Learning Together
This past week, I had the opportunity to attend two one-day conferences - the International Association for Corporate and Professional Recruitment (see www.iacpr.org) Small Search Firm Forum as well as this same association's annual conference (title - Building Effective Leadership Teams. I came back with pages of notes - many things learned as well as more ideas and concepts to talk about with my work colleagues and clients. Before I get to some of the takeaways, I must say that it was incredibly energizing to be part of the Small Search Firm Forum - to sit in a room with 25 small search firm owners and learn together. This was not about competing (yet one of my best competitors from this market was sitting right next to me); it was about all of us learning together - and being better for our clients and candidates. The other people in the room were from across the country and globe.
Some key learnings:
- If you want to know what your clients want, ask them. We conducted a survey of corporate clients and asked what they valued from their retained search partner. Their list was important to hear. Some of the items they highly value are:
- Sourcing skills to identify passive candidates
- Industry knowledge (or the ability to understand/tap into it)
- Understanding of culture fit
- We have written about organizations that exist where you can arrange for someone to give you a fake reference OR verify a degree if you do not have one. We learned about sources for more deception. Just google Fake Your Resume - quite concerning.
- Recruiting different generations - one size does not fit all! We as firms need to better understand corporate culture and norms of behavior. Equally important. we need to discuss these generational-specific issues with our clients - and then with our candidates.
- We discussed relocation trends. Home buying is coming back! Midsize companies are increasing their relocation budgets as the war for talent heats up.
- Offer letters (and contracts, if used) need to state the principal office location. With more and more people commuting long distances to work or assuming more work-from-home time than the employer is planning, location expectations need to be better defined - to assure there is a mutual understanding of location/presence intent.
My favorite quote (from the main conference):
John Gerzema, one of the authors of the book The Athena Doctrine: How Woman (And The Men Who Think Like Them) Will Rule The Future , spoke to us about the study he (and others) conducted on the leadership attributes that are guiding companies to prosperity. He quoted many of the people he met with around the globe. One quote that was extremely powerful, for business and politics, was from Shimon Peres, President of Israel.
- We are in a new world with many old minds.