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Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Senior Housing Recruiting Mythbusters: 8 Executive Recruiting Myths Debunked

“I thought you were calling to sell me on skilled nursing or executive directors.”

As an executive recruiter, that’s a common reaction I receive when I’m networking with seniors housing executives.  However, in my activities leading the seniors housing recruiting practice for ibr Search – that couldn’t be further from my reality. Below are 8 executive recruiting myths debunked to help you better understand the facts behind our approach to executive recruitment. 


MYTH #1: ibr Search has captive candidates that we are calling to discuss and share with you
                REALITY:  Every search we perform is based on a careful understanding of your exact hiring scenario, the internal stakeholders in your firm and ibrSearch matching this against a competitive analysis of your peers in the industry and our ability to source the appropriate candidates from those firms.  Each search is crafted from a scratch understanding of these drivers and then articulated to you in a search plan with time-sensitive deliverables that we must live up to.  A typical engagement nets a qualified slate of presentable candidates for consideration/interview in 3-4 weeks from the launch of the search.

MYTH #2: there’s no reason to take our call or counsel with us if you do not currently have a hiring need
                REALTIY:  Success at this level of search is highly dependent on a deep understanding of what sets your seniors housing firm apart culturally and capabilities from your peers.  In the nearly 20 years of experience of our leadership team, we’ve found that in all but the rarest instances, it can take, on average, 9-12 months to form a relationship to which successfully launch our first search together.  We are more than willing to commit to that path with you – we want to gain your trust and that does take time.

MYTH #3: “I already know all the recruiters in the Seniors Housing space.”
                REALITY:  You may.  However, from our experience, the majority of recruiters in the space are based on the very lucrative, high-churn nursing and skilled-medical staff that makes up over 90% of the employee-base in seniors housing.  ibr Search is a boutique recruiter only focusing on senior management and executive leadership positions that possess a strong real estate, development, design/construction, finance and marketing concentration.

MYTH #4: “I presume the reason you are calling or attempting to meet is that you are out looking for candidates.”
                REALITY:  The general purpose for our initial outreach, be it by phone or to arrange a meeting during our extensive in-market travel, is to plant the seed of mutual understanding and a hopeful relationship.

MYTH #5: “We’re not a good prospect for your recruiting services, we only hire one or two executives every couple of years.”
                REALITY:  In fact, most of our client use our services, on average, for one to two critical searches every 16 months.  Due to the highly-specialized nature of our relationship with you – we consider this client volume a quality (not quantity) relationship!

MYTH #6:  “We have a relationship with a recruiter already.”
                REALITY:  We respect that.  That doesn’t always mean they are the specific tool for the search at hand.  Ibr Search does not seek to be your exclusive recruiter – only the one that focuses on specific positions.  Further, we are a boutique with a full recruitng staff, team leads (specialists) and a research department.  Many, would-be competitors, are sole pracitioners with limited capabilities.

MYTH #7:  “Most of our middle and senior leadership is stable and has been with us for years.”
                REALITY:  We respect that response and candidly, you sound like the type of company we’d be proud to represent.  However, now is the time to consider succession planning (internal) and external pools of talent for diversifying and enriching your tehnical skill-set.  Ibr Search, during our relationship building phase (which can take months, if not years), is happy to casually discuss and brainstorm where you can begin to consider talent options that might not be required until years from now.

MYTH #8:  “You’re based in Pittsburgh.  How can you be effective when you are hundreds, if not thousands of miles away?”

                REALITY:  For nearly 20 years, our leadership team has been effectively networking coast-to-coast and building trusted relationships with industry executives that form the backbone of our referral network to potential candidates.  In addition to all available electronic and telephonic means, our search principals, on average, travel 6-8 days each month to most major markets, nationally.

Written by:
Wesley P. Easly, Managing Principal 
Brian P. Shuppe, Sr. Director Research & CIO 

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