it does not meet their expectations, are usually frustrated with the process. They share their ‘negative experience’ with friends and colleagues, and we all know what a powerful role word of mouth can play in the job market.
Accordingly, some organisations may subsequently find it difficult to recruit and retain staff due to the perception of potential candidates in the market, that they are an inflexible employer that tends to underpay employees.
Solutions for resolving these situations
The first questions to ask is whether the candidate is over qualified or too experienced for the role. Due to the limited number of opportunities in some professional areas, particularly at senior management level, we are seeing a lot of professionals hunting for roles at a lower level. If that is the case, then the answer is simple, the candidate is clearly not right for the role and you should not get drawn into further salary negotiations.
However, if you are convinced that your preferred candidate matches your requirements in terms of qualifications, skills, experience and cultural fit then you should consider reviewing your original salary range for the role. This could be done by restructuring the whole remuneration package – for example increasing the base salary by reducing benefits or performance pay. Or even offering a higher remuneration package but ‘delaying’ the first salary review (12 months after commencement instead of 6 months for example). Or alternatively you can look at options to increasing some component of the package.
In most cases adjusting your original remuneration by as little as $5,000 to $10,000 to meet the expectations of your preferred candidate will be a more cost efficient decision than going back to the market. Experienced recruitment professionals with knowledge of the current market can play an important role in bringing the parties closer during the final negotiations.
So next time you are ready to make an offer to your preferred candidate, consider the importance of making the right recruitment decision and the cost of having to go back to the market if your offer is declined.
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Have recruitment needs at mid to senior management level? Call our team in Auckland on 962 5687 or visit our website for further contact details. When you retain SCI you get the benefits of using a recruitment company and a search firm without having to pay the premium associated with search assignments. We look forward to working with you and your organisation.
www.scirecruitment.co.nz
Don’t Call Me, I Won’t Call You
March 26, 2011 at 4:56 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
A friend of mine sent me the link for this article (he did not call me to talk to me about it!) by Pamela Paul published in the New York Times on 18 March this year and I thought it is worth bringing it to your attention. I think that, among other things, it captures a growing trend reflecting a significant cultural change in our society. Here is the full article below.
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NOBODY calls me anymore — and that’s just fine. With the exception of immediate family members, who mostly phone to discuss medical symptoms and arrange child care, and the Roundabout Theatre fund-raising team, which takes a diabolical delight in phoning me every few weeks at precisely the moment I am tucking in my children, people just don’t call.
It’s at the point where when the phone does ring — and it’s not my mom, dad, husband or baby sitter — my first thought is: “What’s happened? What’s wrong?” My second thought is: “Isn’t it weird to just call like that? Out of the blue? With no e-mailed warning?”
I don’t think it’s just me. Sure, teenagers gave up the phone call eons ago. But I’m a long way away from my teenage years, back when the key rite of passage was getting a phone in your bedroom or (cue Molly Ringwald gasp) a line of your own.
In the last five years, full-fledged adults have seemingly given up the telephone — land line, mobile, voice mail and all. According to Nielsen Media, even on cellphones, voice spending has been trending downward, with text spending expected to surpass it within three years.
“I literally never use the phone,” Jonathan Adler, the interior designer, told me. (Alas, by phone, but it had to be.) “Sometimes I call my mother on the way to work because she’ll be happy to chitty chat. But I just can’t think of anyone else who’d want to talk to me.” Then again, he doesn’t want to be called, either. “I’ve learned not to press ‘ignore’ on my cellphone because then people know that you’re there.”
“I remember when I was growing up, the rule was, ‘Don’t call anyone after 10 p.m.,’ ” Mr. Adler said. “Now the rule is, ‘Don’t call anyone. Ever.’ ”
Phone calls are rude. Intrusive. Awkward. “Thank you for noticing something that millions of people have failed to notice since the invention of the telephone until just now,” Judith Martin, a k a Miss Manners, said by way of opening our phone conversation. “I’ve been hammering away at this for decades. The telephone has a very rude propensity to interrupt people.”
