Strange Days, Strange Days Indeed

Strange Days, Strange Days Indeed!

This week has been interesting in that we have signed several new customers and engaged with several existing customers and like everyone else had several push farther out. Fear and uncertainty continue to dominate the marketplace. The net new customers were those we have developed relationships with over the course of the past year but have not engaged in any formal business.

We have spoken with many leaders this week who are just about equally divided on how their internal recruiting teams are supporting them. Many feel their teams are effective and delivering the value and support that is needed and expected. I applaud these teams and their efforts to bring high quality people into their companies.

Just as many feel their teams are ineffectual, providing the same low quality resumes from the boards with an occasional gem (just enough to justify their contract) and delivering no added value. I recently spoke to a Recruiting Director who has a new mandate to deliver the high quality candidates his hiring managers require. He inherited a recruiting team that admittedly flung resumes (in the hundreds) to the managers they were supposedly hired to support. He has kept this same team of slingers and has tasked them to become solution oriented executive level recruiters overnight. Good Luck!

The good news is there are leaders that recognize the value of solution oriented recruiting. This is why many of today’s executive leaders continue to partner with external resources that they trust to add great people to their teams and do so with a process that doesn't waste their time. Balance external relationships with some fiscal responsibility and you have a match made in heaven. This is why agencies exist and why firms like Silver Creek Partners will weather this storm as we have weathered all of the others.

Look out for several press announcements towards the end of February. Great things are happening!

I have heard the following this week:

“The position is a critical hire and we can’t function without it" It's been open for a year.

“I would introduce you to our internal recruiting team but I like you too much.”

“We would like to retain you for this search but for only 6K as I got a call yesterday from an agency that said they would do it for 5K. Oh and please make that fully refundable with a 180 day guarantee”. Click! You got to love the no barrier to entry market that recruiting has become. I guess all the contract recruiters that were bleeding budgets dry have found themselves out in the real world.

“We are going to hire him despite the fact that he sells and advocates the use of marijuana”.

“I’m a Talent Acquisition Specialist” ,… what does this mean? What happened to headhunter or recruiter?

“There’s lots of people on the street, we’ll hire one of them as they are cheaper” You get what you pay for.

“Oh those 65 positions on our website, they aren’t really real, we are building up our database”

Contact us to learn how we can help without wasting your time.

Zach