As part of the Big Bad Recruiting Blog Swap, today's post is brought to you by David Perry

The talent wars are back --- with a vengeance.  Are you ready?  Are you positioning your company to win?

More than ever in our history, huge value is being leveraged from smart ideas - and the wining technology and business models they create. So the people who can deliver them are becoming invaluable, and methods of employing and managing them are being transformed – just as baby-boomers are retiring in record numbers.  The pundits refer to this as a candidate driven market.

In my world of high-stakes executive search this is always the case – too much demand for too shallow a talent pool.  And as usual the candidates that you are looking for are not looking for you. They already have a job - almost certainly a good job. They will not be scanning the "Careers" section and likely aren't spending hours upon hours cruising the boards.  They're heads down producing wealth for one someone else.

How you attract and land the star candidate you want requires more than a checkbook. Without overpaying for the identified Value, how do you meet the needs of the human being you are dealing with? What value requirements does he or she have that you could fill?

Fifteen years ago Jeannette Symons co-founded Ascend Communications. It was sold a few weeks after her 35th birthday for $20 billion, in the biggest tech. merger ever. For her and many like her, the operation was not about money.

Jeff Bezos, whose wealth has swollen to about $5-billion from his success as CEO of bookseller Amazon.com, spends about 12 hours a day at work, six days a week, and helps stock shelves with his lowest-paid employees. Bezos tells them there is no time to slow down and smell the roses, because the Internet is still under construction.  

For many top performers - especially the non-executives - it's not about money. It's about changing the world.   Today's knowledge workers do not want to be managed, they want to lead: to be trusted. They need to be empowered with the right information to make sound decisions, to grow the business and to be part of a community that is contributing to something worthy of their time and energy.   Witness the people at Google and TypePad to name just two.

Listen and Learn now

In literally thousands of pages of articles, research documents, and interview transcripts, what comes through loud and clear was that the high tech industry, in its battle for human resources, has stagnated into a bidding war where the only winner is the company with the deepest pockets. "Shrimp wars", gift baskets ,three raises a year, beer fridges, pool tables, planes towing banners, booths set up at gardening shows, paid tuition, options, flexi-hours, and the list goes on - when does it all stop and at what point does one realize that the war, fought in this way, is lost already?

Those companies with the highest profile - Cisco, Microsoft, Google, etc - have already won. And they'll continue to do so until a company like yours changes the rules or plays the game differently…

It's Not The Money

The people who you're after define who they are by what they do- and where they do what and they do. There is nothing they love more than to face a challenge and accomplish what's never been accomplished before - it's how they work, play and complete among themselves.  

The power of individual accomplishment within an organization is one of the single most important strategic elements that must come through in your pitch. People, the people that we want to talk to, need to know, for selfish and unselfish reasons, that they can make a difference.

Back in the late 90's [oh doesn't it seem ages ago?] one of the most starting things was an employee survey done at Oracle that indicated people don't actually want to move around. As long as they can believe that they are working for and with the best, they're happy to stay. Likewise, one of the key elements that potential hires look for is the training offered at a company. Essentially, what training seems to mean to these people is "marketability" should they need or want to leave a company.  

What both of these issues say to us is people need and want stability. People would rather deal with change in the job they do. not where they do that job.

The ability of a company to be structured in such a way that will allow the individual to succeed, as part of a team of top performers, is the key to attracting people.   Many companies now provide techies with two career paths – technical or management whereas before people "went up and out" in order to advance in both responsibilities and income.

For a company to promote itself effectively it must make both a logical and emotional connection with the consumer.  Recruiting "super star candidates" is no different! The needs of the recruit must be reflected at both an emotional and logical level, and the company can't present an image that is boring, staid, or traditional.  You must present an emotionally-based image of dynamism, youth and forward movement.  

Be wary, aging Baby-Boomers are a slimmer portion of our target market now.  Our audience is young, educated and motivated. They represent the elite of the work force. Every technology company in every technology market wants them.

Recruiting today

Requires wetreat each potential recruit as an individual, providing a personalized - even customized response - to their needs.  The emotional appeal of a company that offers individual meaning, status and project glory, will upset the predictable offers of the conformist companies you compete with.   

Winning doesn't require you to think outside the box – it demands you live there!

********************************
David is Managing Director of the executive search firm Perry-Martel International al Inc. and co-author of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters as well as author of Career Guide for the High tech Professional.