Not many people research or study recruiting strategies, but those who do realize quite quickly that all recruiting strategies fit into two categories: “you find us” and “we find you.” The “you find us” category is the most commonly used, where a firm essentially posts a notice that it is looking for someone to hire and then sorts through those individuals who respond. The more proactive category, however, is the “we find you” approach, where a firm instead attempts to identify the names of top performers as individuals and then contact them directly. The first approach almost by design attracts “the masses,” while the other is more targeted to minimize the volume of applications and maximize the quality of the applicants. If you were going to attempt to recruit Tiger Woods to play for your golf team, you would realize early on that it would require the use of a different approach than most corporations currently use. Tiger certainly wouldn’t respond to the traditional approaches, like ads in newspapers, or and he wouldn’t put his resume on Monster.com. It is also unlikely that he would attend golfing “job fairs” or respond to a “now hiring” banner. If by chance Tiger did respond, it is unlikely that he would endure the hiring process at most firms, because he wouldn’t be treated as special or as a “target individual.” The only way to hire top performers is to give up the notion that they are going to find you and instead adopt a recruiting strategy that proactively finds them. Tiger, much like other top performers, has so many choices that the only way you could possibly recruit him would be to target him individually and then build a relationship with him over time in order to eventually convince him to join your golf team. This relationship-based recruiting strategy is called the “we find you” approach, and if you want to hire the very best, it’s the only approach to use. Why “You Find Us” Generates a System Stressing Volume Perhaps an analogy would best highlight the differences between the two categories of recruiting. In the media, there are two basic choices to attracting a target audience: “broadcasting” and “narrowcasting.” The broadcasting approach uses far-reaching tools to attract the widest possible audience. It is the approach used by the major TV networks (e.g. ABC, CBS, NBC, CBC). Another approach, called narrowcasting, is used by cable TV stations to attract a very narrow but targeted audience, for example the Sci-Fi or the Golfing channels. The first approach gets you a large volume of viewers, while the second gets you a smaller but much more targeted viewership. If you wanted to recruit a golf fanatic, placing an ad on a broadcast network will get you a huge volume of candidates, most of whom will be unqualified or underqualified. If you wanted to attract only golf fanatics, you would place an ad on the Golf channel, and you would certainly get only golf fanatics responding, because no one else would ever watch a golf channel. The same holds true for the commonly used “you find us” approach and the superior, but unfortunately least used, “we find you” approach. If you’re currently inundated with a high volume of candidates whom you have little interest in, it’s probably because you are using a “you find us” approach. The “You Find Us” Sourcing Strategy The “you find us” sourcing strategy is used by 95% of firms, making it the most common ó but, unfortunately, least effective ó of all sourcing strategies. Using this strategy, all attraction efforts are general and are designed to find anyone who fits the broad category of your search. It is a “broad net” strategy, where no proactive effort is made to find people or prospects as individuals. Here are the common “you find us” sourcing tools, listed in order from least effective to most effective:
As you can readily see, all of the tools that are used under the “you find us” approach are aimed at a broad audience. Job boards, for example, are designed to attract a wide range of candidates, from the barely qualified to the barely interested. Billboards or “we are hiring banners” attract anyone who drives by, with no delineation or targeting toward a specific skill set, performance, or interest level. Of all of the tools in this category, the employment branding approach is the strongest. It is a long-term approach designed to make candidates aware of why your company is an excellent place to work. Although this is an excellent long-term recruiting strategy, since it builds the interest and knowledge of applicants about your firm, it does, by design, also bring in a very large volume of every type of candidate. The next step in the “you find us” approach is the interview. Since candidates sourced using the “you find us” strategy by definition found you, most firms do nothing more than put them through the standard screening processes. Since they are essentially strangers, the best candidates can easily get lost in the volume of applicants. There is no real selling or relationship building, because it is assumed (wrongfully so) that a candidate’s interest is strong, since they found you and they took the time to apply. The “We Find You” Sourcing Strategy Only 5% of firms focus on this advanced but vastly superior approach as a name identification strategy. The “we find you” strategy is targeted toward currently employed top performers. These individuals are generally not looking for a job and they may not be interested in (or even aware of) your firm. (Note: Some many of us call these individuals “passive” candidates, but that’s a misleading label because these people are generally not passive at all). This superior sourcing approach is not designed to attract the masses. Instead, it uses a “narrow net” approach to identify the very best people and then recruit them. This is the approach that has been successfully used by executive search firms for decades. It is also used by recruiting powerhouse FirstMerit and other top firms like EA, GE, and Microsoft, as well as almost all sports teams and entertainment firms. The “we find you” approach is based on the premise that if you start recruiting before need (i.e., before you need to fill an open req), you have the time to identify the very best individuals by name and then build the relationship, so that you can, over time, better assess and “sell” them on your firm and the opportunities you can offer them. The key “we find you” sourcing tools are listed below, from least effective to most effective:
The next step in the “we find you” approach is “relationship recruiting.” Unlike the “you find us” approach, this strategy adds a relationship-building step where trust building, assessment, and selling occur over a several month period. After finding prospects, recruiters, managers and employees must build a relationship with each of them in order to increase their interest and trust. Once the recruiter qualifies them, the next step is to then identify the job switch criteria of the very best and then use that information to sell them. Weaknesses in the Two Different Approaches A newspaper ad is a good example of the “you find us” approach. Your firm places an ad in a newspaper that attracts a broad audience, and people who are looking for a job will find you by sorting through a number of want ads. Initially, many recruiters think that the people that “find you” are superior candidates. Because they took the time to find you, recruiters assume that these candidates are the ones who are the most interested in your firm and job. Unfortunately, relying on that assumption might doom your firm to a endless stream of mediocre candidates and hires. Why?
The list of weaknesses inherent in the “you find us” approach is long, but that doesn’t mean the “we find you” approach isn’t without its own set of weaknesses and challenges. The “we find you” approach requires some advanced knowledge of the habits of the target candidates. As a result, recruiters with no background in marketing, sales, or executive search often shy away from it. In addition, the “we find you” approach requires that relationships be built between the firm and the target candidates, which is a long-term process. Still the most common sourcing strategy by far is the “you find us” approach. Firms use it because it’s easy and it’s traditional. But if you want a competitive advantage, and also don’t want to handle a large number of under qualified and mildly interested candidates, I recommend you at least partially shift to the “we find you” model. This approach does require higher quality recruiters and, because the targeted candidates get individual attention, more time and resources. Most firms that use this approach also develop a customer relationship management (CRM) model for the critical step of building and maintaining the relationship with candidates. If you are reluctant to adopt this model, I recommend that you look at how executive search firms approach their business. They utilize the “we find you” model almost exclusively, because it results in higher quality candidates and in higher offer acceptance rates. If you don’t have the courage or resources to apply the model to all positions, I suggest you at least try it for your “mission critical” positions, where hiring top performers is essential. Once you shift to this model, you will wonder why you ever considered any other approach.