Though the beast has been somewhat tamed by voice mail and caller ID, the phone caller still insists, Ms. Martin explained, “that we should drop whatever we’re doing and listen to me.”
Even at work, where people once managed to look busy by wearing a headset or constantly parrying calls back and forth via a harried assistant, the offices are silent. The reasons are multifold. Nobody has assistants anymore to handle telecommunications. And in today’s nearly door-free workplaces, unless everyone is on the phone, calls are disruptive and, in a tight warren of cubicles, distressingly public. Does anyone want to hear me detail to the dentist the havoc six-year molars have wreaked on my daughter?
“When I walk around the office, nobody is on the phone,” said Jonathan Burnham, senior vice president and publisher at HarperCollins. The nature of the rare business call has also changed. “Phone calls used to be everything: serious, light, heavy, funny,” Mr. Burnham said. “But now they tend to be things that are very focused. And almost everyone e-mails first and asks, ‘Is it O.K. if I call?’ ”
Even in fields where workers of various stripes (publicists, agents, salespeople) traditionally conducted much of their business by phone, hoping to catch a coveted decision-maker off-guard or in a down moment, the phone stays on the hook. When Matthew Ballast, an executive director for publicity at Grand Central Publishing, began working in book publicity 12 years ago, he would go down his list of people to cold call, then follow up two or three times, also by phone. “I remember five years ago, I had a pad with a list of calls I had to return,” he said. Now, he talks by phone two or three times a day.
“You pretty much call people on the phone when you don’t understand their e-mail,” he said.
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Please write to us at sciadmin@scirecruitment.co.nz to share your observations and thoughts on this subject. We would like to thank all our readers for their valuable contribution with discussion topics, comments and questions. Keep those emails coming, we really appreciate them.
You can also contact us and suggest interesting discussions topics and articles through our website www.scirecruitment.co.nz
Do TV commercials actually still work?
March 18, 2011 at 7:11 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Steve Ignatov
Having discussed my observations with a number of people from different walks of life I took a little time and analysed my purchasing behaviour over the last couple of years. I know my analysis was not exactly very scientific but I realised that my purchasing behaviour has not been influenced by TV commercials at all recently.
In fact, I realised that I have been avoiding subconsciously some brands that advertise most often (and some of them quite aggressively I might add) on TV. My explanation for my behaviour is that many of these commercials are really repetitive and, quite frankly, very annoying especially when one tries to switch off for the day after a long day in the office.
I am obviously not an expert on the subject but would be very interested in hearing what our readers think about TV Commercials and whether they have any impact on their purchasing decisions and choice of preferred brands.
Please send us an email at sciadmin@scirecruitment.co.nz with your thoughts. I would like to thank everyone who has emailed us over the last couple of years and say that your feedback is invaluable and we really appreciate your comments.
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If you have any questions or require assistance with recruitment, staff or succession planning, please do not hesitate to contact us. For more information visit www.scirecruitment.co.nz
Why you should take control of your job search and recruitment process and avoid volume recruiters in the CA job market
February 24, 2011 at 5:35 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Steve Ignatov
I know that, sadly, if you are a candidate looking for a new role or an employer looking to recruit new professionals for your team in the Chartered Accounting sector your expectations of recruiters are probably not very high. As a candidate you probably have doubts if the hundreds of jobs in CA advertised by recruiters on a weekly basis do exist. Unfortunately you have every reason to feel this way and as a recruiter I often find the lack of professionalism in the industry extremely hard to swallow. Today I want to bring to your attention some facts you may or may not be aware of, particularly when applying for roles that are advertised by transactional (or volume) recruiters in the chartered accounting sector. Here are some of the reasons why you should be wary when replying to an advertisement by a transactional (volume) recruiter on one of the job boards.
