What Top Recruiters Will Be Doing Differently in 2020 Forget the war for talent — there's a war for clients going on. Here's how the best recruiting firms are rising to the challenge.
M
y general intention in writing this article was to interview some of the top, "smaller" executive search firms with great reputations and long histories in the industry. I wanted to know what major trends or changes they saw in 2019, and what they were planning on doing differently in 2020 to adjust to these changes.
How Will You Differentiate Your Firm? One of the most common themes brought up by the people I spoke with was the necessity of differentiation. As Rob Robinson, managing partner of Horn Solutions and former district president at Robert Half, told me, "At some point our economy is going to Engler shift back into a recession based on basic economic trends, and when this happens, many recruiting firms will go out of business. It's best to differentiate yourself effectively during these times to endure the headwinds and come out on top with the other firms left standing."
While most of the articles I've written Scott in my career have been guided by a general idea of where I want to go with the content, I felt on a gut level that I needed to let go of my typical approach for this one. I didn't write any preliminary questions for the people I was interviewing. I wanted to allow whatever information came to the surface during our conversations to facilitate the direction of the Throughout my interviews with these firms, interviews. I found they were all working diligently to differentiate themselves in progressive and What I learned throughout the process of innovative ways. With almost no exceptions, all interviewing the managing of the firms I spoke with were either beginning to partners and upper offer or in the process of putting together more managers of various comprehensive services for their clients that executive search included various forms of coaching, consulting, firms was that, even development, training, and onboarding. though each firm seemed to be Becky Barclay Prewitt, founder and president facing unique of R.L. Barclay & Associates, a recruiting firm c h a l l e n g e s , specializing in the legal industry, reported that they were all her biggest challenge in 2019 — shared by many responding to of the other local recruiting firms she networks the new recruiting with — was that there was not enough great landscape in talent to match employers' demands. similar ways. Moreover, I think She has also found over the past few years that their responses companies are now more willing to offer much capture some of what better counteroffers to departing employees in recruiting desperately an effort not to lose them, which can make a recruiter's job very difficult. needs. 24
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