Changing times call for a change tactics, and increasingly recruiters find themselves having to adapt to market conditions in 2009. I was particularly interested in a recent interview in BusinessWeek with L. Kevin Kelley, CEO of recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles. According to Kelley, his firm is moving away from executive search in favor of other consulting services:
“Over the next five years, Heidrick & Struggles will change its strategy dramatically. While executive search is currently more than 95% of Heidrick's business, search will shrink to 50%. Leadership advisory services will expand to roughly 40%, and developing new technology tools for consultants and clients will become the remaining 10%. With a debt-free balance sheet and $183 million in cash as of the last quarter, Kelly is looking to acquire companies with expertise in topics ranging from executive retention to succession. He is also providing additional training for his consultants cross-selling their new services and investing in closed technology networks for top executives.”
Other insights that Kelley shared in the interview was that he woke up and realized that the recruiter’s 55-year-old business model would be hard-pressed to compete with emerging Internet resources, like LinkedIn, especially at the lower hiring echelon. Kelley realized that the services his company had to offer were no longer in line with the clients’ needs. In order to survive, Heidrick & Struggles would have to reinvent itself.
This means that as a job-seeker, you need to rethink how you work with recruiters. As with any career advancement opportunity, you need to align what you have to offer, your value, with the needs of a potential employer or client, in this case the recruiter. Successful career management centers around effective problem-solving, so as you are working with recruiters, understand what problem they are trying to solve.
If they are conducting an executive search, then chances are they are looking for an exact fit to a set of criteria that they don’t control. If your credentials fit their criteria, all well and good, but don’t expect them to shoehorn you into a position that is not a perfect fit. They don’t benefit from such a mismatch, and neither does the hiring company. Instead, work with the recruiter to understand his or her challenges and offer assistance; provide contacts from your network or assistance in meeting their client’s needs. Who knows, you may be able to parlay the relationship into contract work, if not a job.
Expect to see the recruiter’s role continue to evolve in the workplace. Many of the savvy recruiters have already started to serve as an executive temp placement service, offering expertise for rent if not for hire. You need to be prepared to adapt to such trends and understand how to enlist recruiters as your allies.