Transactional recruiters (or volume recruiters) dominate the job market in CA and although they appear to be established brands very few of them follow an established and generally accepted ethical and professional recruitment process. The volume recruiters are easy to identify as they typically run a huge number of ads (on sites like SEEK) at any one time. Many of these jobs are re-advertised over and over again with some changes in the wording to make them sound as though they are different jobs. The volume recruiter’s goal is to keep his /her name constantly visible and attract as many candidates as possible. Unfortunately this approach works well (for the recruiter) most of the time and candidates do not realise that many of the jobs are not even real and the ads are used as ‘bait’ to capture their attention and get them on the recruiter’s books.
Perhaps the worst example of that notorious lack of ethics and professionalism in the CA job market is the situation in which candidates’ CV’s are sent to numerous employers without them (the candidates) being aware of that. I know that some recruiters try to get carte blanche from candidates upfront to send their CV’s to whoever they find relevant and whenever they think appropriate. This practice is an absolute disgrace and should not be encouraged as it creates a long list of short-term and long-term problems for the candidate and, on some occasions, for the employer as well. Unfortunately a lot of the time volume recruiters do not even bother to ask candidates for their permission, they just send their CV’s to as many firms they think might be interested in their CV’s. These recruiters play a numbers game and do not care if they get it wrong every now and then as the more CV’s they flick over to the highest number of possible firms the higher the chance of them making a nice fat commission at the end of the month. And they do get away with it most of the time.
Over the last 3 months or so I came across 6 candidates who were unaware that their CV’s had been put forward to certain firms. To make things worse when I told them who had sent their CV’s to the companies in question, three of them commented that they had not even met that recruiter face to face. Yes and that happens often too, as the numbers game sometimes requires the volume recruiters to forward certain CV’s on to various firms as soon as they receive them before they even meet the candidate. Why? Just in case another consultant is dealing with the same candidate. Volume recruiters know they have the advantage in time as they do not bother meeting with the candidate before they flick the CV to multiple companies. And for all this CV flicking they get paid fees that, quite frankly, they have done nothing to deserve.
Apart from the obvious fact that this is unethical and unfair on professional recruiters who play by the book and take the time to meet candidates this is detrimental to candidates and employers for a whole raft of reasons (which I am going to expand on in more detail in one of our next posts).
As a candidate when you approach a recruitment consultant you have the right to expect that he or she will take the time to talk to you over the phone initially and then in a face to face meeting. This is not just a nicety. The face-to-face interview is an important part of the professional recruitment process and without it the quality of the process suffers substantially.
As an employer you have the right to expect you recruitment consultant to take the time and meet every candidate they put forward to your organisation and provide you with relevant evaluative information supporting the CV.
Employers are often hurt by being associated with volume recruiters. Many candidates who have used volume recruiters in the past choose not to do so again for the reasons mentioned above. That automatically means that many firms miss out on potentially strong candidates simply because they would not consider job opportunities through volume advertisers/recruiters.
I strongly advise my clients to ask recruiters whether they have met the candidate they put forward in person and what their personal impressions are. Your right as a client is to decline accepting candidates through a recruitment consultant who has not met the candidate in person. Most importantly as an employer you would not want your brand to be associated with volume recruiters who generally have a very negative reputation in the job market and particularly among sought after candidates. It is always a good idea when interviewing candidates to ask them about their opinion of the recruiters that put them forward and whether they (the recruitment consultant) took enough time to describe the job and your firm.
As to candidates, the best way to start the business relationship with your recruitment consultant is by clarifying from the outset how you should communicate on jobs and employers of potential interest. Ask your recruitment consultant to provide you with the name or names of the employers they are going to approach on your behalf. If you are unfamiliar with some or all of the names mentioned, tell your recruitment consultant that you need time to do your own research (usually visiting websites and googling the firms).
Make sure you tell your recruitment consultant explicitly that they should come back to you with any new names and ask for your permission before they put your details forward to new organisations. If you find out that your recruitment consultant has not followed your instructions or your CV has been sent to an employer without your knowledge or permission withdraw your application and ask them to remove you from their database.
