Ruby, Jade, Amethyst, Garnet, Emerald and Diamonds—they are exotic, beautiful and very pricey if purchased in the Philippines or abroad. They are the most admired piece on a ring, earring or a necklace. As a clear comparison, the gems mentioned above represent the executives that we search or headhunt. They are elegant and almost always admired like a gem. They are the vital part of a jewellery set because without them, the jewellery pieces would look plain and boring.
Gem hunters, on the other hand, represent the headhunters, the researchers, the recruiters or the consultants. They go through anything and everything to get that gem and make sure it gets on a piece that would eventually be sold for a bounty. The journey to getting this gem or to reaching out to an executive is always exciting especially when you found the perfect one that would sign the contract. However, we not only experience excitement and joy, in between these joyous moments there is frustration and disappointment.
I would like to use the SWOT analysis to let you in on some of the experiences of a headhunter.
- Strengths – The clientele. This would be the clients that eventually helps develop the headhunting business. Once there is a client, the search for the gem begins. The goal of the headhunter would be to make the client happy because a happy client equals a happy business.
- Weakness – Rejections and Failures. This is the frustrating part, especially when you found that perfect executive and it would be either they would reject you and leave you with a broken heart or the client tagged the candidate as “not fit” or preferred to hire from their own database.
- Opportunities- Talent Pool. There is always this hunger to learn from mistakes. Finding the wrong executive would result to calibration sessions with the client. At times during calibration meetings, additional searches are mentioned and more requirements tend to surface. There are a lot of instances too that even LinkedIn would not yield results giving the headhunters a chance to join events and eventually build their own pool of executives.
- Threats – Competitors. Headhunting companies have been on the rise in recent years and when looking for that perfect executive almost always requires speed otherwise the competitors may snatch them away.
Headhunters are part of the bridge for a company’s success and an executive’s career development. I would like to think of it more as a give and take relationship. The relationship between the clientele, headhunters and the executives can be compared to a chain. If one ring of the chain breaks, the chain would not be the same. Without the headhunters, companies would not know where to find the best talent. Without the clients, there would not be ROI for the headhunters. And without the executive talent, there would be no business at all.
Image courtesy of Boykung’s at freedigitalphotos.net