Much has been said on the topic of Executive Search Vs Passive recruitment. But what is Passive recruitment? Passive recruitment methods include website vacancy pages, job boards, and social media ads to name a few. So what’s wrong with these? Our point has always been a simple one – They don’t always attract the best candidates.
But why don’t they attract the best candidates? For a headhunter and a recruiter, the words ‘I’ve been actively seeking a move’ evoke wholly opposite reactions. For a headhunter they are a reg flag. A recruiter will welcome the words as business as usual. Why the difference?
We sometimes ask our clients to imagine their best lawyers, their biggest billers, their superstars, sat at their desks, searching for jobs all day. Then ask them if that scenario makes any sense? Clients understandably laugh this off and reply with something akin to ‘of course not’ (usually in stronger terms). Okay, we respond; so why would your competitors’ best lawyers, the one’s you need to attract, be doing it? It’s wishful thinking surely….
Are the lawyers who are spending their time searching job ads, the lawyers you want to attract, or the lawyers you want to avoid? We’ve now imagined it is the latter. It’s a no-brainer. We might pause for a second because this is, of course, a generalisation, and in some individual cases if will be an unfair one. There are other reasons why someone might be actively seeking a move. Lack of performance is just one reason. However, it remains true that the mismatch between capability and aspirations continues to be a major reason for job seeking.
So, if you want your Talent to be talented, Search is the way to acquire it. Using Search, you’ll be employing a method designed to target those individuals NOT looking for a move. The Talent that’s being……. talented.
Of course, your mind has already moved on to the next point. If these talented lawyers are not looking to move, how can they be persuaded or tempted to move? And that’s where the Headhunter earns their fee. Persuasion and temptation are the last methods a headhunter wants to employ. The first would simply end in resentment, the second, (if the Talent IS talented) ends in counteroffers and if poorly handled, mistrust all round.
A headhunter’s work is far more challenging and subtle. (But changing minds about moving will have to be the subject of another post!)
Thank you for reading.
