Episode 45
The Last 5 Years
Stephanie Maas outlines ThinkingAhead's unique slew of boutique offerings, goes through their 3-step process for making sure that the relationship with the client is the right one, at the right time, for the right opportunity, and covers the biggest changes from the past 5 years which have forever altered the job market, and the role of search within that market.
Transcript
Hey, this is Stephanie Maas, partner with Thinking Ahead Search Firm.
Speaker:So I have been with Thinking Ahead for over twenty-five years.
Speaker:One of the things I appreciate most about being with Thinking Ahead, and one of the things that brings me a lot of confidence to our candidates and clients, is our continuous learning environment.
Speaker:Our firm puts a ton of resources into constantly training us to be better at what we do.
Speaker:When we are better at what we do, we then can better serve our candidates and our clients.
Speaker:Yes, we do all the things that a lot of other recruiters do, and it's not that we're, like, cutting edge all the time, but we're always seeking and looking for ways, "Hey, how can we better serve?
Speaker:What tools can we adopt and bring into our process that better serves both our candidates and our clients?" And after over twenty-five years of being here, it just brings me tremendous confidence when I'm talking to a potential candidate or a potential client that, "Hey, here's why you should put your confidence in me to help you find the talent that you need right now."
Speaker:So one of the things that I think makes Thinking Ahead super unique to our clients is that we are a boutique search firm.
Speaker:We know what we are good at, and we know how to serve the candidates and the clients that we work with really well.
Speaker:For the most part, our fairway is pretty narrow, and we know through our process and efforts and all the things we've been doing for years on end how to kinda hit the ball down the fairway on most swings.
Speaker:With that being said, we have a three-step process to really help us determine if we are the right solution for a potential client, and it's super simple yet incredibly valuable.
Speaker:First step is, do they even have a need?
Speaker:Do they need talent?
Speaker:If that answer is yes, we move on to the second question, and that is, do they need us?
Speaker:This is incredibly important because oftentimes just because an organization has a need doesn't mean they need a boutique search firm approach to find the right talent.
Speaker:Oftentimes it does, but not always.
Speaker:And our sophistication of being able to recognize, "Hey, just 'cause you have a need doesn't mean you need us," really helps also our clients evaluate the answer to the next question.
Speaker:So number one, do you even have a talent need?
Speaker:Number two, do you have a need for a boutique search firm to help you fill that talent?
Speaker:And then the last question is, do you have the budget?
Speaker:Let's be honest, Boutique, we don't cost any more than anyone else, but when you go to partner with an outside search firm, there is a cost involved, and if you have a need but can fill it through your own resources, then you don't actually need us, and that's not a place that we should be spending time.
Speaker:But if you have a need, it's critical, timely, or super specific talent, and it makes sense to partner with a firm, and you have the financial resources to do so, that's when I can usually say to potential clients, "Hey, we really need to explore this. It sounds like you need a swing and a hit down the fairway, and if you do, we're probably the right firm for you."
Speaker:Just to put this in perspective, I think we have to kind of come back a little bit and talk about what has actually changed in the world over the last five years.
Speaker:So these are some pretty big things.
Speaker:Number one, we're post-COVID.
Speaker:How crazy is that?
Speaker:So COVID had an incredible impact, not on all of us as humans, it did, but also the workplace.
Speaker:We really began to explore this idea of remote work.
Speaker:So that has dramatically impacted talent in the marketplace.
Speaker:What we figured out is most folks could work very efficiently from home, and they liked it because not only could they be efficient at the job, they could also be efficient in all the other roles that they played in their life.
Speaker:Most of the professionals that we work with are not linear in the fact that, hey, they work and they only work.
Speaker:Most of them are spouses, sisters, brothers, caretakers, parents.
Speaker:They have multiple roles that they play at any given time during the day, and what remote work did for them is it gave them the freedom and the efficiency to make it work better.
Speaker:Now, I am speaking in gross generalizations, but this is one of them.
Speaker:So one of the changes that's happened in the last five years, our candidates have really gotten used to having the freedom To plan and execute their day and all the different roles that they play in a way that can serve everyone better.
Speaker:As we move forward and we hear about folks wanting to bring people back to work, I totally get it.
Speaker:It is so much easier, and we have muscle memory.
Speaker:We know what it's like to manage and lead folks in an office environment.
Speaker:We are still adapting to how to do that, especially as it relates to culture, communication, and technology in a work from home environment But here's the problem.
Speaker:Even though that might be easier from a management or a leadership perspective, candidates really like the freedom that they have to plan and execute their day and their roles.
Speaker:So we are really seeing that be a very real chasm between what talent wants and what the marketplace wants.
Speaker:And to be completely honest, the candidates are winning.
Speaker:Now, I know as soon as I say that, someone tells me about an organization that everyone's back in the office and all the things, and I hear you.
Speaker:But for the mass majority, folks really want the freedom back or to keep the freedom to determine how they can best be efficient.
Speaker:Yes, in the job, which is super important, but also all the other parts or all the other roles that they play.
Speaker:That's a huge one.
Speaker:The second one, we have been talking about this at nauseam the last five years, and that is the decline in available talent for the highly specialized roles that we fill.
Speaker:There is going to be more jobs, especially skilled jobs, than there will be talent available.
Speaker:And when I say skilled jobs, I mean everything from the person who has a college degree to the skilled in terms of manual labor.
Speaker:We hear it all the time, day in and day out.
Speaker:We are facing a very real talent deficit.
Speaker:In fact, if you look at the unemployment rate, it has been incredibly low for the last five years.
Speaker:Yes, due to COVID, there were some peaks in a variety of different things, but it has stabilized.
Speaker:And if you talk to any employer today, and they will tell you how difficult it is not just to find the right talent, but also how to retain, engage, lead, manage, all the things.
Speaker:It is a very real challenge that we face.
Speaker:And partnering with a search firm doesn't solve all of it, but it is one way to help get in front of the right talent in a quick way.
Speaker:So again, the two biggest things I think that have changed is the talent deficit and the freedom.
Speaker:Call it work from home, call it hybrid, call it anything that you want, but candidates want the freedom to choose how and when they work.
