The giveaway that you are working with a great executive recruiter is by calling them a headhunter and see how they react. Some have tried to change the image and no longer like the term ‘headhunter’, but we tend to embrace it.
Many prefer the term “executive search consultant” these days and we are fine with that as well, it really tells a little more about what we do. It comes down to the mindset of the recruiter and their firm, and at JMJ Phillip we have no delusions about what we do for a living and that is attacking the market, digging into your competitors and delivering you top seeded talent.
We are constantly striving to educate businesses on how we can assist them. We have said many times in the past that our value isn’t in finding the paper. You have access to databases, LinkedIn, job boards and even referrals just as we do. So that brings up the question , why do we even exist?
The simplest way we can describe it is that we really are your own personal ICBM where we dispatch the target (such as a competitor) with great accuracy. From clients giving us a name to go after to sell and close, to a full on search of North America’s top executives, we pick up the phone, get the plane, show up to the front door, aggressively pursue and oppose our will on the targets so you get the candidates that your company needs to stay on top.
We have a thousand stories of a company having a resume in their hand and they couldn’t allure the candidate or negotiate a package where both parties were happy. Regardless where you are at in the process, if you feel there is a chance you’re not going to be able to wrap the candidate up please give us a call to discuss how we can change your hiring processes and increase your ability to attain top 5% candidates.
In the next 5 years as the boomers retire there will be a giant shift in the workforce, turnover rates are going to increase and companies will be battling for a handful of top seeded candidates. Those battles are not going to be won with offering more money and even then, can you afford to “buy” candidates in the long term?
As the markets become ultra-competitive you need someone on your side, with the tactical ability to identify a target and have the know-how, sales ability and negotiation skills to walk the deal through the door otherwise you end up with the bottom of the talent pool.