HEADLINES from Business Mentors, Inc.
What
is HEADLINES?
HEADLINE: CHOOSING
AN EXECUTIVE RECRUITER,
A.K.A. “THE HEADHUNTER”
Stephen had been an executive
working in a large corporate setting for his entire career. In fact, he was recruited on campus during
his senior year by the employer during an on-campus job fair. After several years in entry level positions,
he was comfortable that his entire career would probably be spent with his employer. Promotions came easily to him as he
consistently demonstrated outstanding performance in each of his job roles, and
he remained flexible to the possibility of relocation. The company called upon him to move over
five times to address problems in a business unit, to improve substandard performance
in an operational area, and even when the company felt that a new job role in a
BYE-BYE
As time passed, economic
forces came into play and Stephen’s industry segment went into a substantial
decline. Profits were no longer what
they once were, and buyers became more interested in off-shore offerings that
featured lower price tags and enhanced quality.
After two years of substandard financial performance, Stephen’s name
appeared on a list of executives whose positions were to be eliminated. He was confident, however, that with his
background and one year’s financial parachute to protect him that he would land
a challenging new position in no time. At
the end of nine months, Stephen had not received the first offer. He had gotten some nibbles from some direct
inquiries to companies, from recruitment firms that he had heard about, but
prospects looked quite gloomy for him. He
sought new avenues to energize his search, including the posting of his resume
on several online career sites.
THE HEADHUNTER COMES CALLING
Within a matter of days,
Stephen had received multiple emails including one from an executive
recruitment firm who complimented his executive background as the perfect match
for some of their openings. He was uplifted
by this message and contacted the firm immediately. He discovered was that the firm was willing
to work with him, promising to revamp his resume, write his cover letters, AND provide him access to their exclusive private database
of job postings nationwide for a one
time fee of $4500.00. After
spending two months on resume and cover letter activities, Stephen realized
that there was no exclusive database
of positions; he was put in front of a PC with access to the Internet and a
list of job sites. Stephen had been
taken. He called Business Mentors, Inc.
for our support in his search. Stephen is once again an executive in a
growing industry after learning to transfer his executive skills from a dying
industry into a completely new arena.
COUNSEL FROM
THE COACH
Remember that executive recruiters can be a valuable
resource for career transition activities.
Of our 3500 plus clients over
the past ten years, approximately 15% of our clients have transitioned using
executive recruiter firms. However, keep
in mind that there are only THREE types
of executive recruiters that should be targeted:
Retained recruiters – Those recruiters who have an exclusive with a company
to fill a particular job role. No other
recruiter is working on this search, and these individuals are always paid by
the company seeking to fill a position.
Contingency recruiters – Those recruiters who work directly with companies in
an attempt to fill a particular job role.
There may be several recruiters attempting to find the ideal candidate
for this one position, but the only recruiter who is paid is the one who
provides the candidate ultimately hired for the position.
Corporate recruiters – These recruiters are actually employees of the company
who is attempting to fill one of their internal open positions. This recruiter is normally a member of the
company’s Human Resources team, and he or she is a salaried employee.
NEVER should an individual involved in any type of
career transition hire the services of an executive recruiter who wants to
charge the candidate to work with his firm.
While many individuals, like
Stephen, may feel some desperation based on lukewarm results of a career search
after some months, the alternative that he sought was an unwise one. These organizations are out there, and they
prey on individuals in transition. Don’t make the mistake that Stephen did and
hand over such a sizeable sum to a firm who makes empty promises and fails to
deliver.
Invest in Yourself,
Al Stewart
President/Owner
Business
Mentors, Inc. is a career management organization that was founded in 1995 by
Al Stewart, a former corporate executive with background in the transportation
and communications industries with such industry leaders as Eastern Airlines,
AT&T, GTE and Sprint and an educational background in Adult Education. His firm, Business Mentors, Inc., offers a
broad range of services focused on successful management of professional careers
including: Career Exploration, Career
Transition, Career Outplacement, Becoming an
Entrepreneur, Executive Development and International Transition. With a powerful record of success using
counseling, consulting and motivation of over 3500 executives in the past ten
years, the firm founded the executive coaching movement and continues to enhance its reputation as one of the leading and
most highly regarded career management firms in the country. For more information about our services or
questions regarding how we can assist you, please consult our website: www.business-mentors.com Or,
you can choose to email us at alstewart@business-mentors.com
or call our offices (Atlanta, Fort
Lauderdale or Paris, France) at our global number: 404.644.8618.
Our associates are available in person at one of our three offices or
via teleconference worldwide.
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