A former neighbor and successful pharmaceutical industry CEO relayed recently he had been invited to speak at a large industry conference. Having dinner with the other presenters they suddenly realized that they were not talking about industry trends, data, competitors, or capital but rather the conversation revolved around people issues: office politics, star performers and their inter-office dating habits, personality conflicts, etc.
In Price Waterhouse Cooper’s 12th annual Global CEO survey released last month, 1,124 CEOs from more than 50 countries were asked which factors were important and critical to long-term growth. The number one factor with more than 70% of respondents concurring, was: access to, and retention of, key talent. This key talent category topped: ability to adapt to change, strength of brand/reputation, high quality service and all other factors.
In this recessed environment it may tempt hiring authorities to believe their job easier with a larger pool of candidates and, on the surface, it is.
I would contend that the reasons you use a recruiter are not based upon the depth of the labor pool but on strategic discernment and cost-benefit analysis. Questions like: who is best for my company culture? Who will be able to best achieve our objectives? No matter how flush a market is with bodies, smart hires aren’t accidental.
Last month another small company CEO described posting an engineer search on Monster and Careerbuilder in an effort to avoid the retained fee. Got the normal surge of resumes, he and others spent an enormous amount of time gleaning through them, went back and forth with a favorite candidate for weeks, presented and negotiated an offer only to have the candidate entertain and accept a counter offer from his current employer to stay. The CEO was unwilling to share how many hours spent on the process but it was consequential and he still doesn’t have the position filled.
It is our people, our teams that matter most. The 1,124 aforementioned PWC CEOs get it. Realizing the scarcity of exceptional talent and investing in professional recruiting assistance before "winging it" not only prevents belaboring our mistakes over industry conference dinners it saves precious time and money in the long run. TjK
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