You can also go online and check the number of jobs advertised by the recruitment consultant you are dealing with. If the number is fairly high (say 10 jobs or more at a time) this could be a warning signal that you have contacted a volume recruiter and you may not get the quality services you require.
It is very important that both employers and candidates in the CA sector send a clear message to recruiters who do not play the game by the rules that their behaviour will not be tolerated. This will help raise the profile of the industry and will no doubt improve the overall environment in the CA job market.
Finally I want to finish this post on a positive note and say that luckily the recruitment industry as a whole still has many professionals that take their responsibilities seriously and offer highly professional and ethical services to their clients and candidates. I hope to see these professionals dominating the recruitment market in the Chartered Accounting sector as well in the not too distant future. Volume recruitment should be replaced by quality talent sourcing for the benefit of both clients and candidates in the CA sector in New Zealand.
Please feel free to share your thoughts on this subject with our readers online or email us at sciadmin@scirecruitment.co.nz
No recruitment agencies please; consultancies only!
October 28, 2010 at 3:16 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Steve Ignatov, Founder/Director, SCI Search
Over the years I have worked in the recruitment industry in New Zealand I have seen it over and over again – the so called KPI’s driven approach. If you were to have your first job in the recruitment industry and joined an established recruiter tomorrow they will spend the first few weeks instilling it in to you – you have to make a certain number of cold calls and arrange a certain number of client visits per week. The fact that you are new to the industry and you do not know much about the various industries or the functional areas you are recruiting for is immaterial.
At the end of the day it is a numbers game you will hear your manager telling you. Is it really? I tend to disagree. Here is why. I am a firm believer that recruiters should focus a lot more on the quality of their communication with employers and candidates and not the frequency and volume of cold calls. This approach will allow recruiters to actually hear what their clients and candidates need and gain a better understanding of the industries in which they operate.
In the current tight job market in New Zealand, when many question the relevance of recruiters, it is essential that managers change their approach and focus on the value-adding aspect of the services they are offering. Pushing your people to make more marketing calls will not bring in more business or create additional demand for your services in the current market. Re-evaluating your strategies and re-packaging your offerings to meet more closely the changing needs of your clients and candidates will.
Now more than ever recruitment companies need to spend more time on training their people to be consultants, not just agents. There are far too many recruitment agencies in New Zealand at the moment and very few consultancies. Agencies operate on the basis that recruitment is a numbers game; consultancies constantly look for new ways to add value to their clients and candidates. Agencies are focused on cash flow and weekly KPI’s; consultancies invest in their people and build strong and meaningful long-term relationships with clients and candidates.
Agents make cold calls to meet their KPI’s for the week; consultants contact employers when they identify opportunities to add value to their organisations. Although both agents and consultants operate in the same market, and often employers and candidates cannot tell the difference, the quality of services delivered by these two groups of recruiters differ substantially. Can you tell the difference? Write to us and tell us of your recent experience dealing with agents and/or consultants.
Transactional recruitment rules in the current job market in New Zealand. You don’t like it? So what are you going to do about it?
September 16, 2010 at 3:05 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Steve Ignatov, Founder/Director, SCI Consulting
While transactional recruiters have been around for many years often claiming most of the credit for the industry’s bad press, the tight current job market has tempted many non-transactional recruiters to adopt a less professional approach to recruitment in an effort to improve their cash flow. One of the worst examples of transactional recruitment has to be the Chartered Accounting sector.
Recently a candidate who had just accepted an offer and signed employment contract with one of our clients in the CA sector was approached by another recruitment company that offered him to consider the same role he had accepted a few days before. We had a good laugh with our candidate who could not believe the pitch the recruitment agent gave him about ‘an actual job’ that did not really exist. However, this example reflects a very serious problem not only in the Chartered Accounting sector but across a wide range of industries in the current job market in New Zealand.
