On Talent and the difference between Recruiters and Search Consultants

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".

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Talent is attracted, not recruited

In "The Talent Advantage", Alan Weiss and Nancy MacKay explore some of the myths of Corporate Recruiting.

They offer the key insight that competing with pay and benefits is silly and expensive. It is silly because dollars attract  everyone, including mediocre and bad people. It does make things easier not to pay below market average, though matching it won't make an organization win.

One key observation I came across and share with Weiss and MacKay is that great bosses are an essential factor in attracting and retaining talent. I was told countless times by senior executives that work satisfaction depends 80% on the relationship with the direct manager. Great bosses win the talent attraction game, and manage to focus, retain and nurture talent: except for ROAD warriors (Retired While On Active Leave - or unproductive employees), nobody wants to work for a looser.

In my personal experience, over and over again, the best companies make cultural fit one of the most important elements in their hiring decisions; not just competence and experience. This explains why I have come across many cases where the passionate and assertive candidate was selected above others with more experience and competence. Executive search consultancy is retained to find the "hard skills" of competence and experience; great search consultants will be able to discern the unique cultural fit of particular candidates to the organization of his clients.

Whatever it is called, "value chemistry", "mutual liking and understanding" point to  the subjective, emotional factors that are key in attracting and deploying talent.  The company values, both manifest and latent, underlying the culture of an organization are, together with the personality of the boss, the essential factors in the talent attraction game.

Weiss says in this regard:

"Attracting top talent is about building a relationship of trust consistent with the values of your company. If one of your company values is not related to helping people achieve their full potential, then you'll have great difficulty attracting top talent, because your belief system is screwed up".

In the above context, Search Consultants can be great partners, not the "people vendors" or "CV distributors" commonly associated with succes based recruiters. Work with Search Consulantants who show a sensitivity, interest and affinity to the above, and who can translate these factors into a compelling story to the talent your firm wants to attract.