Headhunters reinvent themselves, offer more

Executive search firms have tweaked their traditional placement role to become strategic partners to both clients and candidates.

Until recently, executive search firms followed a brief of 'find, place and scoot'. But in an industry that Shailja Dutt, managing director of Stellar Search, describes as "undergoing a paradigm shift," they are assuming a larger role and advising professionals.

Affirms Dony Kuriakose, director of EDGE Executive Search: "The value-add is the key differentiator today and most senior assignments carry an extra responsibility."

Shiv Agrawal, CEO of ABC Consultants, who believes that there's a need to distinguish between CV processors, quasi post box services and 'consultants' in recruitment, agrees.

"Traditionally a recruiters' loyalty lay primarily with the client, since his was the hand that fed him; however, now our responsibility as a search consultant is as much to the job seeker," he notes.

Now, search firms double up as career counsellors in order to convince a candidate to join a particular company or, conversely, to get a client to choose a suitable hire from among many prospective candidates.

Dutt, who has been in the business for almost a decade, has been noticing the change for a couple of years now. Industry players attribute it to the dynamics of the marketplace.

Elaborates Kuriakose: "The past couple of years have seen the emergence of new organised industries like luxury goods, real estate, insurance, education and retail." He notes that there is more skill-based hiring than experience-based hiring, leading to changes in the rules of the game.

Agrawal contends that in today's tight labour market, a search consultant who manages the expectations of a candidate is becoming a necessity. Creating loyalty among candidates is a challenge for search firms and providing value-added services is one way of increasing loyalty.

"Search firms have been providing these services for many years, it's just that it has gained momentum now," he says. As the market expands, so do expectations from the client and the candidate.

No longer can a recruitment firm get away with just basic functionality. They have to keep abreast of market trends and sectoral trends, and must be able to assist clients and candidates with a host of issues like compensation benchmarking, employment practices and even market analysis. "Recruitment is now evolving rapidly into a management consultancy function," says Agrawal.

According to Dutt, the relationship between the client, the candidate and the head-hunter is no longer transactional. From the clients' side it has moved into a strategic partnership.

"A search firms double up as the in-house PR agency for the company too, especially now that people are shifting industries!" Dutt concurs that there's a lot of handholding involved, especially when the candidate is from out of town.

Besides core recruitment, some of the services ABC provides are employer branding perception studies, talent pool mapping, mid-career counseling and advice on retention techniques.

Headhunters are also performing the role of career planners by guiding candidates about exact career moves. In the volume-based recruitment segment, clients are even outsourcing the evaluation processes to search firms.

"If earlier the companies were carrying out six stages of filter inhouse, three of them are now carried out by search firms," reckons Kuriakose.

The new strategic partnership ensures that search firms "form centres of excellence within their company," as Kuriakose puts it. According to search consultants, people within their firm now need to have an in-depth knowledge of the client's organisation.

Kuriakose is certain that now the trend is shifting towards recruitment outsourcing. Consultants agree that there's definitely more accountability for the quality and result of hires. They have to acquire a customised focus that helps them move into a predictive mode.