This problem is serious and symptomatic of a worsening job market. Why you might ask? Simply because it is a ‘lose-lose’ situation for everyone involved in the process. Employers usually adopt a transactional recruitment approach with the idea of reducing their costs and/or gaining access to a wider range of candidates. Typically they open up their vacancy to a number of recruitment agencies and often advertise the vacancy themselves as well.
The result is scores of confused and often frustrated candidates trying to find out more about the role and who actually is in charge of the recruitment process for it. Employers get equally frustrated with the large number of applicants, many of whom are essentially irrelevant on the basis of their qualifications or experience or often both.
Recruiters compete on how quickly they can get a CV through to ‘their client’, rather than following a rigorous and professional screening, selection and interviewing process. In many cases recruiters forward the CV’s for candidates they believe will meet their client’s criteria as soon as they receive them and before even phone screening the candidates in question.
By doing that they clearly skip an essential part of the recruitment and selection process, which often has long lasting negative consequences. Transactional recruitment means no proper evaluation and assessment of the technical and behavioural competencies and personal attributes of selected candidates. It often means verbal reference checks are not conducted in a targeted manner and therefore do not provide the assurances they are meant to give a prospective employer.
Remember in a transactional recruitment situation it is all about who will register the candidate or candidates of potential interest for the vacancy first and not about who will do a better job of assessing and matching the candidates to the role and the organisation.
This is how the usually structured and systemic selection and recruitment process turns in to a CV flicking exercise. Needless to say the quality of the recruitment process (or lack of it) is often reflected by appointments that turn out to be disastrous for the organisation involved. Such appointments inevitably lead to increased costs, which arguably could reach up to 60% of the gross remuneration package offered to the appointed candidate. I come across examples of poor recruitment decisions resulting from the transactional approach every month.
The irony is that all parties involved – employers, candidates and recruiters – complain about the lack of professionalism in the recruitment industry and the New Zealand job market as a whole but no one seems to be interested in doing anything to improve the situation. Most employers I have spoken to in recent months are unhappy about the overwhelming number of irrelevant candidates applying for roles in their organisations. I agree and the reason for that most of the time is the way these roles are advertised and the quality of the ads which lack well-defined requirements in terms of technical and behavioural competencies and personal attributes.
Just about every candidate I meet has experienced various forms of the above described transactional approach. Most candidates are tired of the lack of acknowledgement and poor communication on the progress of their applications. I come across an increasing number of candidates who are unhappy with the incompetence and lack of understanding of their functional areas on the part of internal and external recruiters. This of course has a negative and often long-term impact on the organisations represented by the recruiters in question. I keep coming across candidates who have a list of organisations (both employers and recruiters) they do not want to consider or deal with. The reason most of the time is either the candidate’s personal experience with the organisation or, even worse, the persistent bad rumours about the organisation in the industry.
You might say it is the market that dictates how organisations recruit and I think it is partly the tight job market that has contributed to the poor quality of recruitment in recent times. However I am a firm believer that the job market and the recruitment industry are only as good (or as bad) as the key players in them. Employers can substantially improve the recruitment process by adopting a more non-transactional and selective approach to recruitment and how they choose their external recruiters. They should consider filling their senior vacancies through retained/exclusive recruitment or search assignments instead of transactional/contingent campaigns. The pros of such an approach are numerous and more than outweigh any perceived cons.
Candidates can also play an important part in improving the current job market and recruitment practices by supporting consultancies that are non-transactional, ethical and professional. Most importantly candidates should regain control of their CV’s and the overall job search process and make sure recruitment consultants do not approach organisations prior to consulting them. Always make sure that you know and keep track of where your CV goes and who sees it!
Last but not least professional recruiters should stick with the non-transactional and ethical approach to recruitment even if this means being less profitable in the short term. As we all know we operate in a small market where the ethical and reliable operators will inevitably be recognised by most employers and candidates.
The fact is the current job market is dominated by transactional recruiters and you can either accept that and go with the flow or play your part and try to improve it. Remember the job market and the recruitment industry are only as good (or as bad) as the key participants in them.
