I wanted to run through a scenario that I came across recently to share some thoughts and observations:
I recently spoke to the CMO of a fairly well-known technology company (I suppose the term “well-known” is relative, but if you live and breathe the B2B tech space you’ve probably heard of them).
Throughout my conversation, I got the feeling the CMO wasn’t too excited to connect to begin with, and after we started talking it was apparent that his business was even more apprehensive to use an external search firm (me).
Here’s a little background:
They were looking for a Director/VP of Demand Generation. This specific position wasn’t not published yet. However, I knew the person who had recently left the role, which is how I got the introduction. Originally, the company believed that their brand recognition in the marketplace was strong enough to attract good candidates.
“We have good brand recognition in the industry, and I really don’t think it’s going to be necessary for us to engage your services to find good candidates,” they told me.
Now I’m quite confident that several people reading this will completely agree with what the CMO had just told me. It’s one of the most common objections I get from companies, and it seems very logical.
However, consider this: If you have an excellent brand that you know will attract the absolute best B2B marketers (or any position for that matter), why would you limit yourself to only considering the best candidates that apply to a job posting? This approach can be limiting and will most likely not reveal the absolute best talent available. There could be some amazing people just itching to work at your company, but they’ll never know about the opportunity because they’re not spending time on job boards. While posting to a job board is certainly worthwhile, you can cast a much wider hiring net with help from an experienced recruiter. Additionally, you can attract better talent.
If you know you have a great company or opportunity, shouldn’t it be even more of a reason to use a search firm to ensure you get the most talented person in the market…not just the most talented person that applies?
While it may seem minor, it could be the difference between getting “good” candidates, and “great” candidates. I talk to amazing marketers all the time that aren’t actively looking for something new, but that doesn’t mean they’re not actively listening or willing to look into new opportunities.
So that was my response to them. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears because they’re going to see what their job posting brings first and we’re going to connect in a couple of weeks.
The biggest concern with this scenario is if they don’t get anything on their own, and we connect in a couple of weeks; the pressure is on to deliver awesome candidates in only a week or two because with the company’s strong need to fill the position ASAP.
What are your thoughts? How does your company go about finding the best talent?
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