Recruiters: How to stay on top of your profession
The internet has brought about a revolution in how we work with information. That revolution has strongly affected the executive search profession, and how employers and professionals find each other, but it has not replaced the need for human interactions. Recruiters, both in-house and consulting professionals, need to stay on top of what is happening with employers, industries, job candidates and the human resources arena. This requires ongoing, continuous efforts in face-to-face networking, attending meetings and using technology. MedZilla asked the experts what today’s recruiters need to know in order to remain competitive and add value to employers and candidates.
For Immediate Release
Marysville, WA (PRWEB) April 9, 2004 --
Recruiters—whether in-house or outside consultants—are only as good as their
last hires, industry experts say. To maintain your value in a profession that is
so competitive and demanding, today’s recruiters have to spend a lot of their
time staying on top of what is going on in companies, industries and the
workforce.
“The web is an endless resource of candidates, company
information and industry news,” says Frank Heasley, PhD, president and CEO of
MedZilla.com, a leading Internet recruitment and professional community that
serves biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and science. “However, the
most successful recruiters agree that technology is not the end all, and does
not replace face-to-face, old-fashioned networking and research.”
Internal professionals: Going outside the bounds
Internal and
consultant recruiters generally need different talents, according to Gerry
Murak, MBA, PHR (professional human resource certification), a turnaround
performance specialist with Murak and Associates, LLC, Williamsville, NY. For
the internal recruiter, the key is understanding the external
market.
Murak says that internal recruiters can maintain their edge by
making sure not to operate in a vacuum or get comfortable thinking an annual
membership with the Society of Human Resource Management is enough. Internal
recruiters, should not only get involved in professional and other
organizations, but also change their activities regularly, so they are exposed
to different markets and ideas. “There’s a lot on the internet, but it helps …
to get the buzz off the street,” he says.
Murak recommends looking into
alumni groups, sitting on company and university boards and joining
not-for-profits or world trade groups to be exposed to people entering or
wanting to enter the country. “This is another full circle of networking that is
often overlooked,” Murak says. “Sometimes jobs can’t be filled by the local
market supply.”
Internal recruiters cannot, however, forget the value of
staying connected within their own ranks. Josh Paskewicz, a corporate recruiter
with Fifth Third Bank in the Chicago area, says recruiting is very much a sales
environment. “… probably the best thing that I can do to keep myself in good
standing with my customers and my managers is to keep the lines of
communications open. The partnerships that I have formed with all my hiring
managers are critical to my success,” Paskewicz says. “I really get in and learn
their business, whether it’s through attending their meetings or just by working
with the same people all the time.”
Recruiting consultants: Sharpening
your skills
The external recruiter generally has a good understanding of the
external market; so, staying sharp tends to be more focused on understanding the
internal needs of client organizations, according to Murak.
While the
internet can provide a wealth of information about companies and their
histories, search consultants (and job candidates) need to go a step further and
conduct research at their local libraries. Microfiche and other library
resources often provide insights into companies and their leaders that cannot be
found on the internet, he says.
According to Peter Felix, president of
the Association of Executive Search Consultants, which is the professional
association for the worldwide retained executive search business, the core
function of retained executive search consultants has remained the same: “It is
really all about introducing executive talent that will meet the requirements of
a defined position in the organization and help bring into to an organization
outstanding talent.”
The real expertise in executive search comes when
the consultant combines that understanding of a client’s needs with knowledge of
the market and how to find qualified candidates.
Like their in-house
counterparts, consulting recruiters need innate talents which they have enhanced
through training, education and experience, according to Felix. “They have to be
perceptive, good communicators, persistent, driven, motivated and extremely good
consultants--people who listen very well and are used to helping people solve
those problems,” Felix says. “Then obviously, they have to add to that the real
experience and knowledge of the marketplace that they have decided to specialize
in.”
Consultant recruiters, specializing in pharmaceutical, biotech or
other industries, need to be able to speak knowledgeably about those areas,
“speaking the speak.” Staying on top of what is going on in an industry means
knowing its major players; the performance characteristics of companies; how
individuals have contributed within an organization; and what impact a senior
executive has when he or she joins the organization, according to Felix.
Recruiters should even know the reputation executives have. It helps if they
immerse themselves in the industries and companies by reading industry news,
conducting research and attending association and other meetings. The
face-to-face interaction is often the most powerful way to keep a pulse on a
market, Felix says.
The consultant recruiter also has to have a general
knowledge of key human resource issues, Felix says. That, too, requires
consistent reading and networking.
Fran Luisi, principal and partner of
Charleston Partners, a retained-based executive search firm that exclusively
recruits for human resources professionals, provides insight into what makes
recruiters, themselves, valuable to employers.
“What we have seen over
the past few years is that the in-house corporate recruiters are becoming much
more strategic—marrying the strategic and tactical aspects of their roles and
becoming much more proactive than reactive,” Luisi says. “What we have seen in
progressive organizations is the in-house recruiting professionals really
understand their competition; really understand where they need to find people;
and are very strategic in being able to manage those things. [This is] as
opposed to being tactical and reactive--only attacking something when there is a
position open.”
Technology helps
The internet can make sourcing of
candidates, backgrounds on people, companies and industries much faster and
easier. “Those who really make the internet work for them use it on a continuous
basis as a networking tool,” says Michele Groutage, MedZilla’s marketing
director. “Recruiters often develop and expand their personal networks by
signing up with sites like MedZilla that serve as places where employers,
recruiters and professionals meet.”
Felix says that other types of
technology, including voice mail and personal email, have been “extremely
helpful” in the daily business lives of recruiters. The communication methods
allow clients to get back to recruiters on their own time, he says.
“The
whole goal of the search consultant is to be that highly trusted and very
capable advisor and partner to the client to achieve critical objectives for the
client, which are to bring in top people. You can’t do that unless you’re up to
speed with what is happening in the market and comparative evaluations of
executives,” Felix says.
About MedZilla.com
Established in mid 1994,
MedZilla is the original web site to serve career and hiring needs for
professionals and employers in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, science
and healthcare. MedZilla databases contain about 10,000 open positions, 13,000
resumes from candidates actively seeking new positions and 71,000 archived
resumes.
Medzilla® is a Registered Trademark owned by Medzilla Inc.
Copyright ©2004, MedZilla, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce and
distribute this text in its entirety, and if electronically, with a link to the
URL www.medzilla.com. For permission to quote from or reproduce
any portion of this message, please contact Michele Groutage, Director of
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/4/prweb117350.htm