| JBN Consulting | Employer |
Employer
Attracting, hiring and retaining top talent is one of the most difficult
and challenging aspects of running a firm within any industry.
So when time comes, and you have determined to retain the services
of a professional organization (executive search) dedicated to searching
for and identifying industry related top talent, be sure to invest
the proper time in learning which firm best represents your organizations
best interest.
An executive search firm should be viewed as an extension of various
departments within your firm, such as marketing, and human resources.
Knowing this, you should carefully determine which recruiter or
search firm will properly market your opportunities when attracting
top talent, properly screen those candidates based on qualifications,
environmental and cultural matching and more. Your third party search
team should know as much about your firm as your current staff.
Human capital is the most critical ingredient to the success of
your firms’ long term existence, and having the right strategic
partner for talent acquisition should be viewed as an equally valued
ingredient.
Keys in determining which firm to select vary depending on the structure,
culture and direction of your organization. You should include:
 Industry
Expertise | Production Search | Process
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| Search
Process
Search Process is a function which is driven by the same strategic
approach your firm takes when going into a new market segment.
A close observation of the landscape of where you’ve
been, where you are, and where you are going. This is followed
with a thorough needs analysis based on your findings. What
are you looking for in a candidate, Where are they at and
what does your firm have to offer to get them? What historic
success or failures have affected your efforts in attracting
top talent?
Determine what results from maintaining a vacancy. As you
know, the cost of keeping a budgeted revenue generating position
open can be very costly.
Establishing an effective marketing approach to attract top
talent is also a necessity. Simply just having a vacancy is
not enough. In today’s professional environment, demographics
work against all of us. Several issues are to blame here,
including a decreasing number of people entering the workforce
as a result of an aging workforce. According to the Segal
Special Report, “The Aging of Aquarius, the Baby Boom
Generation Matures”, a maturing baby boom generation
and a significantly smaller succeeding generation (generation
X) is causing the aging of America. For example: In 1980,
half of America’s workforce was under thirty-five years
of age. It continued to say that, today (2005), that same
midpoint will be at age forty-one. Retirement age adult population
(sixty-five plus years of age) will increase 102% between
2000 and 2030 (34.8 to 70.3 million retirees).
Industry related college graduates have seen an increase
between generations as well. Sixty-four percent of “generation
X” workers have an education past high school, compared
to forty-four percent of baby boomers. As the industry educates
itself, we have found that more often today, those college
graduates are being recruited right out of college, by firms
positioned to do so. This additional strain on the decreased
workforce only amplifies the issue and creates a larger
separation between the big versus small firms. Attracting
experienced and educated industry related talent, such as
technicians, design/engineers, sales, project managers,
and program managers who are considered to be at the top
of their trade should therefore be embraced. Having that
top talent will have a compounding effect on your overall
business plan.
Finding the right person is arguable the most important
and often the most difficult part of the hiring process.
Look around your office today, you can probably guess who
reads the classified ads or searches the Internet for what
is out there on a regular basis. Are they your top performers?
In my experience as an executive recruiter, I have found
that top performers in almost all cases are generally satisfied
or happy with their positions and are not “looking”
for other opportunities. There will always be that 20% however
that are.
Where to look: According to CAREERXROADS 3rd Annual Sources
of Hires Study (covering hiring activity in 2003), 35.5
% of open positions were filled by internal transfer or
promotions. 64.5% were filled through external sources.
The sources of external hires was best represented by the
following:
| Internet |
31.8% |
| Employee referrals |
28.5% |
| Newspaper Ads |
3.8% |
| Career Fairs |
2.8% |
| Direct Sourcing |
2.6% |
| College |
2.4% |
| Third Party Recruiters |
1.2% |
Of the hires from the internet 67.9% came from a company’s
own web site, 17.6% from niche sites other than (Monster
– 8.7%, CareerBuilder – 4.1%, or HotJobs –
1.8%). 27% of all external hires are from other sources
than those noted above.
The caveat, most candidates who respond to this form of
advertising are generally, unemployed, unqualified, and/or
unhappy (these are that same 20% who are always looking) |
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