Mod3 case study – cut throat business: headhunting

An old saying in marketing: “Half of my advertising is wasted. The problem is I don’t know which half.” This describes the recruiter’s challenge when trying to attract active and passive job seekers, and still be timely and cost-effective. Sourcing is like finding the best fishing spots. Internal recruiters focus first on active job seekers when charged with a position to fill, such as employees who may want to change jobs and applicants who are on file. They will use job postings, employee referrals, job fairs, schools, search consultants (for hard-to-fill jobs), walk-ins and want ads. Search consultants, also known as “headhunters”, research, target, and contact passive job seekers. They want to “sell” happy employees at companies and convince them to consider exploring new career options at another company. They use personal relationships, industry contacts, blind ads, resumes posted on job boards, cold calling, and professional association membership sites and rosters. Sourcing is a “find and convert” game. Ideally, enough applicants are found so as to have a choice in the selection process.

A recruiter must learn immigration laws. Applicants from outside the US will apply for jobs and may be desirable candidates. Or the company may actively seek applicants from abroad for specialized positions. Concerns: can they obtain a work visa, can accurate background information be obtained to verify their qualifications, is their education comparable to that required on the job description, do they speak English, how soon could they start? Employers who hire non-US citizens have to play an active role with helping the foreign worker obtain a work authorization. Also, the recruiter generally assists with recommending housing, explaining transportation, and aids with onboarding and cultural assimilation. This complicates and extends the recruit-to-hire process.

Most large companies create a proactive sourcing plan. Smaller companies are more reactive in this arena.

When creating a sourcing plan, a firm should do the following:

1. Profile desirable employees
2. Analyze the effectiveness of different recruiting sources on an ongoing basis to know which ones to use for various openings
3. Utilize different recruiting sources based on the firm’s staffing goals and employee profiles, within the confines of the recruiting budget and employment laws