Murray Parker Presents to NAER
At their 2003 annual conference, Murray Parker, Managing Director, The Borton Wallace Company and Cornerstone Hawaii encouraged members of the National Association of Executive Recruiters to lead their clients to realize the significant value possible from Recruiting Strategically.
Historically, executive recruitment has been largely an "after the fact" function that engages the recruiting process only after a position is open. One wonders why ... since so much has been done to optimize the acquisition and delivery of all other resources needed for your enterprise.
"But we're dealing with people," comes the conventional wisdom, "and you can't recruit top people ahead of time just to put them in a holding pattern."
Tell that to the hospital in New Zealand that hired two burn surgeons from the UK in 2 weeks, identified from their global private talent community in 48 hours. Result: hired in days versus months, saved money and lives.
It is clear that there is something you can do ahead of time ... strategically. You can develop and maintain relationships with members of specific talent communities then recruit from those communities according to your timetable. And if the inherent value proposition doesn't stimulate strategic action, experts suggest that workforce demographics will make it a necessity before the end of this decade.
So the next time you are told that it's not possible to recruit ahead of time, tell them to brush up on their relationships!