This was a debate that I had today with Cameron Thomson, BINC’s LA Recruiting Manager. This topic came up for discussion in the middle of our marketing hour when we traditionally reach out to the top companies in our marketplace to find out if they can use a hand with their recruiting or if they are interested in taking advantage of one of the top candidates who we know is available and ready to make a move.
He asked me this exact question “As the CEO of BINC, how pissed off would you get if a headhunter called into BINC and tried to recruit one of our recruiters?”. I thought about it for a second and concluded that on a scale of 1 to 10, I would reach an 8 in terms of how upset I’d get. I clearly realize that this is a very hypocritical opinion and that nobody in the world is more due for some karmic payback. But I don’t think anybody would feel comfortable with a headhunter snooping around within their 4 walls – even a headhunter himself.
That led us to begin debating how upset an actual manager gets when they learn that a headhunter is trying to recruit their people. We headhunt from companies all day long – at the pace of 50 attempts per day for each recruiter working at BINC. Nobody has ever asked us on a live call to stop recruiting from their company – although we have had plenty of people ask us to personally not call them again. We have received a handful of cease and desist notices from legal and hr departments. And we’ve even had a very astute CEO call us and ask us to recruit for his company instead of headhunting his people after learning that we attempted headhunting a Director from his firm (we gladly obliged). But there has to be a ton of Managers or Vice presidents or CEO’s who receive complaints from their employees about getting calls from us who we never hear from. What do you managers think? There was an article posted on Recruiting.com which talks about some of the ways Managers and CEO’s are dealing with headhunters.
A new wave of “anti poaching” strategies that companies are employing in order to prevent employee turnover. Methods can be as simple as having receptionists block calls from recruiters to having staff report any recruiting activities that they are subject to.
Do you curse recruiters for trying to recruit-away your people? Are you flattered knowing that you have good people who are wanted by your competitors? Are you confident enough in your retention strategies to not be worried? Do you factor in team attrition to the point where you sum it up to part of running a business? Would you hire a headhunter who you know is targeting your people? I especially want to hear from you if you work for a firm that BINC has tried headhunting from.
After reading my name in the opening sentence, I felt my only option was to state my personal opinion on the subject matter.
As Boris mentioned, while making my daily “headhunting” calls, it dawned on me. How would I feel if a recruiter was calling into BINC trying to recruit out one of my top guys?
What would my reaction be? If I caught this person in the act, what (if any) would be my recourse?
Now, as I’ve always considered myself a person with a strong sense of fairplay. How on Earth could I begrudge a fellow Headhunter from doing something I do in my day to day responsibilities at work? All the logic in the world didn’t stop that pang of frustration from hitting me smack in the face just thinking about someone trying to “steal” one of my top guys.
After some heavy contemplation, it dawned on me. Getting upset and blaming the recruiter for bringing a new employement opportunity to one my team members is basically the same as these parents who try to sensor everything that goes out over TV and the Radio, frightened to death that their kids will see it and be forever corrupted.
The truth is, these things will always exist. Wether it’s a headhunter trying to “poach” someone on your team or some shock jock spouting subject matter that you would prefer your kids don’t hear, it’s all about accountability. If I steal one of your guys, all that really happened was I happened to open a door which your employee happily decided to walk through.
Talk to your team, know them. If they’re unhappy and you don’t know about it, your simply not paying attention. Build relationships, have open communication, know what’s going on with them outside of work….. This is how you retain a solid team – Don’t make them feel like a cog in the wheel, make them feel like a part of something bigger than themselves.
Anyway, just my two cents – interested to hear what some others have to say.