How And Why You Should Partner A Headhunter For Success
Whether it’s the anonymous calls, the perceived superficial interest in your business or the commission-based placements model, Headhunters have a notorious image for being manipulative sales-people who treat clients and candidates as nothing more than prospects to fill their pockets. What may come as a surprise to you, however, is that a Headhunter’s job is far from over simply when a candidate is placed. Headhunting in Singapore is a significant part of the recruitment landscape and play a crucial role in bridging the gap between companies and candidates. Citadel Search, a headhunter in Singapore, is an prime example of an Executive Search and Recruitment firm that will partner a company and candidate throughout the entire recruiting, interviewing, hiring AND on-boarding process to ensure a successful hire is made. In this article, we take you through on how and why your business can partner and benefit from quality Headhunters in Singapore.
Why Partner Headhunters in Singapore?
#1 Transparency
When dealing with a Headhunting firm, it’s crucial to let it all out. Be forthcoming in the requirements for the job and deliverables that are expected from candidates so that only qualified ones meeting all the requirements will be sent. Build an interactive relationship with your Headhunter, don’t just hire them to work for you, work with them. Quality candidates come from an intimate relationship of sharing top information throughout the whole hiring process not just at the point of engagement.
Moreover, a strong grasp on the company culture, the job role/specification and current hiring practices will not only aid in your Headhunting firm ’s search for the right candidate; it will also enable you to refine the job role thoroughly, in addition to identifying further characteristics an employee can accomplish over their tenure, leading to an increase in productivity.
Partnering an independent Headhunting firm will force you to know what you are looking for, offering you better visibility. A Headhunter knows what is out there and can coach you on the realism of your position description, the availability of talent relative to that position and the cost of procuring that talent.
Think external Headhunters are expensive, time consuming and unnecessary? Think your internal HR can do the recruitment by themselves?
On the contrary, partnering with a Headhunting firm, if used beneficially, actually reduces costs and saves time! Time which can be better allocated to performing other functions, which will then improve productivity and enhance efficiency in the fast paced work environment.
Why? Because Headhunting firms keep your Hiring Managers focused on what they know best, determining new roles that can add value to the company.
A Headhunting firm speeds up the job fill. The real opportunity costs of an open position can be enormous. Studies say that an employee generates revenue of up to 5 times their annual salary in a profitable firm. Anecdotally, our clients share with us that it is sometimes even up to 7 times the annual salary of an average employee. The opportunity cost of productivity loss, projects being delayed and poor morale from everyone shouldering additional work is actually extremely painful.
Citadel Search extends a 3-Month guarantee, where we assess the suitability of the candidate with our clients. During this term, we coach our clients on getting the best out of the candidate, in addition to assisting the candidate settle into the company, persevere and get to grips with the job role, as it can be overwhelming. We make this effort because we care, we want to be recognised as the leading headhunting firm in Singapore, and that is only possible when we can ensure our candidates are the perfect fit for our clients.
#2 Leverage Networks and Expertise of Headhunters in Singapore
Headhunters and Headhunting firms possess tremendous amounts of insights and expertise in the job market. That is what we do!
Headhunters have very established networks, networks in almost every industry you can imagine, networks in a host of companies, small and big, networks that are always utilised in finding the best candidate for your job role.
As a result of these networks, Headhunters know where to look for talent. More importantly, though, Headhunters know how to attract talent. Headhunters are trained experts in understanding the motivation to move. As we spend time and effort in understanding candidates’ wants and motivations, we do it better than anyone else at identifying the wheat from the chaff.
Additionally, Headhunting firms develop search techniques and processes over time that your in-house HR/TA simply cannot.
At Citadel Search, we’ve developed our own Headhunting 7-Step Methodology, which places a considerable amount of emphasis on ascertaining the DNA of the mandate, employing competency-based interview techniques and market mapping that has seen us place over 1000 candidates across more than 380 employers in Singapore and the region.
This is decisive. There is likely only one best candidate for your open job, and the best processes will seek out that best-fit candidate. Meaning, Headhunters are less apt to lose the best-fit candidate. Would you want that candidate handled by an inexperienced internal (hiring) manager, or by someone that does this 20 times before breakfast?
#3 Seek Passive Candidates
An in-house HR/TA will mainly obtain active job seekers. While active job seekers aren’t necessarily bad, chances are that passive candidates aren’t going to apply to online job postings. What are passive candidates you ask?
While active job seekers can be defined as candidates that are unemployed, dissatisfied with their current jobs or are seeking a change in direction in their careers, passive candidates on the other hand are employees doing exceedingly well in their current roles and firms, hence, do not seek a change.
However, they would be curious to seeking a new opportunity… IF that opportunity was presented to them enticingly. The art of finding these passive candidates (especially from your competitors) and presenting such opportunities is best left to the professionals: Headhunters!
Partnering with Headhunters in Singapore
At Citadel Search, we were tasked to find a Global Manufacturing Director for our client Kodak. We headhunted a candidate from a large Technology MNC and successfully placed him. We had been keeping in touch and constantly mapped his career milestones. As he was celebrating his birthday last weekend, we caught up with him and found out that he has progressed so well and is celebrating his 9th year with our client! We were both exclaiming how time fleets by when one is happy and doing well.
So, despite what Google Search would have you believe, Headhunters and your company do not have anisotropic goals; rather, our goals are aligned in the same direction – getting the best candidates for your organisation. Here is why we stand out from the sea of headhunters. Learn What’s In It For You (WIIFY).
Focus on constructing an interactive and collaborative relationship with your Headhunting firm, work with them, not hire them to work for you.
Sharpen your employment brand and leverage our expertise to strategise your recruitment… We exist for you.
If you are interested in engaging us as your recruitment partner, do check out our Executive Search Service for more information or contact us to have a chat.