Is ‘real world confirmation’ possible before extending/accepting a job offer?
August 11, 2010 at 6:41 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Steve Ignatov, Founder/Director, SCI Consulting
His comments provoked a strong reaction from a number or people identifying themselves as potential candidates who turned the tables and accused the employer of not providing enough information about the role and his company.
I was reading through the comments made by the employer and the candidates and realised that they were discussing an issue that most recruiters and search specialists face on a daily basis. The so called ‘real world confirmation’ is something that both employers and candidates find extremely important but rarely know how to get it.
So how do you get that essential ‘real world confirmation’ before accepting a new role with an employer you barely know? If you are using the services of a professional recruitment consultant ask them to provide you with as much information as possible about the company and the role you are applying for. First of all ask your consultant why the position is available and what the reasons for the incumbent to leave were. Make sure you ask the same question when you have your first interview at the company.
My experience as a recruiter has taught me that nothing is more important in a new role than to get on with your boss. You may join the best organisation in the world and this will be almost entirely irrelevant to you if you have problems with your boss. So make sure you have enough information about your direct manager/s before committing to a job.
If you have any doubts about the company you are about to join, speak with people currently working within the organisation. You should be aware however, that many organisations designate certain employees to be their ‘ambassadors’ and meet with external candidates to give them ‘an independent’ view of the company.
These designated ambassadors are usually employees that are more or less biased (in favour of the company) and their views may not give you the ‘real world confirmation’ you need. However, I believe that in most cases talking to ‘company ambassadors’ will add value to your research on the company as long as you ask them the same questions that you have already asked your recruitment consultant and company management during your interviews with them. If the answers to the same questions differ, this could be a warning signal for you to do some further research.
Unfortunately in the current market recruitment has become extremely transactional and candidates often do not get the opportunity to ask questions. The only way to deal with this difficult problem is for candidates to be selective and choose non-transactional recruiters. This in turn will encourage employers to be more selective too and retain the services of non-transactional recruiters.
Employers on the other hand can get their ‘real world confirmation’ relatively more easily. It is usually achieved through professionally conducted behavioural based/targeted selection/ interviews, verbal reference checks, and ability and personality tests. A strong relationship with an experienced recruiter or search specialist who knows your organisation well and understands your requirements will help you get the ‘real world confirmation’ backed up by a placement guarantee.
Write to us and let us know what your thoughts are on this topic. SCI offers personalised services and career coaching to candidates at mid to senior management level and works exclusively with some of the leading small, medium and large organisations in the Chartered Accounting, Commercial and Public sectors in New Zealand.
“Game changer” recruitment requires more sophisticated approach
July 14, 2010 at 10:29 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Steve Ignatov, Founder/Director, SCI Consulting
A top performer can generate substantially more revenue for an organisation than someone who is average, but the approach required to bring one on board differs dramatically from typical recruitment, says HR expert Dr John Sullivan.
In a recent article on ere.net, quoted by Recruiter Daily online, he describes NBA basketball team Miami Heat’s recent signing of star player LeBron James as “the most sophisticated recruiting effort executed in this century”.
Sports teams and corporations alike need all the game-changers, innovators and exceptional performers they can get, Sullivan says, pointing out that Google estimates a top performer generates three hundred times more revenue than an average performer.
Organisations can learn three key lessons from Miami Heat, he says.
Calculate the economic value of a game-changer
Most recruiting managers focus on the cost-per-hire metric, ignoring the potential return or the economic impacts that recruiting a game-changer will have, Sullivan says.
“When doing calculations, remember that the economic impacts of acquiring a game-changer are not limited to their direct contributions, but also include the attraction of investors and other high-calibre recruits that will also impact the performance of the organisation.
“In addition, recruiting a game-changer from a direct competitor may significantly impact their ability to compete. Once your executives understand the startling economic value, they will support the use of a game-changing recruiting approach.”
