Imagine you're about to embark on a fishing trip with a friend. While loading the boat, she tells you she knows there are a bunch of small fish in the lake, and her goal is to reel five of them in that day. You, on the other hand, have your eye on one certain fish. You've seen it from a distance time and time again, and have decided this is the day you would finally try to catch it.
Now picture the equipment you're each bringing along. While your friend is outfitted for a standard haul, you've come prepared with the heavy-duty fishing pole, line and hooks you'll need to reel in your big catch. Based on your respective goals, this makes perfect sense.
"Catching" the ideal candidate
While this metaphor should translate directly to the way companies approach recruiting high-value candidates, in reality they far too often show up to catch the top players with the same equipment they use to collect more junior ones. As a result, just as it would happen on the fishing trip, these companies typically find their efforts unsuccessful, coming home empty-handed.
Often times, the robust strategy they need is one-to-one recruiting, a method in which companies create campaigns personalized for a single, high-value candidate. Here's how recruiting at the one-to-one level can help employers:
- Showing candidates you're serious: Everyone loves knowing they're valued. Placing candidates at the center of their own campaign will instantly let them know you're invested in their future at your company.
- Leading to "magnet hires": Even though your recruiting strategy will be targeted at one particular industry leader, bringing high-profile people on board often leads other professionals in the sector to seek out your company. As Dr. John Sullivan notes, attracting these "magnet hires" for free can help offset the higher cost of personalized recruiting.
- Boosting morale: Every employee appreciates working alongside talented team members. According to Dr. Sullivan, "one-to-one efforts send a clear message that your organization will do whatever it takes to recruit the very best," ensuring your existing employees that you're committed to putting them in the best position possible to succeed and grow professionally.
- Cultivating "boomerangs" for the future: In recruiting, we use the term "boomerang" to refer to candidates who end up coming on board months or even years after initial recruiting efforts have failed. Even if your candidate isn't ready for a career change when you launch your campaign, it will undoubtedly leave an imprint on his or her mind. When the time comes, don't be surprised when he or she reaches back out to your company first!
While the above benefits may sound appealing, HR departments that handle recruiting internally may see them as wistful fantasy — ideal, but unrealistic. Executive search consultants like YES Partners, however, have the resources and experience to bring the advantages of one-to-one recruiting to your company, giving you the specialized equipment you need to go fishing for all sorts of big players.
Finding people is easy, but finding the RIGHT people is not. YES Partners helps companies FIND the right people – for all company functions, across many industries and globally.
