Why Candidates Should Be Your Top Priority and How a Candidate Engagement Ecosystem Can Help
The Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell in his book, The Tipping Point, outed the entire real-estate industry when he showed the stats of how the average home sold by a realtor moved for less versus for sale by owner (FSBO). The incentive of selling faster to get paid faster had become the number one driver – lessening the realtor’s worth in the value chain.
The big lie in recruiting is that fee-per-placement headhunters are best when it comes to hiring difficult-to-find talent quickly. Sure, no money up front. But the tradeoff? Like a realtor, the contingency recruiter is incentivized to place a body as fast as possible rather than the best person for the job. In both cases the time and payment incentives outweigh what is best for candidate and client.
And guarantees for replacement if the candidate doesn’t stick are flimsy at best.
There has to be a better way.
An Important Question
A marketing executive friend recently asked me a challenging question.
“So, in recruiting,who’s your number one customer, the client (company needing to make a hire) or the candidate?” His follow-up, “You can only pick one.”
The answer was easy…
The fee-per-head recruitment models often struggle to excel in serving both the needs of hiring companies and the aspirations of skilled professionals.
They operate in a pressure cooker – The faster a candidate gets placed the faster the fee gets paid to the contingency recruiter. The pressure is felt by all, especially the candidate who is only interested in landing meaningful work and career growth. This transactional approach can leave everyone feeling a little disappointed.
Yes, The Candidate is Driving
When you consider the current talent landscape and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data it should be abundantly clear no matter what your recruitment business model is.
Projected growth rates for skilled jobs far outpace projected labor force growth. Baby Boomers are retiring at a rate of 10,000 per day, leaving a growing skills gap that companies desperately need to fill. In this dynamic, the candidate from here on our (and I can argue always has been) in the drivers seat and is the number one customer.
Building a Candidate-centric Ecosystem
The future of recruitment lies not in choosing one side, but in building a talent ecosystem that fosters long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. Here’s why prioritizing the candidate experience is the winning strategy:
- Happy candidates become brand ambassadors: When you invest in finding the right fit for a candidate, you create a loyal advocate for your company and your recruitment services.
- Retention is key: Finding the right person is only half the battle. Skilled professionals are more likely to stay at a company they feel invested in, where they are challenged and have career runway. This reduces costly turnover for clients.
- Future talent needs: By building trusted relationships with candidates throughout their careers, you will have a ready pool of talent to tap into for future positions.
Co-missioning for a Win-Win
Candidate-centricity in a talent scarce market requires collaboration . One solution is a co-commissioning approach.
Imagine working with organizations like Goodwill of Indiana, Velifetoday.org, Keep Way Consulting, InfiniteCXO, and GetInSync, each playing a role in a candidate’s journey. By collaborating, you create win-win scenarios empowering candidates and building value for clients.
- Candidates receive comprehensive career support:
- From skills training (Goodwill)
- To professional and life-skills development for military personnel transitioning to civilian life (Vetlifetoday)
- To empowering fractional IT Executives (GetInSync and InfiniteCXO)
- To career coaching (Keep Way Consulting), working together, candidates are empowered to succeed.
- Companies access a wider talent pool: Tapping into the expertise of these partner organizations puts you in touch with diverse, qualified candidates.
- Everyone benefits from a happy talent ecosystem: By prioritizing the candidate experience, everyone thrives.
Stay tuned. I’ll write more on this later.
Some Go Forward Thoughts
The future of recruitment isn’t about choosing sides. It’s about building bridges within a talent ecosystem that puts people (the candidate) first.
At Field of Talent, we believe we have the recruitment business model for now and the future with Recruiting as a Service (RaaS).
Let’s redefine the game together where everyone in the ecosystem wins, starting with people (i.e., the candidate).
Sow, Grow, Harvest.
Dave
