Wanting a Lot for a Little
‘….companies that want a candidate who has 1,127 key skills…..’ .

There are companies who ‘beef up ‘ their skill requirements in postings on diversity job boards to insure they get diverse candidates who are really worth their time to review. These retarded companies post the same job on major boards with less requirements. Dumb.

Bashing the Boards

Companies, whose websites are a void of any references to diversity, ask for site statistics within two minutes of a phone call. It’s usually an assignment given to the newest associate in the HR dept. The task is to gather information for a selection committee.
Seldom does the committee agree on a board since none of data, provided by the boards, match their ‘requirements’. Some committees decide to post one job on a selected board one time with ‘beefed up’ skill requirements knowing they can bash the board for poor candidate results.Sad.

Recruiters should work with HR to help in the transfer of the sourcing skills they hold so dear. Indeed I agree that resourcing specialist should be part of every organisation but think that they should definitely be part of HR – the links between resourcing and the rest of the HR business are too strong to have it anywhere else.

Indeed a good resourcing specialist is so much more than a good recruitment agent.

1. Wanting allot or alitte?
I?m sure we all understand this can be an obstacle or opportunities within this industry. Depending on our experience, expertise and relationship with the hiring manager and fully understanding the search criteria is the key. A competent and confident recruiter / search consultant will add value only if we become partners in the process.
2. Having HR In Charge
I agree completely, however only focus on what we can control, our attitude, commitment and desire to provide the best solution. Having a Talent mind set is a passion topic of mine and at the end of the day if the Board, CEO and Senior team all have the same like-mind that?s the true win/ win. However on are side of the court, focusing on what we can do is the only real solution. As Howard stated if you work for an HR team that does not embrace the talent mindset, my advise master your current position and put yourself in a position to be a person of influence. Adding value is always a good strategy.
3. Seeing Poaching as Stealing
?WoW? always a tough conversation, Think best practice and what?s the end in mind. Great people always find a way to win, integrity is a gold standard that many miss.
4. Not Managing Your Career
Again great insight, however most professionals rush into a position. My practice is mostly C-E level, I am amazed that assessments, personality profiling and when I ask what are your core competencies they get stuck. So with that said, always make your selection process slow well thought out and be sure it?s a win /win. Take assessments and truly learn to understand the best match for you and make sure you know your strengths.

Brian Anderson is the principal founder of BA Search Group an Executive search, coaching and retail consulting practice in the Naperville, Aurora, IL market.
http://www.basearchgroup.com

Good stuff! The ‘Board’ issue is key and while I don’t use Monster for exec search I do access BlueSteps and it has proved to be a very useful tool for me. Not a panacea but useful in the right situations. Keep up the practical advice!

First, let me say, I appreciate your articles. They are some of the best on ERE.

I cannot tell you how much I agree with you about the poaching/stealing issue. I never have understood what is wrong with the notion that in order to fill a position with the best possible candidate, you must present passive candidates. People who are successful doing the position for a competitor cannot be overlooked. In order to be able to present them, you must recruit them. That is the job of a recruiter — to recruit. In fact, I strongly believe that even the use of words such as poaching and stealing do a great disservice to us all. Stealing is certainly illegal, and unless you’re talking about eggs, so is poaching. Why even use those negative terms? Both imply that someone else owns what we seek. As you said, you don’t own your employees. At best, you rent them on a mutually agreeable basis, unless and until a better opportunity exists for either side.

So, since you are widely read, how about replacing the words ‘poaching’ and ‘stealing’ with the word ‘recruiting’? Let’s agree to stop using them. Maybe that can be the first step to eliminating the whole issue….