by Ted Stiles & David Portney
Stiles Associates
One of the most commonly misunderstood factors in executive search is how many candidates are available in pursuit of finding the right individual for an open position. Access to professional networks through platforms like LinkedIn, ZoomInfo and in-house databases has resulted in a massive and highly visible marketplace of professionals to choose from. The work of recruiters is increasingly about strategies and tactics to sift through the expansive candidate field to find the best and most appropriate candidate for the assignment.
When retained firms work on senior-level roles, they’re typically utilizing their closest and most familiar networks first. This is for a couple of reasons. First, good firms will guarantee their placements for at least six months. This incentivizes the search firm to apply rigor and depth to the screening and referencing process so that they present only high-quality individuals who will be good fits for the role. Second, recruiters are generally most comfortable working with individuals with whom they’ve developed some rapport and trust. This comes in handy during critical stages of the process like offer negotiations.
So as a candidate, one needs to develop deeper relationships with their recruiter network so that, at a minimum, they can remain top of mind when the recruiter gets a new assignment. However, there are other benefits as well. More savvy candidates view recruiting relationships as a long-term career asset. Recruiters are great sources of market information, career guidance, critical insights on compensation trends and more. There are several ways to do this but they derive from the same simple concepts: Stay in touch, try and be helpful and avoid the pitfalls of purely transactional instincts (hey, I need a job!). Here are a few ways in which candidates can deepen their recruiter relationships:
1) Take the time for updates. Whenever there’s a change either in your career or organization, such as promotions, scope expansions, pending acquisitions, etc., reach out to them with a quick email, LinkedIn message or phone call. Good recruiters have the ability to track these updates, so they’ll have the most up-to-date information when a relevant role comes across their desks.
2) Sign up to receive regular updates from your recruiters’ websites and follow them on LinkedIn. This is the most efficient way to stay updated on what roles recruiters are currently hiring for before hitting the broader market. They’ll also share the latest insights, trends, compensation data, career advice and other relevant subject matter they feel you need to know. These are also opportunities for you to provide additional feedback on those shared resources based on your perspectives in the field.
3) Refer high-performing peers who drive results to help save recruiters’ time. The one thing most recruiting firms have is an abundance of candidates, but the one thing there’s never enough of is time. Being proactive in introducing top talent from your own network is just one of the ways to help save recruiters’ time and deepen the relationships. This is because all recruiters access and grow online systems with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of contacts sorted by dozens of categories. It’s incredibly time consuming to use that system while simultaneously managing inbound resumes to identify the high-impact A-players.
4) Hire them to build your team. Just as a recruiter can help you find your next role, they can also help bring A-Players to your team. Partnering with a recruiter on a hiring project is a great way to deepen the relationship and build trust through the hiring process.