Realise that game-changers are different
Game-changers, innovators and top performers “truly are different and must be recruited in a unique manner, Sullivan says. Traditional recruiting models won’t work, because they don’t accommodate superstar personalities, unusual expectations and an array of influencers.
He says that while all game-changers are not alike, they have certain characteristics in common, including that they are:
• Not looking for a job – and they are almost certainly treated well where they are;
• Powerful – they understand their value and their importance, and expect to be treated differently;
and
• Difficult to approach – they are busy and in demand. To make contact, recruiters need assistance from someone who influences them.
Game-changers are often cynical of strangers and need a strong relationship built on trust before they will consider an offer, Sullivan adds.
Shift to a game-changing recruiting approach
The main difference between game-changing and traditional recruitment is the level of effort put into truly understanding the candidate and their needs, Sullivan says.
The game-changing approach is market-research and sales driven, resulting in a sophisticated candidate profile, covering the candidate’s job search process, how best to contact them, and their job acceptance decision criteria.
“This in-depth profile takes a significant amount of time and resources but is necessary if you want to have a realistic chance of success,” Sullivan says.
He recommends 10 activities, which include:
• Identify the factors that trigger a job search – a combination of a positive job opportunity and a negative triggering factor in their current situation is needed. “Such events might include a corporate merger, management turnover, corporate scandal, or a significant cut to their budget”;
• Determine who must do the recruiting – game-changers often expect to bypass traditional recruiters and instead be contacted by professionals of a similar stature;
• Identify the factors that will grab their attention initially – make sure that compelling information on those factors is clearly available on the sites they routinely visit;
• Identify the decision criteria they will use to accept an interview – this requires extensive research and benchmarking, and some guesswork;
• Identify who will influence their decision – game-changers are more likely than others to consult with and seek the advice of friends; and
• Develop a counter-offer strategy – the normal reaction of a game-changer is to stay put in a known environment, Sullivan says. You need to research what their counter offer is likely to be, and prepare a compelling strategy to overcome it.
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‘Transactional’ recruitment, although still practiced by recruitment agencies, does not work anymore. Top management talent is by definition passive and waiting to be discovered. Take charge of your recruitment & selection process. Gain exclusive access to top talent and avoid competing against other employers and transactional recruiters on job boards and other traditional media. Call SCI today to discuss your recruitment and staff & succession planning requirements.
www.scirecruitment.co.nz
When is the right time to start the search for your next role?
July 6, 2010 at 6:12 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Steve Ignatov, Founder/Director, SCI Consulting
I have been researching this topic for the best part of the last year and talked to a large number of active and passive candidates in New Zealand and overseas in the process. The questions I asked during my research were:
When do you start your search for a new role?
and
Would you be interested in exploring alternative career options even if you are entirely happy with your current role?
Although I was expecting that most people would not mind being contacted about a potentially suitable career opportunity I was genuinely surprised that all candidates (just over 150 in total) replied that they would be interested in exploring alternative career options even if they are entirely happy with their current role. Not a single respondent said they would not consider an alternative role because they are happy with their current role. (More than 60% of the respondents were indeed ‘entirely happy’ with their current roles at the time they were asked the above questions.)
I think these results reflect the changes in the job market and particularly the changing attitudes of employees, not only in New Zealand but internationally. The sense of job security has all but disappeared and most professionals feel they need to constantly keep up to date with job opportunities, salary levels and other trends in the market.
While most candidates would not start looking for a new opportunity actively on their first day in a new role the majority of candidates seem to be open to the idea of exploring alternative opportunities that are presented to them, pretty much as soon as they have started their new role.
The nature of today’s job market and the volatility of the Economy have created the necessity for candidates to keep a close eye on alternative job opportunities at all times. The new ‘dynamic’ job market brings enormous challenges for employers as well, especially as we are starting to move back towards a candidate short market. (Most successful CA firms that are in expansion mode in New Zealand are already finding it difficult to source the talent they need to sustain their growth.)
