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From the Frontline: don’t blame the headhunter
22 May 2009
In the second article of her regular series, “From the Frontline”, our new columnist discusses the plight of recruiters.
A former banker, who now works as a headhunter, the author has more than 10 years’ experience at leading firms in Asia.
When trouble comes, close ranks. And if you are closed out, get angry. This seems to be the reality of the headhunting business of late.
As recruiters grapple with trickling mandates (which often come with rigid, non-experimental guidelines), a significant number of unemployed candidates are blaming their headhunters for being ineffective, selfish and having their own agendas.
However, there is an important party in the recruitment game who is often overlooked in the midst of this candidate-headhunter angst: the bank or the hiring organisation itself.
While searching for a head-of-private-banking in Singapore, the global GM of a Middle Eastern private bank told me: “In this market I can afford to be snooty. I can pick and choose.”
Sometimes even when banks have chosen their candidate, offer letters get delayed simply because the hiring approval itself has become a lot more stringent. Country-level hires are often being sent all the way up to the board to get sign-offs, the regional HQ not being enough anymore.
Additionally, HR teams within banks are under pressure to use direct sourcing, and employee referrals are seriously encouraged for junior to mid-level hires. Another fall-out from the financial crisis is that people who would have easily been hired a year ago, aren’t even making the final shortlist these days.
Facing this new world of fewer mandates are higher client expectations, playing it by the book is the only way for headhunters to achieve results.
I recently met a candidate who had been retrenched from an asset management firm. He had written independently to all his target firms and had spoken to at least a dozen headhunters. After five months he’s still unemployed.
Unsolicited CVs rarely get you a job and they can effectively nullify any subsequent applications that your headhunter makes to the same company. HR will be quick to point out to the headhunter that you are already in the system - whether they are considering you for the role or not. The reminder of your previous independent application might not exactly open up new options for you.
So how should a person looking for employment today approach a stressed-out headhunter? While there is no magic number of recruiters that you should talk to, you should definitely apply to at least one high-level firm which specialises in your area of expertise. It would also be wise to approach a few smaller and more generalist recruitment companies because they often have leads through personal contacts within the banks.
The thing to remember in dealing with any headhunter is that whoever you are talking to has definitely some claim to fame within her/his firm’s context. Many recruitment firms have been quick to let their people go in response to declining fee revenue, so whoever is still left is probably pretty capable.
And she/he will definitely go all out to close whatever deal is in the pipeline. What makes or breaks that deal for candidates is whether they are the answer to the hiring manager's dream, or not. That’s something that even the best headhunters can’t control.
I have 25 years experience in Private Banking and am still going strong. In my 25 years, I have worked for four of the top 20 Global Banks from a rookie to Head Of PB to Senior Director. .
On Search Consultants covering Private Banking, I have yet to meet One, just One Firm or consultant whom I am impressed by. It seem to me that anyone, with a Telephone List of Major Bank or Private Bankers and a mobile phone, can be called a Head Hunter.
For a start, almost all "search executives" have no knowledge of the candidates whom they are calling and they hope to "fill in the blanks" in this first phone call like the markets coverage; number of years of experience; pay etc. And usually they get lucky as the candidatesare just too happy to anwer such calls which is seen as the passport to a fatter pay check.
There are instances where candidates are put in front of the prospective Employer without even been vetted.
Whats wrong with our Search Consultancies? Do they have Industry Certification or Accredictation? Is there a "specific qualification" equivalent to eg CFA ; Investment Advisor? It about time, such Headhunters be regulated as with all Finance Professions.
Smart 23 May 2009
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