by Doug Burris
Have you noticed how much attention candidate management has gotten recently?
Just to mention and credit a few of the better recent posts…
Lou Adler – The Elements of Applicant Control on ERE.net
Jason Davis – Getting Credit for a Candidate Submission on recruiting.com
Alison Boyce – 10 things candidates hate; 10 things they love on ERE.net
Jim Durbin – Questions for a candidate market on recruiting.com
Candidate management is the key to success these days. Candidates are getting increasing numbers of calls and being submitted to multiple opportunities and employers. We are hearing on a daily basis from candidates that it is obvious agencies are feeling the pressure of the market and their inability to find a deep pool of candidates for any position. This has once again become a game of speed of delivery and unfortunately we are hearing that the quality of candidate management is dwindling. Candidates are being submitted to positions they are not qualified for, without ever meeting a representative from an agency and are not being properly positioned for the interview. Ex. (Being submitted to a perm opportunity when they are only seeking contract roles, being submitted to .net architect positions with only 2 years development experience, etc.)
We are actively and constantly reviewing the historical needs of our clients, meeting with them to strategically plot out their hiring needs for the coming months and pro-actively sourcing/networking candidates to meet those needs.
The successful recruiter will already have a pipeline of candidates identified that fit the technical requirements, culture/environmental nuances and compensation window of their clients. Being reactive to the client needs is no longer enough. We must be ready to counsel our clients on the state of the candidate pool in their specific areas of business and pro-actively market talent to the potential hiring need. Ex. To be seen as a business partner, you cannot merely have a list of your Top 5 .net developers available immediately. You must have those candidates screened for perm vs. contract, commuting limitations, a full skill set profile, identify candidate culture and environmental preferences that matches the culture of the clients, etc. Recruiters and Account Managers need to be in lock step, determining why John Q Analyst is a fit for Acme Widgets and not a fit for Fred Farknuckle Inc, despite the fact they are both looking for IT Business Analysts. You are wasting your time, and more importantly the candidates time, by throwing his resume at potential jobs you know they will not like.
The time of reactively searching for candidates upon requisition approval has passed. We can no longer find people for jour jobs, we need to find jobs for our people.
Next: Making love to your candidates...even if you do not place them.
Doug,
As someone who is not a recruiter but has relied on more than a few throughout my career, I like how Jack Bragin, CEO of Michael Page International, North America described his company "...our candidates are treated identically to our clients in terms of service levels and our obsession with integrity and professionalism from our non-commissioned recruitment consultants".
In any case I'm not sure how a model that places the candidate searching for companies at the center instead of the company searching for candidates really works from an implementation standpoint. It's an intriguing idea. Even places like Korn/Ferry work on behalf of companies to sell "executive human capital solutions"...
-Pete
Posted by: Pete Thomas | June 05, 2007 at 03:34 PM
Jobmatchbox recently posted up a short piece recently titled Recruiters vs. Telemarketers that compared the roles of the two types of phone workers that follows closely with what you are talking about here. All too often, Recruiting organizations (third party and even sometimes corporate) tend to treat job boards as supply chain and candidates as product that they can just flip. Not only do they miss out when those candidates (and the passive ones that they ignored or missed) start looking again, but they also miss out on the benefits of trust that come with being a consultant to the candidate.
Posted by: Jobmatchbox | June 07, 2007 at 06:49 AM