134 - The War For Executive Talent In A Coronavirus-Affected Job Market

Arete Podcast with Richard Triggs

This is one of a series of special episodes we’ve put together to assist executives while the coronavirus/Covid-19 situation is upon us. I asked Brett Jarman, executive producer at Experts On Air, the producers of our podcast, to jump on with me and drill down on the subject of executive recruitment. While many might think that the recruitment market has dried up at the moment (late March 2020 as we recorded the episode) we’re finding that the opposite is the case and that there’s actually a war for talent going on. We discuss the background to this and what we are doing to help organisations win that war. Most job companies are cutting back on frontline staff rather than executives The demand to recruit for senior roles is still continuing Companies and organisations still have mission-critical roles, even in times of crisis CEOs and HR heads are looking beyond the current logistical challenges and taking a longer-term view of the situation and what the needs of the company will be Times of uncertainty increase the need for strong leadership Most organisations don’t have the expertise to write job ads correctly Often organisations don’t have a contact for an applicant to find out more and this is a big mistake It’s more difficult to get someone to leave an incumbent role right now with so much uncertainty (e.g. what if the new company folds…) This is affecting the quality of talent applying for executive roles Companies thus have to do a better job at marketing the vacant roles How we support employees in attracting a much higher quality of talent but doing it in a very cost-effective way The Arete Shortlist Solution as a low-cost alternative to full recruitment or in-house recruitment Most job vacancy ads and job descriptions fail to spell out the key deliverables They also fail to answer many of the questions potential candidates might have This reduces the number of applicants for a role The Shortlist Solution is ideal for organisations wanted to scope the market if they are considering terminating an incumbent in a role Candidates are often reluctant to apply to companies directly due to confidentiality issues with their current employer (especially if they are a competitor) Organisations often fail to acknowledge or follow up with applicants This affects their brand as a potential ‘employer of choice’ The Shortlist Solution is only $5800 + GST We do all the legwork (advertising, performance profile, contact details, application processing, follow ups, etc) and supplies the client with a shortlist of at least 10 suitable candidates for telephone screening We also supply a report to the client of the process and current perception in the market as an employer of choice The Shortlist Solution is suitable for lower-cost roles that might not normally be cost-effective to use a third-party recruiter for Some US companies are showing an interest in using the Shortlist Solution to recruit personnel over there Some small recruitment firms offer unbundled solutions but they don’t have the experience Arete does (11 years just with the current business) Client can upgrade to a Headhunted Shortlist offering at 7.5% of salary package if they need ‘passive talent’ in the market to be among the candidates CEOs and HR Directors appreciate the amount of time and money saved with the Shortlist Solution Clients can even make multiple hires off a single Shortlist Solution list of candidates It’s ideal for roles in Australia and New Zealand but other international locations can be covered also Contact Richard Triggs on [phone] Richard Triggs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardtriggs/ Arete Executive Shortlist Solution: https://www.areteexecutive.com.au/arete-shortlist-solution/ Arete Executive Headhunted Shortlist: https://www.areteexecutive.com.au/headhunting/