Landing Talent in a Candidate’s Market

1. Don’t be too specific – look for “general athletes”

When designing a new position, stakeholders often start with a laundry list of ideal qualifications. But perfect candidates are hard to come by, and likely have options. So, ask yourself: do you really need all these things, or are many of them really “nice to haves?”

Consider instead, a “general athlete.” College football recruiters often separate prospects into two buckets: “position athletes” and “general athletes.” A position athlete is a natural fit for a specific role, whereas a general athlete is a talent who could potentially fit into a number of roles. In business, general athletes are candidates are those who aren’t specifically tied to a function or industry, but have the ability to work across functions and within a number of industries.

Management consultants are a great pool of general athletes: for example, a McKinsey, Bain or BCG (MBB) consultant at the post-MBA level has likely (a) worked on a variety of projects and (b) proven themselves capable of ramping up on complex topics with little time or prior expertise. While that experience may not be as deep as it is for a functional or industry specialist, it is invariably more broad. And that comes with its own advantages – after all, who wants to just do things like everyone else in the field?

2. Consider intangible benefits

In the pre-COVID days, the thinking went: find the right candidate, sell them on the role and then negotiate the right price. Candidates in today’s job market, however, increasingly value intangible benefits, like flexible hours, full or partial remote work, unlimited PTO (provided the candidate is hitting their KPIs) or subsidized education. Not everyone can offer these things (or wants to), but remember that you are competing against companies that do. Consider where you can be flexible and pivot in that direction.

3. Get professional help

No one wants to pay for services they don’t need, but let’s face it: screening resumes and interviewing candidates is both time consuming and expensive. Plus, most inbound candidates are not terribly relevant. A good recruiting or search firm, by contrast, doesn’t just screen candidates – they bring them to you. This not only results in a higher-quality candidate pool, but also saves hiring managers and stakeholders countless hours of time that can be used more productively.

My firm, ECA Partners, uses evidence-based methods to identify, screen and evaluate large numbers of candidates for a variety of executive positions. Other firms leverage curated personal networks to do the same. ECA Partners is a generalist firm, meaning we work across industries and functions; other firms may have a much more narrow focus. Whichever approach works best for your company, a good search firm does most of the heavy lifting and helps you close the deal. In an increasingly tight job market, where candidates know they have options (and leverage), professionals can be the difference between a successful search and one that just drags on and on.

Gustav Brown, PhD is an Engagement Manager at ECA. He can be reached at [email protected].