Presentation to National Association of Executive Recruiters by Murray Parker
History | Change | Relationships | Planning | Contribution
It's All About Relationships
You'll notice terms such as relationship, talent community and talent organization in the case histories cited earlier. These all refer to one of the key ingredients for delivering top performing candidates on a strategic or pre-planned basis: a community of qualified people with which one has established an ongoing relationship. This is not, by the way, the same thing as your database or applicant tracking system.
All the resumes that have been collected by automated systems become useless after several months without a proactive communications program. The majority of automated tracking systems are full of "timed out" files.
The main difference between a database and a talent community is relationships. A talent community is a living vibrant community of professionals that keeps in touch for reasons of personal and professional interest. Prospects are identified and recruited via much the same methods and channels as for a vacant position. Becoming a record in your tracking system is, however, just the beginning. These prospects require constant care and feeding until such time that they are motivated to make a career move.
For example, let's say your company's business plan, combined with past experience, forecasts the need for 6 experienced brand managers on an annual basis. With a predetermined hiring pattern of one every two months, one could develop and nurture a talent community of qualified prospects in sufficient number to provide at least 6 hires per year.
We can see evidence that companies are beginning to recognize the importance of managing relationships, not just for recruiting but also for all their stakeholders.
P&G, long known for its policy of escorting employees out the door at the moment of resignation, has this year held its first alumni gathering. All past employees were invited back to campus for a weekend of networking.
Among the hundreds of attendees were CEO's Meg Whitman of eBay, Jeff Immelt of GE and Jim McNerney of 3M; looking to connect, strike up or renew relationships and find a way to enhance business. You can expect to see more such events in the future. Again, it's all in the relationships.
next . . . Planning