New Zealand, like most developed countries around the world, is expected to experience severe candidate shortages as baby boomers are starting to exit the job market in big numbers. Just like candidates, employers operating in such an environment should have a pro-active approach and hunt for talent constantly.
So when is the right time to start your job search? I believe in today’s market most candidates are passive participants in the job market until they decide to apply for a specific role of interest. Learning how to behave as a passive candidate in the job market is even more important than learning how to be an active candidate.
As one of the respondents in our survey commented ‘great opportunities come knocking on your door when you least expect them’. But you need to be prepared to recognise them when they come your way. Keeping in touch with a small number of carefully selected professional recruiters and search specialists, networking (face-to-face and through social media) and staying up to date with developments in your profession/industry are key requirements to be a successful passive candidate.
Last but not least most forward looking employers in New Zealand have realised the numerous advantages of tapping in to the passive candidate market. They often go to this market (mostly through executive recruitment & search firms) to identify and recruit the managerial professionals their organisations need to be at the forefront of their industry.
As the talent shortages are expected to start biting again soon on a much larger scale than what we were experiencing before the downturn, proactive employers will be leading the upsurge in our economy.
Candidates who anticipate and are prepared for their next career move will be of particular interest to these organisations.
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Take charge of your job search. Gain access to new career opportunities in the New Zealand job market by getting exclusive introductions for roles that are not advertised. Avoid transactional recruiting and make your application stand out. Call SCI on 09 962 5687 for a confidential chat today.
www.scirecruitment.co.nz
What works in the current job market in New Zealand – employers’ perspective
June 2, 2010 at 4:37 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Steve Ignatov, Founder/Director, SCI Recruitment
I asked a number of decision makers within medium to large organisations (10 to be precise) operating across a wide range of industries in New Zealand whether they were happy with the quality of candidates they sourced through job boards. The answers clearly indicated that most of the managers in question did not feel they were able to recruit the talent they originally intended through the job boards and they had to ‘adjust’ their criteria.
While the number of applicants applying for jobs over the last 18 months has increased substantially, it seems to me that organisations find it increasingly more difficult to source the quality management talent they need.
To paraphrase an expression I heard recently, relying on job boards to recruit management talent is like ‘fishing in a pond’. Many employers/recruiters are there competing against one another, hoping to attract and recruit the best candidate for their role. So the competition among employers/recruiters is fierce but is the talent they are after there at all?
I should point out one very important fact that most employers and recruiters looking to source professionals through job boards tend to forget. The majority of applicants there are not necessarily the best candidates for their role – they are simply available and actively seeking a new role.
My experience with numerous recruitment & search assignments over the years tells me that, almost inevitably, the best candidates are passive and would not respond to ads placed on job boards. In fact they would not even visit these sites as they are not actively looking for a new role.
If recruiting through job boards is like fishing in a pond, searching for the right candidate among a passive market is the equivalent of fishing in the open ocean. Over the last 6 months only 4 out of 20 candidates selected for final interviews with client organisations in New Zealand came as a result of our advertising on job boards. The rest were sourced through our social media facilities and professional networking and search activities. This means that 80% of our best candidates were sourced outside job boards.
Our current pool of top-notch candidates at mid to senior management level in a number of functional areas is almost entirely sourced through social media and search activities. While job boards will continue to play a role in the future for certain types of roles they will most probably be seen increasingly as only an integral part of a more complex model incorporating elements of recruitment, search, social media and networking for management level roles.
It is the responsibility of professional recruiters, in my opinion, to advise their clients on the most appropriate methodology that is required for specific assignments. Company managers engaging external recruiters should also learn how to interview their prospective suppliers by asking the right questions regarding the most appropriate methodology to be applied.
Tell us what your thoughts are on this topic.
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SCI works exclusively with senior managerial professionals across a range of functional areas in New Zealand and Australia. If your organisation has recruitment needs at mid to senior management level our consultancy can provide you with access to exclusive passive candidates. For more information contact our office in Auckland on +64 9 962 5687.
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