Post-9/11 Recruiting

Letter to the Editor, We Must Keep Doors Open For Those Out of Work

Letter to the Editor, Trying to Help By Doing What We Know Best

Letter to the Editor, following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001

Can you keep a secret?

Still Time to Take Action

KO'ing Kooky Candidates

Knowing When to Say 'No'

Focus on Recruiting, Part Two

Defending Recruiting, Part One

 I don't know how many times a month I hear this statement or am asked this question, but it's often: "We don't use (or don't like to use) recruiters," or "What sets your company apart from other executive search firms we've had trouble with in the past?"
  Without a doubt, the hardest part of the recruiting business is overcoming its bad reputation and rising above its commonly used label (a phrase I particularly dislike) - "head hunting".
  Truthfully, this bad reputation was pretty much deserved in past years. We've all gotten those "cold calls" from recruiters (yes, myself included) and we all know what these callers wanted.
  They would ask if you knew anyone who was looking for a new job (someone who just happened to have the same position you were currently holding). Of course they were hoping you would jump ship to the "fabulous" opportunity they were doing a search for.
  Many of them didn't even try to disguise what they were calling about and just asked flat out.
  Sometimes it was flattering; they think I'm marketable. Once in a while it was interesting, especially if the "carrots" being dangled were better than the carrots you already had.
  Occasionally it was bizarre - you want me to leave the travel industry and go into trucking? - but most of the time it was just plain annoying.
  Today, effective executive recruiting can't be done that way, and my frequent interface with others in this business confirms that most of today's successful recruiters are far more professional and follow search processes similar to those we use at Systemethods.
  The first resource we draw on when conducting a senior level search for clients is always our extensive database - which has been developed over 18 years of travel-industry focused executive recruiting.
  This database is continually updated from a variety of sources, such as responses to travel publication advertisements and articles; contacts from companies we have done successful searches for; people we've worked with in the past who know the business we're currently in and who want to be considered if anything interesting comes up; folks who have attended our seminars; candidates who were not chosen in previous searches but specifically asked to remain in our files, and responses to our ads for current search assignments.
  And yes, we do call on our contact network, but only on individuals within our established alliance of travel-industry professionals who have previously identified themselves as willing to recommend others they've worked (and were impressed) with.
  In other words, no "cold calls" to those we don't know.
  Our strategy here is simply to get to the people who are out looking for a new position anyway and don't know who we are, what we do and the search process we use.

Karen Rothe Osband is the founder and owner of SYSTEMETHODS, a travel industry consulting and executive search firm located in Littleton, CO. She can be reached at (303) 948-8084 or (877) 802-5584,
and email KROsband@SYSTEMETHODS.com.

Hiring: Seeing the Potential

Filling a Job: Experience Counts