The Shortage Of Trained Executive Search Professionals Will Erode Your Business Sales And Profits
By Chris Hillman, Searchpath Of Chicago, Inc.
WWW.SEARCHPATHOFCHICAGO.COM
During the last couple of months, I have received a number of requests from Headhunters seeking new opportunities. A few have actually expressed a desire to leave search entirely. They are considering moving to an internal recruiting role, maybe something different. This has caused a shortage of highly trained Search Professionals. The reasons for leaving vary, but it most of reasons can be traced back to the difficult year or years we have recently experienced. There is not much I can say about the last two years, it has been tough, but what I can say is that it is getting better and it will continue to do so. My counsel to most is to not give up, mainly because great years always follow bad ones, but more importantly, there are not many options for a true headhunter. Once a Headhunter, always a Headhunter.
– A great line from Henry Hill in the movie “Goodfellas”,
“For us to live any other way was nuts. Uh, to us, those goody-good people who worked crap jobs for bum paychecks and took the subway to work every day, and worried about their bills, were dead. I mean they were suckers.”
“For us to live any other way was nuts. Uh, to us, those goody-good people who worked crap jobs for bum paychecks and took the subway to work every day, and worried about their bills, were dead. I mean they were suckers.”
Think about how wonderful the life of a trained Headhunter can be. We help organizations identify great talent, we help people find new opportunities, and we are the leaders in the human capital markets. Technology has given headhunters a level of freedom and flexibly that is unheard of in most industries. Finally, due to the fact that most of us work for a percentage of salary, we do not have to deal with the “billable hour” problem many other professionals struggle with. Finally, if we do our jobs correctly, we continue to build relationships with people that can generate revenue for years.
Consider everything that is going on in the world, what other profession can offer all the benefits of search? No other career choice offers so many benefits and earning potential. Clearly, some of the target career tracks for high performing “future stars” like medicine, law, wall street, banking and real estate have lost some of the their appeal recently. I strongly believe that search will be one of the key target career tracks in the next decade. As people start to realize how critical human capital is to success. I endorse our industry to all from young college grads to senior executives seeking to leverage years of industry knowledge, but seeking a different track
So bottom line, think long and hard before you bail on search. Not many other career choices offer so much upside and lifestyle options. I recommend forgetting the last couple of years, put your head down and start working again. Adjust your industry focus, make some new contacts, and go back to the basics. I guarantee within 90 days you will once again remember why you love this business.
BOTTOM LINE FOR COMPANIES
Keep your Executive Search relationships tight and right. The Headhunters in the market today are the ones who know what they are doing and should be the ones your firm uses for years to come to impacting sales and profits of your business.
For a free worksheet detailing reasons to use a professional executive firm, please contact:
WWW.SEARCHPATHOFCHICAGO.COM
Chris Hillman, Talent Acquisition Professional, SearchPath of Chicago
(815) 261-4403 x 100
chillman@searchpath.com
