Recruiters or Treasure Hunters?
9 February 2015
Read by 6390 persons
Raphael, the firm's new search executive, after a week of direct approach training (headhunting), exclaimed, "I feel like I'm in a treasure hunt!"
Yes...Exactly!
We knew our recruitment consultant, our recruiter, our headhunter, our talent "grower", but in fact...our job is to hunt for the right employee! The one who will "perform", who will take ownership of their position and take their team and/or market beyond their employer's expectations!
We're talking about gems, talents, and vital forces that, once in our arms, must be cherished and nurtured!!
This "treasure hunter" representation puts candidates as the main actors in the recruitment scene; they are not mere targets: they are our stars!!!
1. It also implies an essential quality of the hunter: Endurance!
You know, that force that pushes us to dig, search, investigate...
That optimism that, against all odds, forces us to stay on deck...facing the wind...even in a storm, when the ship capsizes, when waves flood the deck...there is always in us an indescribable conviction that keeps us standing, our gaze far away, our eyes glued to our spyglass, scrutinizing the horizon again and again...
"We're almost there, I'm sure, we're burning, it can't be otherwise. Does he exist? He's hiding somewhere, this talent who doesn't know we're looking for him, the one who is worth GOLD!!!"
To make myself clear, dear readers and especially you: dear clients. Yes! I am addressing you, operations managers and HR directors, you are certainly far from imagining the painstaking work we must do before we can present you with "shortlisted" candidates.
It's best to listen to one of our search executives, Barbara.
Hello Barbara, in your opinion, what is the essential skill that allows you to succeed, that is, to identify and approach professionals in their positions, attentive to the market and interested in our opportunities?
Image response.
2. Recruiting is a treasure hunt!
A recruiter must be full of technical and relational skills, we agree on this point.
(If necessary, a quick recap with two previous articles "Who are you, headhunter?" and "Sourcing is not just a question of lines of code").
But more than simply mastering a know-how or a know-being at a given time "T", the recruiter must, with their pilgrim's staff in hand, travel a long road, strewn with pitfalls, bad surprises, even disappointments to hope to identify and discover THE RIGHT CANDIDATE!
Rarely does our journey extend from point A to point B.
More often than not, we must go through several steps, sniff out and validate clues, make hypotheses before being able to proudly, in a golden carriage, accompany our candidate to discover their future palace!
3. Our tenacity makes the difference!
I often hear Marc, co-author of this blog and founding director of the recruitment firm Emergences RH, say:
"That's why our clients pay us! Is this mission difficult? OK! But let's keep moving forward and stay on course!! At the end of the road, a candidate awaits us. Let's not miss him!"
First of all, let's occupy the field widely, beyond borders, to find the good deposits!
For example, even if I recruit a logistics manager for the East region, I will hunt throughout the national territory!
Recently, I unexpectedly (and quickly) completed a difficult mission by approaching a Breton for a position to be filled...in Bourg en Bresse!
With our noses to the wind, let's open our ears wide and recruit the right trackers!
A treasure hunter knows how to identify the right leads and the right information relays. They don't spare themselves when it comes to gathering information here and there.
For example, while talking to a training manager from a specific professional sector, I learn that a certain site will significantly reduce its activity within two years and therefore will have to implement a social plan; and he knows the current transport manager!
Often I start with a map with major research axes and little by little, through my contacts, I enrich this map and focus my investigations on the right place and with the right people...
4. Treasure Hunter but also Alchemist!
Yes! I affirm it loudly and clearly, a good recruiter is patient and knows how to dose the right ingredients, find the right formula, seize the "right" time...Whether in terms of words, listening and reflection time.
Our mission is to help a professional in their position transform into an enthusiastic and combative candidate.
Far from "forcing their hand", we must find the right "tempo" to get to know them, to understand them, sometimes even to push them to their limits...to better advise and guide them to find their way!
5. And technology in all this?
OK, our profession is increasingly dependent on new technologies, Boolean queries are our new weapons. There are even "paper and pencil" sourcing challenges (no phone, no direct approach interview simulation) where an expert jury dubs the best "sourcer"!!
6. And the candidate? Or the "Huggy the good tips"...
How to approach them? How to elicit the right information? How to engage them at our side in a few minutes? How to make them allies? How to seduce them and make them partners?
Getting the clue to move to the next stage, the sesame that slips discreetly into our ear under the cover of discretion...is no easy feat...
...Shhh...I must stop there...enough confidences for today...you didn't really think I was going to give you all my secrets!
Caroline Guichet.
Guichets-rh.com
Posted on February 9, 2015.
