What are you searching for?
Strategic Talent Acquisition Versus Recruiting: What's The Difference?
When it comes to that talent position you're trying to fill, HR talent person, or that position you're trying to occupy, job seeker, chances are very good that this one won't be your last. You can bank on the fact that your organization will continue to have ongoing talent needs, if you're an HR talent person and, if you're currently in the process of seeking a new position, you can expect to change jobs at least two or three more times during your career, according to statistics.

Talent Recruitment
This highlights the difference between recruiting and HR talent acquisition; namely, the former is tactical and the latter is strategic. With recruiting, all energy and focus are dedicated to the short-term proposition of filling a position. There's usually business pain attached to this need to fill a position and your success or failure as an HR person to fill it could have significant consequences to your organization's bottom line. As a job seeker, you may be focused on the short-term goal of making more money, finding a new challenge, growing your skill set or whatever other reason may have prompted you to seek a particular position. The need is legitimate in both cases, but purely tactical. This sums up the recruiting game.

Relationship-Building
HR talent acquisition has more value and achieves strategic importance by focusing on the value of relationship-building and long-term results. For job seekers, this means an emphasis on establishing a few go-to organizations for all present and future career-placement counseling needs. For talent acquisition people, this equates to partnering with a trusted career search organization to fill open positions-a source you can go to again and again to address all your talent needs. It means using the talent gleaned from recently conducted recruiting campaign to fill open positions you may have in the future, and making that part of the plan/process.

Remember, since career search professionals earn their living exclusively from the companies that hire them, they're usually unable to offer direct assistance to job seekers unless there's an active search underway fitting the job seeker's background and experience. However, strategic search firms offer career counseling and constructive feedback to job seekers at any time, including career advice, recent hiring trends and resume reviews, because strategic talent acquisition involves recruiting for positions that may not exist today or which may become available in the future.

Addressing Present And Future Needs
We follow this strategic process at Victoria James Executive Search. We've built strong relationships with our HR talent team clients and they, in turn, have opened their kimonos to us, as the saying goes, and treat us trusted partners in the talent acquisition process. We look at each candidate we engage through this lens, looking to open positions that may need to be filled in the future in addition to those we're busy addressing at the present moment.

We bring a depth of perspective and competence to the hiring process. Our ability to find the right talent for present and future openings is informed by more than two decades of working with a diversity of hiring managers from across every industry. So much of what distinguishes us from other executive search organizations-our ability to contribute beyond the immediate stated need-can be traced to the relationships and incremental value we've built with clients over many years, and there simply isn't any substitute for this kind of "sweat equity." Our CRM is a treasure-trove of talent we've been building for more than 15 years.

The number of organizations who differentiate executive search partners from recruiters in this way is unfortunately few. Too may remain stuck in old frames of reference, believing that we try to exert our influence artificially in order to increase position salaries so that our fee can be higher, etc. This kind of misunderstanding is easily thwarted and will be addressed in future blog posts.

What Are You Searching For?
If you've worked with Victoria James Executive Search before, you already know how to avoid these gaffes. You know you'll be equipped with a strategic understanding of the business needs of the organization and hiring manager with whom you'll interview. From this position of strength, you'll have your best chance of achieving a favorable outcome.

Give us a call today at 203.750.8838 if you'd like to chat.

All Victoria James Executive Search recruiters have a proven track record of senior-level placements at Fortune 500 firms as well as start-ups. We look forward to hearing from you.
 
 

Victoria James
President
Victoria James Executive Search, Inc.
Email: vjames@victoriajames.com
Call: 203-750-8838

What topics interest you? What subjects would you like us to explore? Contact us and we'll do our best to make sure the topics that interest you most are examined in depth at www.victoriajames.com. Your opinion matters - contact me today!
 
   
Smile! We leave with the following superb job-interviewing tip guaranteed to land your next job with style from the folks over at The Poke in the UK (try these at your own risk ):
 
Always make eye contact: If you have two interviewers, train your eyes to work independently, like a chameleon.