Today’s guest blogger is Jim Lyons, JD, CPC of LHI Executive Search in the New York City area. LHI is an investigative executive search & research outsourcing firm covering the information technology, capital markets, private equity/venture capital, digital & social media, mobile, cloud, big data, and legal business sectors. Jim has been an NPAworldwide member since 2012 and is currently serving as the past chair of the Board of Directors. Below he reminds recruiters to use the phone as their primary tool.
As you know, AI is the hot topic in the executive search and recruitment space. I could spend my entire work week attending workshops, training sessions and demos on the subject. The availability of AI information to both the in-house corporate recruiter and the outside agency recruiter is limitless. In particular, convention might imply that the outside recruitment and executive search operator better be ahead of the AI curve or be at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace.
I think all recruitment operators reading this will agree that with the optimal use of social media—it is pretty easy to find top talent. THE PROBLEM: it is easy for all actors in the talent acquisition space to find the same top talent. Thus, in certain circles the value proposition of an agency side recruiter has been marginalized.
In essence, the theatre of our industry has been subordinated to technology. In practice, very few recruitment professionals today have the skill set to approach top direct competitor talent. These top executives are not in the market and are likely on a clear career path. Yet, they may still be opportunistically intrigued about the marketplace.
A vast majority of outside recruiters spend most of their time engaging candidates who have submitted a resume from a job posting or by sending an “open to work” signal out on LinkedIn. Very few have the telephonic engagement skills of a past generation of recruiters. This is what I call the “theatre of the recruitment business”—the ability to engage a top passive prospect, using a suitable pretext and delivering a compelling message. In doing so, an investigative recruiter is an extension of their client in the marketplace. It is this core competency of direct competitor investigative extraction that distinguishes recruiters who just make a living from those who make a lot of money. You see, it is highly unlikely that internal recruitment teams will directly engage direct competitor stars. Of course, corporate recruiters will post their positions and perhaps send out LinkedIn Invites, but in practice they are not going to be disruptive and call a direct competitor employee. However, we can. This is how we got the name headhunters years ago, by being proactive and disruptive and picking up the phone.
In conclusion, as you consider your next AI spend, remember the storied role the telephone has played in the recruitment industry. It is my humble opinion that AI and social media are great research tools. But the proper use of the telephone in investigative recruitment is what differentiates the inside corporate recruiter from the outside agency recruitment professional. GET BACK ON THE PHONE!