As Executive Search consultants, we’ve seen a myriad of changes in the talent market over the last decade. In the mid 2000’s it was the “War for Talent” with employers offering whatever they could in terms of perks and benefits to attract capable people. During the economic downturn, it seemed everyone was simply looking for a job – any job. And many employers found themselves with a surfeit of talent and could pick and choose from the best. As a result, some employers became a bit too comfortable being the sole arbiter of whether a candidate took a position with their organization and adopted a somewhat cavalier attitude towards the talent market. But as the economy has recovered everything old is new again and many employers are finding it difficult to find the right people for their team.
The days of treating candidates like they are expendable are over – particularly with regard to passive candidates sourced through executive search consultants. While those days really shouldn’t have happened in the first place, more than a few companies are finding that in 2016 employees/candidates are no longer happy to just have a job. And some of the bad habits those companies adopted – “We can lowball the salary because they’re desperate for a job”, “We can get a high level person to take a lesser role/title”, “They really need to show us that they want to work here” – are coming back to haunt them. Many positions, especially data driven marketing roles, are in extremely high demand and candidates are receiving multiple requests to consider new openings.
In short, the market for talent has changed significantly, and if your organization’s approach to those talent has not, you’re in for some frustration. Here are some areas of your hiring process you should focus on to understand the current talent mindset.
It has to be a 50 / 50 proposition
Our approach has been consistent since the beginning – any fit between a talent and an opportunity needs to work equally for both sides. The opportunity should represent a strong step forward for the talent’s career goals and aspirations and the talent needs to represent a significant area of improvement to the client’s team. Trying to “sell” a talent on a position that represents either a repeat of what they’ve already accomplished or worse, a step back from where they are now isn’t going to work. If your organization needs a VP level talent but is offering a Director level title and salary, your expectations are out of alignment and it’s doubtful you’ll find a top performer with multiple opportunities to choose from looking to join your team. And if you do manage to get someone to accept a lesser role, you can probably count on conducting another search for the same role in a few months. Not only will this potentially lead to turnover, the disgruntled employee can also have negative effects on the rest of your team, leading to more potential turnover.
Make sure your opportunity representative knows what they’re talking about
Whether that representative is an in-house member of your recruiting team or an Executive Search Consultant you’ve brought in to acquire a hard-to-find talent, top rated talent are going to want thorough details about the role and the company and how the role might benefit them, as well as how they might be of benefit to the company. If the person representing your company/opportunity isn’t capable of having a meaningful conversation with an executive level talent, then they shouldn’t be having a conversation with an executive level talent. (We recently saw an SVP level search being managed by a “recruiter” who three months prior was working as a hostess in a local restaurant. Can only imagine the conversations that took place during that search.)
Candidates have consistently complimented us on our deep understanding of our client’s needs and our understanding of the role for which we are recruiting. We’ve also heard from these same appreciative candidates about some of the other opportunity representatives who have contacted them and how unprepared they are to answer direct and probing questions. By the third “I don’t know” they receive in response to their questions by an inexpert recruiter, they’ve pretty much decided not to further explore your company and opportunity. Make sure whomever is speaking on your behalf is doing so effectively. Top rated Passive talent won’t consider anything less.
Candidate experience is a “thing” and you need to be concerned about it
As Executive Search and Leadership consultants our role is to solve client problems, with a solution that most often takes the form of a new talented member of their team. But there are multiple steps that need to be undertaken before that solution can be found. We advise our clients on their hiring process and practices to produce the best results. We educate our client partners on our approach to candidate experience, but when a client partner does not share the same talent culture, the work we do to bring a top talent to the table can quickly begin to erode. Conversely, a client partner with an appreciation for candidate experience can find itself with a consistent pipeline of interested talent.
One client was seeking a highly sought after skill set/talent and when presented with a strong candidate, proceeded to miss phone conversations and reschedule meetings (which is especially difficult with a passive talent who is actively working) and then add additional interviews to an already laborious process. The candidate who was initially enthusiastic about the role/company quickly soured on the opportunity based on the cavalier attitude the hiring team took towards his candidacy. In the end, the client was ready to talk about an offer but the talent withdrew citing the client’s lack of consideration for his candidacy. “If they don’t respect me during the hiring process, how can I expect they’ll respect me after I’m hired?” was his reply.
Another client took a different approach with the CEO telling us “I want everyone who interviews with me to want to work here, even I don’t want them to.” This CEO/hiring manager made it a point in every interview to ask not only about the talent’s skills and what they could do for her company, but what they ultimately wanted from their careers. Additionally, she took interest in them as individuals and asked questions about them personally. The end result was that we provided her with a top talent that was delighted to join the team. And every person who was not chosen for the role said the same thing – that they would be interested in working with her company if the opportunity arose in the future.
The second client furthered their employer brand by respecting the candidate’s during the hiring process, whereas the first required more maintenance to get their interview process/candidate experience under control (which we did successfully). The bottom line is that the people who are potentially interested in your opportunity may be “applicants”, but they aren’t “supplicants”.
Tell candidates the truth, even the not so good stuff
Transparency is of particular importance in a competitive talent market. Talent want to know about the job, the company, the culture, the values, and as an employer you need to be honest. There are many companies (especially Silicon Valley startups) claiming that they are poised for astronomical growth and will be the next Google/Facebook/Unicorn/Biggest thing since Curly Fries sometime in the next 2 years. Executive level talent didn’t get to the executive level by being naïve. And telling a potential candidate that you expect revenue to grow by 500% in one year is going to be heard as “We have unrealistic expectations that you will have to have difficult conversations around as to why those growth targets may not be achievable”.
You’re better off telling the candidate that while you have set ambitious goals, you recognize that there are areas in your organization which are in need of improvement. Telling a candidate that you need someone like them to help your organization improve in that candidate’s area of expertise is more likely to inspire them and get them interested in your opportunity – talent wants to be valued and rewarded for their work and want to be proud of the work they do. The truth is your ally in this regard. “We’re doing well here, need improvement here, and have a critical need over there. How can you Mr. /Ms. Candidate help us reach our goals?” Giving pie in the sky / “Everything is awesome when you’re part of a team” (now try getting that song out of your head) pronouncements will be met with skepticism at best and distrust at worst.
And that works in reverse as well. As an employer you also need to be honest in your feedback as to why the candidate wouldn’t be a fit for the role. Talent want takeaways/ actionable items on areas of improvement, and to understand why they did not get a position to help them to achieve greater levels of success.
Both sides of the hiring equation, employer and talent both need to feel that the match is a solid one where both parties feel they are partnering for increased success; both for the employer and the goals of the company and for the talent’s career path and personal career goals. That’s truly when you have a fit. And that’s what your team needs in this incredibly competitive talent market.