Looking for Employees with Purple Hair and Orange Eyes? You should read this article
In our tiny country, where there’s a high demand for job applicants but the supply is a bit low, almost every employer want to have the best available employees in the market. Employers are busy hunting for the coveted candidate and want to recruit candidates who are already working with them.I call these “the candidates with purple hair and orange eyes,” and to find them you need professional, focused and creative headhunters. This kind of headhunting process is considered one of the most efficient ways of discreetly and effectively locating quality employees, and in the following article I’ll tell you about this unique method.
What is quality headhunting?
Quality headhunting is an art unto itself. It means targeted location of quality candidates who best match the needs of the company and the employer. The process consists of finding the candidate, usually in an extremely discreet way. In order to be able to do this, you have to have an extremely extensive network, thorough familiarity with the world of recruitment, the ability to “sell” the position to the candidate (as well as “sell” the candidate to the employer), knowledge of the technological tools that support the process, and above all, experience, experience, experience. It’s not for nothing that this field is considered one of the most complex in the world of recruitment, mainly due to the fact that the recruitment is done “behind the scenes”.
The method’s advantages
The common assumption is that there are unwritten agreements regarding direct headhunting between companies in the same field, because (among other reasons) our country is so small and company CEOs know each other personally. This method therefore has more than a few advantages, both for the employer and the hunter, and most of the time the method gets very good results. Some of the advantages for the hunter include control over the recruitment process, since it is not dependent on candidates seeking employment. In this method, the only ones who come are those who meet the criteria as closely as possible, in accordance with their qualifications, professional experience and the job’s requirements. Moreover, when a direct approach is made to candidates who aren’t looking for work, this actually opens up new possibilities for them that they were not aware of before, and often this helps to expedite the recruitment process. Another advantage for both sides is that this method allows you to reach candidates who are not accessible by conventional methods, and that the search for candidates is done discreetly, while saving the employer a lot of time and resources.
How does it work?
Creativity is the name of the game: There are many and varied methods of recruitment today, and they enable the head-hunter to locate potential candidates with “tweezers” in different ways, whether by contacting them directly, looking for candidates in search engines by using keywords, identifying candidates on social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, looking for candidates who are bloggers on certain subjects, etc.
Using social networks: Over the last few years, the rules of the game have changed and the entry of social networks into the picture has changed a large part of the headhunting process, creating many and varied sources of recruitment. In-depth study of the ways in which social media work, and leveraging the information in order to create relevant contacts, can bring quality results.
Moreover, for headhunting to be successful, you have to have in-depth knowledge of the field and market in which you are searching for the candidate. Of course, you also have to thoroughly analyze and understand the client’s needs and the profile of the desired candidate, as well as do market research to identify the companies that work in the field, and map and locate relevant candidates who meet the profile. After the candidates have been located (a process that’s called ‘mapping talents’), you can contact the person directly and discreetly, and so begins the process of “courtship,” where you try to “lure” the candidates to generate interest. After the candidate has expressed readiness, you can continue the process of recruitment until he is hired for his new position.
It is important to note that the headhunting process does not necessarily end with the signing of an employment contract. Sometimes the headhunter even joins in at the stage when the candidate begins working, to ensure that he is indeed absorbed properly in the new company. At this stage, the level of involvement varies, inter alia in accordance with the wishes of the company’s hiring manager.
Hilla Edlis is the owner and founding partner of WPS, a counseling and human resources company. She is an expert in recruiting employees via targeted headhunting in the fields of high-tech and online media.
Hilla Edlis – Human Resources
Mobile: +972-53-7220150 – e-mail: [email protected]
