Death of Contingent Search

I read an interesting article over the weekend. It's called "The Death of Contingency Search", written by Adam Robinson, Founder & Editor of Better Hiring Today (http://betterhiringtoday.com/2008/09/10/the-death-of-contingent-search/). He makes some interesting points. One of them is - "Recruiting is no longer about who you know. It's about throughput". I thought this paragraph was particularly relevant:

"Which brings me to the issue at hand - the massive change going on in the recruitment business model. Pre-Internet, search firms would charge you 30% of their candidate’s base salary to access their network of potential candidates…and it was worth it. Back then. Now, those Rolodexes have substantially decreased in value. These recruiting technology innovations have served to greatly increase the amount of candidate information available to a corporate HR team, and HR departments across the country are now dealing with a huge influx of data. Their problem is no longer “how do I find someone for this job,” it’s now “who can help me sort through these 250 resumes?” That, my friends, is a throughput issue, not a recruiting issue. And throughput issues are solved with efficient and low-cost operating models."

Now a shameless plug:
This is where joblish can help. If recruiters, corporate & agency, were to use joblish in their job ads and were to demand that applicants submit resumes with joblish codes, it would allow them to machine search the 250 resumes, reading those that met the criteria and qualifications they are looking for. How much time could you save if you had to read 10 resumes instead of 250? Start using joblish and it will become a reality faster than you think.

Just a thought.

Comment by Slouch on October 21, 2008 at 10:24am: I have read this a thousand different times written a thousand different ways. Of course it is who you know and that is not the hard part. The hard part and where the money is earned is how you deal with the relationships that ultimately get them to the table to accept and through the front door on start date. I really believe that this idea of recruiting is dead is put forth from the vendors of products who claim to have created the killer recruiting app. Good Luck.

Comment by Mark Bielecki on October 21, 2008 at 10:35am: That you've read it "a thousand different times written a thousand different ways" doesn't mean it's not true. The market is shifting with the new tools that are available. Companies are looking to reduce costs, especially in this economic climate. Recruiters need to come up with new ways to speedily serve their clients to avoid becoming an anachronism.

Comment by Jerry Albright on October 21, 2008 at 10:36am: I'll add a thought. Some seem to be in love with the "idea" that good recruiting can be automated. I for one am here to tell you - what I do can not be automated.

Services my clients receive from the fee they pay me:

Knowing when to "accidentally" bump into the spouse on the phone to discuss "their" thoughts on "this" job change.

Uncovering the real reason someone is no longer working - digging much further than "downsized", "laid off" or "company closed".

Preparing some candidates for the eventual counter offer they WILL receive. Even today - companies are not that enthused about having to replace their top performers. Discuss it BEFORE it occurs and you might be able to do something about it. Try to convince them it's a bad idea to stay "after" they've been hit with this emotional bomb is pretty tough.

The list could go on and on.......but let's just say this: you can not automate what I do. Period.

Real recruiting does not involve reviewing a stack of resumes. Admin can do that. Real recruiting is about having a discussion with someone before you even have their resume on your desk........

Comment by Salvatore Petrara, CPC on October 21, 2008 at 10:49am: I must agree with Jerry. There is nothing automated with the intangibles associated with the full life cycle in the recruitment process. Currently pure automation does not reach out to the person that is not actively looking. Automation does not network effectively with people that are not currently engaged in job searches. Automation does not have the instincts that come with 15 yrs recruiting experience. True the 30% days are over and the contingent Headhunter role is broken down into two, maybe three roles...

Comment by pam claughton on October 21, 2008 at 11:09am: These 'Death of Contingency Search' posts are always amusing. Inevitably there's an agenda behind them, as with this one, to push an automation 'solution'. First the job boards would be the death of us, now it's all the new technology. So, if that's true, why am I am most of my colleagues busier than ever?

Because it's not about resumes, or 'job codes'. Recruiting is about people. People can't be automated or generically processed. If anything, all these new technologies have created even more clutter to wade through, making a recruiter that much more in demand, because there's only so much time in the day.

The real value of the contingency recruiter is what happens after they get a resume...managing the relationship, generating referrals of passive candidates, finding out what is really important to that candidate, and making a match that is a win-win for the client and candidate.

Contingency recruiting isn't going anywhere. :)

Comment by Slouch on October 21, 2008 at 11:13am: I really believe that the concept is pushed by the vendors.

Comment by Mark Bielecki on October 21, 2008 at 11:16am: Jerry, Sal, Slouch - Seems I struck a nerve. If you read the article, it doesn't say recruiting is dead, it says "contingent" recruiting is dead. Big difference. No one is postulating that our role as recruiters is valueless. It is saying that the world is changing, and that the contingency recruiting model, which has served for forty+ years has become outdated.

Comment by Salvatore Petrara, CPC on October 21, 2008 at 11:24am: Mark;
I am constantly re-inventing myself... The model I used in 1991 does not work for me today. Automation is a supplemental tool to humans not the other way around The best way to describe my efforts would be part Maureen and part Shally. I doubt any recruiter (veteran) is doing it exactly the same way he/she started out. As methodologies evolve so does the headhunter, and if not the headhunter becomes a real estate broker....

Comment by Jim Canto on October 21, 2008 at 11:27am: I am a former recruiter who is building an "automated" system... (a vendor such as Slouch referred to). I'm stepping up, right here, right now, to confirm my endorsement of Jerry Albright's comments above. The true recruitment process can NOT be automated. I've seen many systems try and try. There are simply too many variables to manage in the recruitment process for it to be automated. Machines can not "read between the lines"... yet. Who among us does not believe they can manipulate a data entry form to their personal advantage?

Can machines improve capacity and help manage some of the incoming data to the benefit of both the recruiter and the candidate.... well I think so. I believe, as of today, that's where the magic is... and that's where I'm making my investment. However, having been a sales person all of my life, I can't imagine a machine filtering my leads without killing a potential deal. Computers are not intuitive... they are logical. Therefore, the system I'm working on does not include any automated filtering. As a salesperson, I trust very few human beings (if any) to filter leads for me. How could I trust a machine?

Is change here to stay? Always has been.. always will be. Personally, I think the changes that will become reality are those which work with the power of human nature.

In closing... how does the saying go?; "That, and a quarter will get you a cup of coffee."

Comment by Mark Bielecki on October 21, 2008 at 11:29am: Jerry, Slouch, Sal,& Pam - Regarding the "Concept pushed by vendors" comment. Am I "pushing" something - you betcha. I'm pushing a system of keywords that will allow us (recruiters) to communicate more effectively in our "wired" world. What we have now is a free-for-all with no structure & no discipline. The search codes or keywords in recruiter A's office will mesh with the keywords in recruiter B's office only by accident. I've got over 10,000 resumes from people I've intereacted with over 11 years. How do we find the gold nugget in the pile?

joblish allows us to have one definition of a particular attribute, and we can use those attributes to winnow the list of people that we should actually recruit & talk to.

Oh, by the way - joblish is free. If that makes me a vendor, would someone please call my bank and tell them.

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