Stephen Morse
of Providence.
If a business’s idea of effective recruiting is solely dependent upon the Sunday help wanted section, then finding the perfect employee could be nearly impossible.
According to some local recruiters in today’s low unemployment, high-paced market the key to getting qualified workers is not just about finding the right people, but also entails finding the right circumstances — something that can’t be advertised for.
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“Finding the right candidate isn’t difficult,” said Stephen Morse, senior vice president and general manager of Management Recruiters in Providence. “But finding the right circumstances can be. We have to find a candidate whose circumstances are right. For instance, they have family in the area or their children want to go to school in the Northeast, things like that. What we are looking for is a winning arrangement.”
And while there are thousands of places to post resumes and job openings on the Internet, Morse said many companies looking for employees, and workers looking for jobs are not equipped to sift through all of the information.
“There are something like 4,800 places where jobs and resumes can be posted on the Internet,” he said. “If you are a candidate where do you start your search? And if you are a company, resumes aren’t easy to get focused on. In the end it just becomes overwhelming.”
Kathy Hopkinson, vice president of recruiting for the Greysmith Companies in Providence, said the Internet is only one tool in the recruiting process.
“It helps us to be proactive,” she said. “We use the Internet to identify companies where growth is happening and also individuals where career moves may add value to their background. It complements the recruitment process by providing more research tools at our fingertips”
Both Hopkinson and Morse agree the key to successful recruiting is a well-established network.
“A lot of what we do is based upon relationships we’ve had,” Morse said. “This business is definitely about networking. Most people specialize in an industry so they almost become a piece of that industry, networking with people that can connect them to other people – good people networking with good people.”
Hopkinson agreed. “You recruit through networks, through your reputation, through referrals, and through professional organizations. What I do is based on my reputation, my credibility, and my background.”
For Hopkinson, whose company specializes in direct hires and temporary staffing for the finance, accounting and human resource professionals, the network is also about knowing clients, their companies and whom they want to hire.
“You need to be a part of the mind set of the business,” she said, “touch and feel where they are going, understand and know their culture. It’s not just about goods and services.”
Though just identifying potential employees used to be the most important part of recruiting, today Morse said it’s delivering a new employee.
“It has become pretty easy to identify candidates,” he said. “But delivery is the most important thing. In some cases if we don’t deliver, we don’t get paid.”
Once a potential employee is identified, Morse said they are rated on a scale from one to ten in terms of their compatibility with a potential employer.
“Our clients tend to be very selective,” he said. “For that reason they might not even take an interview with someone that is a seven on a scale of ten.”
The average placement at Morse’s firm is about six weeks.
“We say the average cycle, from writing a job to completion is six weeks,” he said. “Things happen so fast in today’s market. We used to have to arrange 13 interviews to create one match. Last year, it took only five interviews, and in some of our locations only three. By the time a client and a candidate sit down together to meet now, it’s been pretty much decided.”
Still, both Morse and Hopkinson point out, recruiting today isn’t only about finding the right employee for the right company, but also finding the right company for the right employee.
“What we are looking for is a winning set of arrangements,” Morse said. “It’s all about specialization.”
