Episode 41
Volume Vs. Boutique Search
Are you getting questions like "why do I need a search firm at all?" or "what's the difference between firms anyway?" Stephanie's got the answers...
Transcript
Hi, this is Stephanie Maas, partner with Thinking Ahead Search Firm, and today I wanna share with you a really neat conversation I had with one of my clients a couple weeks ago.
Speaker:This is an organization I've done a tremendous amount of work for over the years, and the hiring manager called me and said, Hey, we are gonna be doing some regional expansion, and I.
Speaker:Think it makes sense to partner with you on this, but I really wanna get your take.
Speaker:Now that sounds very self-serving.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:I'm like, yeah, I can make a case for you.
Speaker:You wanna use a search firm and me?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:But we have such a partnership.
Speaker:It was, Hey, really help me understand that this really is the best business decision for me right now.
Speaker:And one of the things we talked about was when you are entering into a new market or a market, maybe you don't have the expertise that you may have in other markets.
Speaker:How can partnering with the right search firm really make a difference?
Speaker:One of the things that we talked about were some of the kind of behind the scenes effects of working with the right kind of firm.
Speaker:One of them was, Hey, we are a little bit old fashioned in our approach.
Speaker:While we absolutely use all the technologies that the world provides today, we still do most of our search efforts.
Speaker:On the phone, any search that we take, it typically nets between a hundred and 120 calls into the market looking for specific talent.
Speaker:Now, those calls don't net 120 candidates or even 120 people interested, but what it can net as a byproduct is that's 120 folks in this line of business that have the opportunity.
Speaker:To hear your story, not read about it in a publication on LinkedIn, not hear it secondhand, but to really hear, Hey, here's what's going on.
Speaker:Here's something new or different.
Speaker:That's a huge byproduct.
Speaker:The other thing too, as you can imagine, if this is a regional growth expansion effort.
Speaker:That means the organization's doing really well, and that hiring manager, as you can imagine, is spread incredibly thin.
Speaker:While I definitely believe that a part of the hiring manager's job is to be in a constant recruiting and selling mode in terms of, Hey, you should be meeting with people in your line of business, at your competitor organizations and talking to 'em about your organization.
Speaker:That's just a good recruiting strategy.
Speaker:When you go into a market where you don't know folks, unfortunately you can spend a lot of time.
Speaker:Telling your story to the wrong folks, where the right search partner can really help you maximize your time.
Speaker:The analogy that I gave is it gives you opportunities to get more shots on goals.
Speaker:Hey, look, if you wanna skate around on the ice all day and call that productive, you go right ahead.
Speaker:But most hiring managers that I know that are really good at what they do, they wanna spend their time taking shots on goal and with the right search partner.
Speaker:You can, the question I get asked all the time is what makes me different than the other search firms in the market?
Speaker:And I welcome the opportunity because it's absolutely not a matter of, hey, who's better, who's nicer?
Speaker:Who's a better human?
Speaker:I have no idea.
Speaker:I don't know my competitors like that, but I do know that there's one fundamental difference in our model that I think, depending on what your needs are, could make a big difference.
Speaker:And look, I'm not being politically correct.
Speaker:I am using the word different for a reason.
Speaker:Everybody has their own style, their own system.
Speaker:And look at the end of the day, as long as it's ethical, whatever works for you, good for you.
Speaker:Our firm, I have noticed though, is a little bit different.
Speaker:Not that are just different than some of our competitors, and it is part of what makes us so successful with our clients.
Speaker:We are a boutique search firm.
Speaker:I will make between 15 and 20 placements a year.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:That's all I need to make to provide a fantastic life for my family and to serve those 15 to 20 clients extremely well.
Speaker:And candidates too Boutique is this for us.
Speaker:What that means is that we are highly specialized both vertically within a niche and geographically.
Speaker:So I have a small geographic territory that I work within a very narrow niche.
Speaker:If you need a dedicated effort to fill a role.
Speaker:In that vertical, in that geography, that's where our firm excels.
Speaker:However, that doesn't mean we're the solution for everybody, and this is where I think some of my competitors, the volume shops can add a lot of value.
Speaker:Most of my competitors are a volume shop.
Speaker:Again, it doesn't mean they're bad.
Speaker:Sometimes they can get to the right people in a way that we don't or we can't.
Speaker:So let me explain to you what I mean by volume shop versus boutique.
Speaker:Here's what it could mean for you when you're looking or deciding, Hey, do I go with a volume shop or do I go with a boutique firm?
Speaker:Couple stats you should know and be aware of.
Speaker:First of all, if you give the search out to multiple firms.
Speaker:In a contingent arrangement, meaning, Hey, we'll pay you a hundred percent of the fee once you fill the role, and we have multiple search firms working on it.
Speaker:There's actually about an 18% success rate that any one of those multiple firms will actually fill the role.
Speaker:And they know this.
Speaker:It's actually an 82% fail rate, so just be mindful if you take that tactic.
Speaker:Sometimes candidly, I've had clients approach me and say, Hey, we think we know who we want, but I just need some comparison resumes.
Speaker:I just need to see what else is out there to know.
Speaker:This is the one we want and we need 'em fast.
Speaker:You should absolutely call a volume shop during that time.
Speaker:They can get you three or four resumes, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Speaker:I'm not sure how qualified they'll be, but they'll make you feel better about the person you're getting ready to hire.
Speaker:Second thing you should know if you use that similar model and say, you know, I need more than just comparison candidates.
Speaker:I actually need, we've got some internal people and I've had some internal, you know, referrals that I like what I see, but I just wanna make sure that we're really getting the best possible look at all of the available talent.
Speaker:Then you might go in a situation where, again.
Speaker:You say to the search firm, Hey, we'll pay you a hundred percent if we hire your person, but we're not gonna have five other firms on it.
Speaker:We're just gonna let you, and let's see what you can do.
Speaker:In that scenario, there's about a 45% success rate that that firm will actually fill the position.
Speaker:Here's where we come in and make things a little bit different.
Speaker:When I get called by my clients to action, what they're saying to me is, Stephanie, we need to make a hire.
Speaker:We need to do it through your process, and we need to know what is the absolute best.
Speaker:Obtainable talent we can get for this role in the next 90 days.
Speaker:We're only gonna give the search to you and we need you to fill it.
Speaker:In that scenario.
Speaker:It's a 94% success rate.
Speaker:So small difference.
Speaker:Huh?
Speaker:Again, we serve different purposes, and where I have noticed that our firm does extremely well is again, if there is a dedicated need, you absolutely need the search filled with the best available talent.
Speaker:Boutique firms tend to rise to that challenge.
Speaker:I'm not saying a volume shop can't ever do that, but again, by the nature of their setup, I, at any given moment, am working between five and seven searches at a time.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:Volume shops, they're playing the numbers.
Speaker:So I know one of my competitor on his desk at any given time is between 18 and 25 different searches.
Speaker:I mean, if you're one of 18, one of 25, how committed is he to filling your need?
Speaker:But again, it might be just what you need.
Speaker:So again, there's a little bit of a difference.
Speaker:It's not good or bad.
Speaker:It is just what it is.
Speaker:Depending on what you need, depends on who you call.
