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Being an executive recruiter is not something that I chose; it chose me. When I got into recruiting, I was looking for a career where I could help people and be involved in business. That’s when I met with a recruiting firm to explore options. The only thing is, they only talked to me about being a recruiter. And I was appalled because, in my opinion, the recruiting industry was messed up, and there was no hope to fix it. Walking out of the office after that interview, I saw a sign on the wall, “We change lives every day.” That got me thinking about the recruiting industry’s impact on people and businesses. “Maybe they do help people, and certainly they’re involved in many different businesses,” I thought. So, I went for it and signed up. That started the journey, and I’ve never looked back. Over the following six years, I worked in three different recruiting firms, working with almost every type of company and doing nearly every kind of recruiting. Then, I launched Potere Search with all of the knowledge I learned. Here’s what I’ve learned by working in the different types of recruiting.
Retained Search
The first recruiting firm I worked with was one of the big firms. I did niche leadership searches for the largest companies on the West Coast. It was a lot of fun for me to visit Facebook, Microsoft, Oracle, Intel, Uber, Disney, Apple, and all of the other “sexy” companies. I learned that those companies had incredibly defined procedures and that our recruiting firm had none. The work was often sold by a senior recruiter with a ton of experience, and the work was done by junior recruiters with little to no experience. There was also no real process for ensuring we were delivering the best candidates, and it often felt like we were winging it. We were pretty good at winging it, but on many occasions, we didn’t find the best candidates, or the role didn’t get filled. It felt awful to take a retainer from a company, often $25,000 or $50,000, and then not deliver any real value.
It felt like the focus was on the sales process, getting companies to pay the retainer, and then completing the project as fast as possible. There wasn’t a focus on quality. I remember being taught different sales techniques to “sell” the candidates. I wasn’t taught how to find the best person or how to know who the best person is.
Contingency Search
The second recruiting firm I worked with was one of the fastest-growing recruiting firms in the country. I did accounting and finance recruiting in Phoenix for everyone. Whether it was a CFO or a Payroll Administrator, we did it. It was a lot of fun to be growing like we were, but it really felt like a sales game. It was taught that you should have 3 resumes for each main position (Senior Accountant, Senior Financial Analyst, Controller, etc.). You were to take those resumes and send them all over town until someone hired them. Then you charge a fee.
It seemed crazy to me. We were supposed to deliver a service to companies; they paid our fees. We were supposed to have their best interest in mind. But really, what we were doing was selling inventory. If that inventory worked for your company, great, and if it didn’t, then you’re out of luck.
New Era Recruiting
At Potere Search, I developed the New Era Recruiting model. I thought it would be a way to find the best person for every position, a way to partner with companies over the long term and be held accountable for results, a way to combine the best parts of retained and contingency search while leaving out the bad parts, and a way to have a real process for identifying the best candidates for each position. Our clients pay a fee only when they’ve hired the best person. Our clients can rely on us for any critical position in their company. Most importantly, they know we’re not trying to sell them anything – we help them find the best person every time.
As I reflect on my experiences with the different types of recruiting firms, part of me thinks each model has its place. Also, perhaps retained search and contingency firms might be easier to operate. But I didn’t get into this work because it’s easy. I got into this work to help people and businesses. Our firm and I will operate the New Era Recruiting model.