Stephanie breaks down the 3 different quality levels of searches, and the components that make up what defines each of those levels, as well as which criteria are "must-haves" and which are "wish I hads".

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Hi, and welcome to the Talent Trade Podcast.

Today is almost a part two of a previous podcast in which we talked about qualifying and taking different types of search assignments and all the different search assignments that you need to really run an effective and sustainable desk today.

What I wanted to do is take just a few minutes and dive into the details of how do we hear at Thinking Ahead?

Define the quality of the different searches that we take.

Again, let me repeat.

We will take.

All three of these types of searches, which just for references, I'm gonna call them search A, B, and C, or type A, type B, type C. Again, we will take them all.

We here thinking ahead, believe you've gotta have all three of these to run a successful, sustainable desk.

Now what we encourage you to do is just to bring a very high level of awareness.

To what searches are on your desk right now and what category A, B, or C do they fall into?

And again, making sure, hey, now that you have that awareness, does that line up with how you are hoping to build your desk?

Now, these are some gross generalities, and let me assure you that as someone who's been around for a pretty decent amount of time, I was here back in the financial crisis of oh eight and oh nine, which quite frankly, I would've taken.

Any search in any category at any time.

I had a family of four to feed, and anyone that was willing to pay me for talent back in those days, I was willing to help out.

So with that being said, let's dive in.

So the three different categories of searches are the A, B, and C. As you would suspect, the A is the most desirable type of search.

Now, different firms might define this differently, so let me just say this is how we hear it.

Thinking ahead, define it.

So for us, an A quality search has two main components.

They actually have a couple of different components, but two main components.

The first component is urgency, meaning the client can express directly and clearly why this position absolutely has got to be filled in a very reasonable amount of time.

And around urgency.

When I started taking search assignments, I would ask that question, Hey, when?

When would it be ideal for you to have this filled?

I would always hear the same things, well, as soon as possible yesterday.

Well, we'd love to have it filled by the end of the week, and I hated those placating answers.

They weren't trying to be placating what they were.

So I would say things like, Hey, without saying tomorrow, yesterday, or as soon as possible.

Help me understand the timing or the urgency behind needing to fill this role, and then I would shut up.

And I would just let them talk and they would talk through exactly why they needed them when, and they would really bring a lot of powerful information as to why there was or wasn't urgency.

Sometimes they would say, Hey, we'd love to have this position filled right away.

But in all fairness.

We know it's gonna take at least 30 days for you to find us people, another 30 days of interviewing, and they have to resign, come on board.

So quite frankly, if we could bring somebody on board in the next 90 days, that would be ideal.

Hey man.

Thank you.

That is so realistic.

Lemme just ask a follow up question.

What happens if we're 90 days from now and this role isn't filled?

And then again, be quiet and listen.

Sometimes they'll say, oh my God, if this thing isn't filled in 90 days, and they'll give you some very real consequences that they will be facing or their team will be facing, and that's how you discern urgency, not be, Hey man, we need 'em as soon as possible.

Or, man, we would've liked to have hired this yesterday.

That's where you de determine and discern urgency.

That's the first qualification to be an A search.

The second one is exclusivity.

Now let me help folks understand exclusivity.

Exclusivity is not for me, it's for my client.

When they are partnered with a search firm on an urgent need, what they are guaranteeing is a clear, consistent, timely message into the market regarding this urgent need that benefits them.

Oftentimes people say, well, yeah, as a recruiter you don't wanna be competing with anybody, and I appreciate that language, and I'm not trying to be arrogant, but I rarely compete with other recruiters for positions that I'm working.

What ultimately ends up happening is other recruiters will hear about it, they're guess at what's going on, and an organization has said, Hey, yeah, you can work it too.

We don't care.

What I end up doing is spending my time talking to folks that maybe another recruiter has already talked to and trying to clarify the message, clarify the role, help them understand they got bad intel on the first call.

And instead of recruiting and trying to bring them to the table as a qualified candidate, I'm actually spending my time redoing or fixing what another recruiter has done.

So that's why it's in my client's best interest to do exclusivity.

And let me also say this, and I do mean this lovingly, but if I'm spending all my time having to redo or fix the work, somebody else, that takes away my enthusiasm and my ability to do, which is urgent work.

And that is to go after the best candidates as quickly as possible, and inevitably confusion.

Always confuses people and they don't like it and they will back out of an opportunity that they may have been the perfect fit for because they got confused on what the organization was really looking for.

So those are my two necessities.

To be an A search, it's gotta be exclusive and it's gotta be urgent of the two.

It has to have urgency, but again, for an a, I want exclusivity as well.

Some other nice to haves.

This one always shocks folks.

I would also like to have an engagement.

