What is Search-Based Recruitment?
We choose to use a search-based approach when recruiting candidates for roles because it reaches talent that would otherwise be missed by using reactive recruitment methods.
Following on from a previous post where we explained what a recruitment consultancy actually does, here’s a bit more detail about search-based recruitment and why we’ve chosen to do it this way.
The recruitment industry as we know it today has benefitted from several technological advances that put us ahead of where the World’s First Recruitment Consultant was (newspaper classifieds, anyone?), but essentially the practice remains true to its origins, matching the right person with the right role. The way we play matchmaker at Alexander James is by using a search-based methodology.
We choose to use a search-based approach when recruiting candidates for roles because it reaches talent that would otherwise be missed by using reactive recruitment methods. General Manager, Toni Lea explains “at any one time, approximately 20% of talent is checking the typical job sites, i.e. Seek and TradeMe, so relying on posting a job ad and waiting for talent to come to you is counterproductive and results in only a 3% chance of successfully finding the right person for the role.”
We have spent the past decade developing and honing our search and head-hunting methodology and are true champions of this approach to recruitment, for these key reasons:
5 Ways Search-Based Recruitment Drives Success
- The Consultant becomes an extension of your company
When you give the green light, it’s our job to understand who your organisation is and what you do. We research your industry and strive for the bigger picture of how this role will affect you and your team.
It’s vital for us to know about your culture, your values, and your place in the world so that we can “sell” you as an employer in an authentic way. - Targeting passive talent
By relying on the right person for your role to stumble across your job advertisement at exactly the right time you need them to see it, you’re risking success on happenstance. Sure, it can happen that exactly the right person applies for your advertised role but it’s a rarity, especially in a talent-short market.
A thorough search of passive talent, i.e. not actively looking for a new job, means you can shoulder tap anyone who fits the criteria and potentially entice them into joining your team. - The screening process is done up front
When undertaking a search assignment, the talent is screened for suitability from the start so disappointment can be avoided later in the recruitment process.
By asking relevant questions and gauging experience in that very first reach out, you are doing most of the hard work prior to the interview stage so that final part of offer and on-boarding can be completed with relative ease. - Top shelf talent at all stages
After the search and screening process is complete, you’re left with an impressive longlist of candidates for you to choose from to interview. These are people who match what you need on paper and in real life, so you’re almost spoilt for choice.
With each person being of such a high calibre, you’re safe in the knowledge that no matter who you choose in the end, there’s probably no wrong answer. - There’s mana in being head-hunted
When someone’s telling their friends, family, and current colleagues, there’s a certain level of mana (respect) that goes with the story of being head-hunted.
When someone is head-hunted it means that they’re recognised as being damn good at their job and were actively sought after by their new employer – and nothing can take that feeling away from them.
Another reason we champion the search-based recruitment model is because it allows for us to partner with you – clients and candidates alike – so that we can help get you to that next level of success, no matter what that might look like. When it’s done right, search-based recruitment means that we all can enjoy a true win/win scenario right now, and into the future.
Ngā mihi nui
(published for an on behalf of Tessa Phillips | Search Lead, AJ Construct)
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