OPINION: Finding Good Help
Joe Radice
MAY 15, 2005 --
Why
do foodservice companies frequently write recruiting
policies that discourage the use of "headhunters"?
This is a paradoxical practice because companies that
self-recruit limit their ability to find the best talent
for their organizations. And what could be more
important to the lifeblood of a company than to secure
the most impactful talent available to fill key
management positions? Wouldn't you want to hire the best
for your company?
A jungle out there: An outside recruiter will probably
screen 100 or more targeted people before selecting a
single candidate for submission to a client while you,
as the self-recruiting hiring manager, must sort through
a pile of wildly non-targeted resumes accumulated
through advertising or the Internet. If the candidates
whose resumes you receive via these sources are so
productive and appropriate for your positions, why are
they spending time looking for jobs by scanning ads or
surfing the net? And where is that inaccessible,
unavailable candidate? He or she is too busy working for
your competitor.
When the decision is made to look outside of the company
for experienced talent, sourcing options typically used
are referrals, advertising and use of an independent
recruiter. Referrals can work well, but are unreliable
and limited. Plus referrals cannot always be timed to
meet urgent hiring needs. Advertising, whether in
periodicals or the Internet, will generate a large
volume of resumes from which to choose.
But is the quality of these candidates such that
companies can seriously improve their lot or just
maintain mediocrity? And is this sampling of the
marketplace the best there is? The majority of resumes
generated through advertising tend either to have
inappropriate backgrounds or insufficient experience.
The professional recruiter who is a specialist in the
[non-commercial] foodservice industry, by comparison,
will know who is best for a specific position and will
have pre-qualified a candidate prior to submission to
the client. The best quality candidates will not be
found on the Internet or through advertising. A good
recruiting specialist keeps well informed of his
industry segment—understanding its economics, knowing
who the strongest and weakest companies are, recognizing
the growth companies, and staying well informed about
the latest trends.
It is the recruiter's job to know the players, those in
an industry who produce, those who make a difference to
their employer. And the recruiting specialist will know
how to find that inaccessible candidate—the very
definition of "executive search."
Arts and science: Recruiting for talent from outside the
company is both an art and a science. An experienced
hospitality recruiting professional who understands the
direction of your company, how your company fits into
its segment, where to find the necessary talent to suit
your current and future needs, and how that talent
relates to your company's culture, can help you navigate
through critical hiring decisions.
When this happens successfully and the company adds
valuable employees, the outside recruiter not only
becomes an important resource but an essential strategic
partner.
By Joe Radice, president of Hospitality International,
New York. The views expressed are his own.
http://www.fsdmag.com/foodservicedirector/magazine/index.jsp
