About 2 years ago, I decided to break away from my traditional resort-style vacation and go a bit more rogue. I wouldn’t exactly call a trip to SoCal “roughing” it but choosing a rustic, mountainous locale with farm-to-table cuisine was a bit of a departure from our normal family-oriented, kids-club centric hotel with a beach view. We were excited to try out the spacious suites, luxurious pool, and rough-hewn mountain hiking adventures that were promised in the sleek, responsive website. Sure, we knew it was a brand new property and had some hiccups to work out, but a basic Yelp and TripAdvisor review search confirmed it’s 4.4 user rating and we knew we had latched on to something good.
Upon arrival at new resort, the gaps in customer service were already painfully obvious. The lack of signage on the PCH and gravel parking lot were easy to overlook – after all, we were practically promised free unicorns to ride on property. The painful check-in process was compounded by 60 degree temps in the pool and a shortage of food and beverage on the property leading to a shut-down of all restaurant facilities. Even the mountain trails were under construction and the suites, which were simply refabricated 35 year old townhomes, barely resembled the luxurious home away from home that was shown on the website.
It was quite a blow – I had always been very adept at booking memorable vacations and clearly I had missed something big in my search. Where exactly had I gone wrong? And how does this relate to the search industry?
Recruiters, just like bad hotels, are the bane of any executive search consultant’s existence and often tarnish the reputation of the entire industry. There are some basic reasons for the problem, and as a leading executive search consultant for commercial construction in Miami, FL and DFW, I feel compelled to educate my clients on some of these disheartening facts. After all, they are about to blow far more money on a recruiter than I ever did on my wild-west adventure. Partnering with the wrong recruiter can compromise the hiring manager’s position, the stability of the organizational unit and can contribute to an overriding cultural issue at the company.
While it’s impossible to review every possible shortcoming in a blog, there are a surprising number of commonalities between bad recruiters and bad hotels. They may not share the same red flags, but their sleek and amazing websites can sometimes be a mask for deficiencies behind the scenes.
- Red Flag #1: They claim they already have someone to fill your open position. While a great executive search partner should have a deep talent pipeline, nobody has little drummers cooped up in a room waiting for their marching orders. Passive talent is hard to access and even harder to acquire. A true professional will have a referral-based network they are able to tap into to source top-tier talent, but they will need to spend time with a hiring manager to truly assess their hiring needs, position requirements, cultural framework and relevancy within a more global scale. Only then will they be able to launch a full-scale campaign to find a passive candidate perfect for the role.
- Red Flag #2 – They have dozens of people that will fit your role. Let’s face it, the more resumes you get, the better you look right? Sure, that fits if your recruiter subscribes to the mentality that quantity, not quality, is the primary goal of any executive search. If an executive search consultant is worth their weight, they know as well as you do that only a handful of candidates will truly meet all your requisites, especially for a senior-level leadership role.
- Red Flag #3 – They offer to take your job description and post it to the job boards for you. I guess if you are looking for a secretary, this is a great path to take. Cuts out the busy work and delivers tons of resumes in a short amount of time. The honeymoon period will be akin to the excitement I felt before my Southern California trip. Trust me on this though: once that placement is made, the euphoric feeling can die fast. Any recruiter that is simply delivering more of the same bad resume isn’t the strategic partner you need to grow your business.
- Red Flag #4 – They don’t take time to pre-qualify the candidates. Diving deep into the world of passive candidates requires skill, tenacity and an unwillingness to take no. Subscribing to the quick and fast route to sourcing talent means you will be the one picking through the expired food in the fridge at the end of the day. While executive search consultants recognize the need to fill critical roles quickly, the good ones take the time required to dig deep, uncover every stone and report the facts back to their clients to make sure that candidate is the perfect fit.
Click here to learn more about a different kind of executive search process for commercial construction companies in Miami & Dallas.
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