With clients’ wish lists getting longer and longer or more and more specific, here at Finders we, as Recruiters, are regularly asked to source the impossible! Also goes without saying that linked to this is usually the need for a quick turn around and a short time frame.
Our added value is regularly seen as being literally able to “pull rabbits out of hats” in a somewhat exhausted candidate market for very specialist roles. Something we excel at here at Finders.
A recent quote from one of my Clients:
“Good afternoon Sally,
Many thanks for starting on this for us.
BR happens to be visiting our office on Thursday and I thought it would be a great opportunity for him to see any candidates you thought suitable?
I appreciate it’s incredibly short notice but thought I would ask in case you were in the business of pulling rabbits out of hats?
Best,
N”
So how do we do it? Here is a snap shot of how we try to indeed jump through hoops, wave our magic wands and find “The One”!
A strategic and multi-channel sourcing approach
Some may say the job of a Recruiter is “not rocket science” but it certainly takes a strategic approach, managing each search like a project with a clear plan of action – even more so for a “Mission Impossible”! -This includes a time line agreed with the Client as well as a clear brief on what we are supposed to be sourcing and selecting, what has already been done on the search (if applicable) and why it has not worked and how we can turn this around and succeed.
Once this is done, we try to go beyond the somewhat less original (but still sometimes quite effective) ways of talent acquisition (using job portals, social media, database searching and advertising) to thinking more “outside the box” – such as attending events and discretely listening and learning from others that one might meet there who may have contacts; thinking of different “key words” or alternative “job titles” that might have already been over-looked in this search, if the market is already somewhat exhausted candidate-wise, which (as mentioned above) is often the case; asking contacts that we know well and whom we trust for their contacts and from their contacts, that might lead to other contacts; researching via the web relevant companies that might well have the type of candidate we are looking to source and discretely head-hunting them from companies that Finders are not working with already (strictly no poaching from Clients, which can in effect be then rather restrictive but very important to adhere to!). Our research and experience has also shown that whilst head-hunting can attract “The One”, there is always the danger they will be counter-offered and end up staying put, making “sourcing the impossible “not for the faint-hearted!
After that, it also comes down to a lot of hard work, patience, drive and determination as well as creativity and resilience. For sure, things don’t always go as planned and there is, let’s be honest some luck involved. But in summary, we are happy that Clients do come to Finders to help find “the rabbits” and may there be lot’s more to come so that we can keep helping and succeeding!