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Going After Your Competitor's Employees?
December 16, 2009
Are you shy about directly contacting your competitors' employees? Don't be too bashful. The recession may have weakened the war for talent, but the battles have intensified, according to a recent study by Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp). In the study, which looked at competitive recruiting practices among organizations, a quarter of companies said they recruit new talent by contacting their competitors' employees directly. Here are the highlights:
• More than 40 percent say they actively source competitors' employees in certain positions to a moderate or higher extent.
• When searching for talent, 67 percent of respondents' organizations utilize recruiting firms to fill positions.
• Not surprisingly, large companies (10,000 employees or more) are more likely to use an external firm (79 percent) than firms with 1,000 workers or fewer, which reported they do so 58 percent of the time.
• Though a majority of organizations use external recruiting firms, a third of respondents said that using headhunters is seen as "bad form" for internal recruiters, and a quarter stated that they damage a company's brand.
• Companies polled mostly use external searches selectively. Overall, 58 percent said they use headhunters to fill certain key positions.
• In high-performance organizations—firms that consistently outperform their competitors in market share, revenue growth, profitability, and customer satisfaction—63 percent use external firms for filling key positions, compared to 54 percent of lower performers.
• Overall, only 15 percent said they use the option "fairly often" for a minority of jobs in the organization.
• "These study results speak to the fact that many organizations are concerned not just with finding talent, but with finding the right talent," observed i4cp senior research analyst Carol Morrison. "Developing current employees for advancement is an excellent strategy, but recognizing that there are times when a company can benefit from hiring externally and adding fresh perspective is a practical and relevant sourcing approach, too."
• In general, senior leadership positions are the most likely to be targeted for headhunting services, with 66 percent of respondents tabbing that as their top choice, followed by positions where talent is difficult to find (44 percent), and 40 percent of respondents use headhunters to fill high-skilled positions.
• Regarding the future use of headhunting for talent searches, the results are mixed. Overall, 23 percent of polled organizations said they don't plan to headhunt in the near future, while 22 percent are "discussing" the option, 20 percent are planning to try it on a limited basis, and 16 percent plan to use headhunters on an increasing basis.
• Almost a quarter (23 percent) of high-performance organizations plan to increase the use of competitive recruiting practices, compared to just 4 percent of lower performers.
• How else are companies recruiting these days? According to the study, 13 percent opt for online search engines (Google, etc.) from a high to very high extent, and the same percentage turn to LinkedIn as an avenue for finding talent search options. High-performance organizations are more likely to use search engines (20 percent) and LinkedIn (12 percent) than lower performers (23 percent and 9 percent, respectively).
What's your value proposition to potential new hires? What can you tell a competitor's employees about why they should work for you instead? Join the discussion on Training Day
Did you miss last week's Inside Training? To read it, click here
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