Now, engagements are a touchy subject.

Some people are like, oh, it's not an A search unless it's engaged.

I gotta be honest, I, I feel a ton of contingent searches that if they have the right urgency and exclusivity, thus making them an a search, I absolutely, it's just like working in engagement.

'cause I know I'm gonna fill it.

I have also filled wrap or wasted my time and not filled wrap engagement searches where the client was more than happy to write the check, but at the end of the day, they didn't have urgency or believe it or not, they even didn't have exclusivity.

And I spun my wheels and at the end of the day, the search didn't get filled.

So those are my two must haves.

The additional would like to have, yes, I like engagements.

They do communicate a level of commitment from the client.

A level, not the end all be all.

Also too, if it's a senior level search, the more senior level candidates ask, Hey, have you been engaged on this search?

It's a way for them to know the sincerity of the client to hire.

It has nothing to do with me.

Senior level folks aren't gonna waste their time with a hope and a prayer from a client.

If you're sincere about filling this role, you're gonna give some money to a recruiter to make sure they're dedicated on filling the role.

So that's the third thing I like to have is an engage.

I also like it when it's in my wheelhouse, meaning it's my bread and butter of searches.

I, as soon as they tell me what they're looking for and all those details, I'm automatically thinking of the first 10, 15 people that I'm gonna call because it's in my wheelhouse.

I understand what they're looking for.

I know who has the skills.

I know who would be interested.

I know who fits the comp.

I know who the timing is right for, because I work a very narrow, tight, small niche.

So I like if it's down the fairway in terms of the business that I run and the folks that I recruit.

The third thing that I like in an ACE search is direct access to the hiring manager.

Absolutely always day in and day out.

I will partner with HR and internal talent acquisition folks.

Man, can they be helpful?

Truly, they help close deals.

If they're the only person I have access to, it's not an A search.

At the end of the day, the person who this person is gonna report to, I have got to have them as a part of the recruiting process directly in order to find them the best available talent.

So those are my five criteria.

The two that are absolutely necessary are urgency, exclusivity, and then the next three would like to have that for us here at Thinking Ahead.

Is an A search now a B search.

Super simple.

Not gonna be surprising.

A B search is now they don't have urgency or I don't have exclusivity.

It might still be engaged.

I might still have access to the hiring manager.

You know, it might be in my wheelhouse, but it is missing urgency and exclusivity.

Then we get to the C. The C category is, there is no urgency.

There is definitely no exclusivity, or at least they're telling me there's exclusivity, but I already know three other recruiters are working on it, and there's something else of the other three missing.

I may not have access to the hiring manager.

They may not be in my fairway.

You know, any, any of those other things are missing.

This is what I call the vendor category.

This is where, again, I have a fee agreement.

They're willing to accept candidates and pay fees, but they're not committed to me and I'm not committed to them.

It's also what I call the resume broker, where hey, they may call me and go, look, you know, we've got this opening.

Let, let me just see what you can do.

Let me just see.

And honestly, based on what, how the rest of my desk looks, it might be a search again, oh 8, 0 9, I took these all day, every day because I had nothing else to do.

It was dead.

People were laying off.

They weren't hiring.

So if someone actually took my call and said, yeah, you find us the right talent, we'll, we'll pay you.

I was thrilled and I would work it like a dog.

Today it's a little bit different.

I have to be super smart with how I spend my time, but I will still keep those folks in mind.

And the thing I always tell 'em is, look, I make 50 to 60 calls in this space most weeks, five days a week.

So yeah, I can't say you're gonna get a dedicated effort, but I will absolutely keep my eyes and ears peeled.

If someone comes across my desk that I think could be a good fit for you, I'll absolutely let you know.

No expectation on my part.

If they fill it without me, I'm not bummed and like, Hey man, I was working that I don't have an expectation for them.

It is truly if the stars align, we get it filled.

And again, let me also say we do fill these all the time.

It's just not how I want the majority of my desk to be made up.

So again, A, B, and C. Easy is 1, 2, 3, end quote, the Jackson five.

It's simple.

You start with the best of the best circumstances to which you can be successful.

And again, your success is defined as success for our clients.

There is no way we can be successful without our clients being successful.

First.

Those are our A searches, B searches, missing a few criteria, C searches, missing lots of criteria.

An exercise I encourage you to do.

Is as soon as you get done listening to this, take a look at your desk.

Be as discerning as you can.

If you can't be discerning, bring in a colleague and say, Hey, let me describe the searches that I'm working on.

Ask me questions and help me understand how you would qualify them.

Are these A, B, or Cs?

Then go to planning your day, planning your week, and make sure how you spend your time is reflective of the quality of the searches.

That you're working on.