Why Headhunting?
Headhunting will give you access to a substantially larger number of high calibre, highly motivated candidates than any other method of recruiting. There are two distinct talent pools from which employers can recruit:
- I. Active job-seekers (people who are either very keen to change jobs or don't have a job).
- II. Passive job-seekers (people who aren't actively looking for a change but will certainly consider good job opportunities if made aware of them).
If you normally recruit staff through advertisements and/or recruitment agencies, you are recruiting exclusively from the pool of active job-seekers. This pool is largely comprised of people who are unhappy in their current roles and people who aren't being 'looked after' by their current employers.
- Fact: People who aren't very good at their jobs are much more likely to be unhappy in their current roles than people who are good at their jobs (few people enjoy doing jobs they aren't good at).
- Fact: Employers don't tend to make much of an effort to look after poor performers.
Whilst it's certainly possible to recruit high calibre talent from the pool of active job-seekers it's by no means easy, as the proportion of poor performers in this pool is high.
The other talent pool from which employers can recruit is comprised of passive job-seekers. The most common reasons why passive job-seekers aren't actively seeking new jobs are:
- Even though they aren't totally happy in their current roles, they aren't quite so unhappy that they're doing anything about it… yet!
- They enjoy being good at their jobs (people usually enjoy doing jobs well, even when they don't actually enjoy the jobs themselves).
- They're being 'looked after' by their employers (even when being looked after simply means their employers put an arm around them occasionally and tell them they're highly valued).
There are two key benefits to be derived from recruiting from the pool of passive job-seekers:
- a) It's almost 10x larger than the pool of active job seekers (especially helpful if you're based in an area of the country where there's a shortage of candidates).
- b) Statistically, it contains higher calibre candidates.
If you're based in an area of the country where there's a shortage of candidates, or you're concerned with consistently hiring quality people, recruiting from the pool of passive job-seekers needs to be an integral part of your recruiting strategy.
On top of the fact that it contains many more, higher calibre candidates, there's another key advantage to recruiting from the pool of passive job-seekers:
Passive job seekers consider new jobs much more carefully than active job seekers (because they're not desperate for new jobs), so you'll almost always end up hiring employees who have better 'motivational fit' to your jobs (this is vitally important if you want employees to give you real commitment).
There is only one way to access the pool of passive job-seekers and that is through a professional headhunting firm.
The single biggest determinant of the success of your business is your ability to hire and retain the right people. Headhunting will give you a significant competitive advantage over firms that rely on advertisements and/or recruitment agencies to attract talent.