On Talent and the difference between Recruiters and Search Consultants
Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 2:18PM In 1964 Justice Potter Stewart tried to explain "hard-core" pornography, or what is obscene, by saying, "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . but I know it when I see it . . . This quote, and the intent behind it, is well known as summarizing the irony and difficulty in trying to define obscenity. For at least fifty years, the Supreme Court has been struggling with defining what speech is "obscene".
Without the irony of above paragraph on the legal definition of pornography, there is also great difficulty to define talent. Talent is the fundamental trait that leads someone to deliver outstanding performance. There is no disagreement that it is the resource par excellence to retain and attract because it is the hardest to obtain and replace. On the other hand as a critical and sensitive resource it is also the most difficult one to quantify or measure. Although search consultants find, attract and place talent for their client companies, most would define talent similarly in the style of...... "I know it when I see it".
I define talent as a resource that allows outstanding asset leverage. Talent will assure an unparalleled ROI of the assets under management and therefore its acquisition, retention and development is not only the responsibility of HR managers. On the contrary: senior managers are directly responsible for talent acquisition and retention, and great managers will invest time and resources to work with the best people. Note that talent begets talent; my experience shows over and over again that great managers can by far more easily assess, attract and retain the best in the market.
Talent has both tangible and intangible components. Most candidates I meet focus and stress their qualifications, intrinsic job experience and responsibilities as the core and essence of their professional profile and identity. On the other hand they seem not aware of the role emotional intelligence plays in professional success and failure. I met a plethora of senior executives who became visibly nervous when asked questions that explore the fuzzy EQ realm, or when confronted with an extensive position description and strategic context presentation on whiteboard and asked how they could add value, became mildly discomforted (when will you start to ask questions about my CV?). A degree of self-awareness, an ability to manage how others feel and think, combined with contextual empathy, is critical to any senior management position; the higher seniority one aims to achieve, the more emotional intelligence - both in a personal and social context - will play a critical role in the road to success.
Good recruiters can assess candidates on competence, whereas executive search consultants can also assess correctly the EQ required for the role. This is why the degree of collaboration between client executives and the search consultant becomes so important; because collaboration allows a search consultant to learn and understand the cultural, political and social assets that drive a client organization, which allow him in turn to properly assess the intangible dimension for the talent required.
While recruiters can identify the tangible assets of talent, search consultants can build a productive relationship with executive candidates and bring them to understand why a particular position yields benefits for their professional development paths. Summarized, search consultants also master the delicate process to assess the required intangibles for the role they seek to fill, while they are uniquely placed to convince the right talent to join their client. This is why executive search fees are higher than the ones typically paid to recruiters.
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