Signing the best talent is tougher than you think

Things are picking up, and that inevitably means increased activity in the jobs market. But recruiting the right candidate for your business is trickier that it might appear, says Viv Packer.

Viv Packer

In 2013, we are at last seeing signs of revival in the construction industry with residential leading the recovery across the country.

As the industry looks towards growth, companies are reviewing strategies to capitalise on the recovering market. This may include the recruitment of key individuals to drive business growth. Indeed, many surveys are showing that recruitment is booming. Last month, new figures compiled by InterExec, which acts as a confidential agent for senior executives earning £150,000 to £1m+ revealed that unadvertised vacancies in the sector had shot up by nearly 200% from July 2012 to July 2013.

That said, the recession led to many senior level executives being “let go”, which means that job advertisements are still attracting large responses. So how, in these still straitened times, do you find the best candidate and persuade them that your business is the place for their future?

As executive search consultants, we still find many prospective employers looking at the best available candidate for the job, rather than seeking out the ideal candidate through a properly conducted search of all the relevant people in the market, not just those already looking for a new role. Recruitment consultants, meanwhile, keep a database of candidates looking to change jobs and if asked for candidates by a client, they trawl their databases, not the market.

Using a researcher with specific experience relevant to the role to target the market and likely candidates, we find the highest achievers and interest them in a new, challenging position.

In our experience, despite the battery of psychometric tests available, many employers only look at past experience and performance as the best determinant of suitability. While important, used in isolation, it is too narrow a measure of an individual’s true potential. Assessing the aptitude and behavioural style of an individual demonstrates whether they possess the business acumen and cultural fit to be a success within the organisation.

Real Madrid captured Gareth Bale… will you be successful in snaring your top candidates? Photograph: © ZUMA Press, Inc/Alamy

Senior level recruiting needs large investment of time, effort and money to find the perfect candidate. Whatever your process, when a candidate who matches your brief is identified, the next step is ensuring they join your business.

When an offer is made, at a time when the employer and employee are about to embark on an important partnership, the relationship so often becomes fraught with difficulty. Employers often ask why someone who goes through the search process then doesn’t accept the role.

To stay or to go?

Candidates frequently ask executive search consultants “should I stay or should I go?” on receiving an offer. All the doubts, concerns and fears come to the fore when the exciting new role becomes a reality rather than a possibility. In the past, the majority of new hires were open to accepting an offer, but today they are much more cautious and risk averse.

It is important to remember that recruitment is a two-way process – candidate and employer must be confident that the move is right for them.

So what factors with a divisive impact on the hiring process do you need to address to ensure your preferred candidate signs on the dotted line?

The recession has made both employees and employers more risk aware, which can mean they are further apart in negotiations. The candidate may have more to lose by moving than the employer in hiring them. It is vital that the benefits of changing job, with its associated risks, outweigh the safety of staying put.

Candidates often used to move for a more interesting role, but now a better package is equally important. When making an offer, be prepared to negotiate, be flexible and see both sides.

Remember the following in your negotiations:

• Openness is important.
• Commercial realism must recognise the cost of failure to both parties
• Many candidates do not seriously consider the wider implications of a move until they receive an offer.
• The value/security candidates have has to be offset against the risk/reward
  of a new organisation.
• Candidates need convincing that risks will be offset by rewards in the future,
  not immediately.
• Some candidates build unrealistic expectations when it comes to salary, bonus and elements of a package.
• Signing on bonuses, guaranteed compensation levels and high bonus levels reduce risk for the candidate.
• It is not a buyer’s market for a top quality hire.
• Many organisations have developed effective retention strategies for valued employees.
• Sell your organisation’s future growth plans.

While direct negotiations do succeed, in these difficult times it does pay dividends to use a dispassionate intermediary. Your search consultant should reconcile the two parties and be able to conclude a deal while leaving relationships between employer and candidate in a good place for the future and the employee feeling excited about their future.

Viv Packer is a partner in The Packer Partnership. www.thepackerpartnership.com