As for my desk I specialize in a specific footprint in the Midwest so I do all the recruiting with good old-fashion head hunting.
I do the cold calling and networking to search for passive candidates. I also handle their executive bios and run their refrences and handle the salary negotiations as well.



Hey-I gotta justify my fee.

posted February 19, 2007

It depends on how much time I have, if resources are limited then I'll absolutely use someone to do the research. If there's more time, am happy to do it myself, I've found that most 'internal' researchers (i.e. research functions embedded within a corporate recruiting team)are not able to deliver the level and amount of information needed.

posted February 19, 2007

I have been in IT recruitment for 8 years now and have always do my own research. I find that networking, whether by phone or email, is always the best method and 80% of my candidates would come from referrals.
I do use some internet databases but find them limited.
On average 75% of my day would be spend researching and looking for candidates in this tight marketplace.
If you have any other questions do not hesitate to contact me.

Frank

posted February 20, 2007

Amybeth. I use a researcher to help me on two fronts. He is constantly finding new and different ways to "brand" my search firm through many different sources around the internet. Linked In is one place I wouldn't be if not for him. By getting me out there and "creating buzz" the way that he does, I am starting to see candidates coming to me that I would have otherwise never seen outside of the traditional job boards that I post my ads on nationwide.

posted February 20, 2007

I do all my own sourcing. It seems to take less time to qualify candidates up front than to add another layer - not to mention more cost-effective. Sourcing takes the majority of time in recruting, especially with hard-to-fill positions which require delving into trade organizations, the "invisible" internet, pure headhunting, etc.

posted February 20, 2007

I do my own sourcing, networking, cold calling, career fairs, specialized job fairs, and whatever it takes to get the job done!
In regards to time being spent it really depends on the person or the company as some people may be better networked with than others. For example, it took almost 8 months to establish a relationship with a business owner of another sales organization to discuss possibly introducing our positions to their employees as they are more college oriented and not career-oriented (In other words, their sales reps do not work there for the rest of their lives for the most part) so it has proven to be a good networking relationship (In exchange I do some training for them and it gives me a chance to get my face seen by their employees which provides for good karma later on).

In other cases, it is simply a week or less to establish a relationship. When they are referrals, I take the opportunity to find as much information on that individual as possible.

Hope that helps.

posted February 20, 2007

As a former recruiter, most of my experience has been in doing all of my own research and sourcing. This can certainly be time consuming, but I found this to be very rewarding. From Internet searches, cold/warm calling, networking, etc. there are many ways to find talent, but all take time and patience.

I've also worked in situations where others have done the sourcing and as the recruiter, I concentrated on the primary contacts. This can be efficient, but it requires the sourcing specialist and recruiter to be on the same page in regard to what you are looking for. Often, I found the division of labor to be more time consuming than just doing it myself.

posted February 20, 2007

As a search consultant specializing in hard-to-fill roles, I do my own research, that's part of what my client pays for. Plus, in my experience, the higher the level of the position, the easier it is to find candidates due to their visibility. That said, the only time where I've had problems is in search related to specific types of intelligence analysis related to national security. The mid-level specialists can be very deep within your alphabet organizations (NGA etc.) and are tough to get to. In terms of percentage of time spent doing research per role, I can't say I quantify that. However, I do quantify total search times. My shortest search has been 24 hours, and longest has been 176 hours of work. I've averaged around 100 hours per search. I include everything I do to that search against that figure, whether it's search/interviewing/offers/closing off candidates, including your research total you're looking for. For the most part, research isn't that time consuming. It's performing the cold calls to generate interest which takes time.

Hope that helps.

Rob

posted February 20, 2007

Amybeth,
I'm a Corporate Recruiter currently, and have done some third party previously. I do my own sourcing and searching. Its my network that I build and maintain. The more I do myself, the more I learn, the more people with whom I connect, the better I get, the greater my resources.
I use multiple tools, including the good old fashioned telephone. The research and sourcing is ongoing.

posted February 20, 2007

I do it myself or lead from the front. On a retained search there is often a need for one, two or three extra consultants to conduct the search and qualify candidates; even then I will speak to all relevant candidates.

For business development, I do it all myself - clients either buy in to a sales pitch in which case, they don't want to speak to anyone else other than that person who has pitched them; or, they don't in which case the chance may be lost.

I'm a firm believer that when your earnings are concerned, the best policy is to rely on yourself as much as possible, and others as little as possible!

posted February 20, 2007

Hi Amybeth,
As I mentioned to you on the phone, I do about half of my research and we have administrators that assist in any research we need done. I'm on the phone most of the day so I find it very useful to have some support in this area.

posted February 20, 2007

As a technical recruiter, it is much easier to do my own researching and sourcing due to the "technical" aspect of it all. I prefer to speak with the candidates/consultants myself to find out the details that may not be showing in the resume. I use everything I can to find candidates -- job boards, internets searches -- Google, Yahoo -- companies, and most importantly referrals.

posted February 20, 2007

Amybeth,
Yes I am a recruiter and I use both. I conduct some of my own research supplemented with the outstanding centralized research department of SearchPath International. Having the centralized research department gives me the ability to focus on the phones, and also maintain healthy client relationships.

posted February 20, 2007

Hi Amybeth,

As a third party agent, when I recommend a candidate to my client, I'm putting my stamp of approval on them. I don't want to take any chances or cut any corners.....it usually bites me down the road, ;) Of course using a sourcer could help generate leads, but for the past 10 years I have found very FEW sourcers that have been able to deliver what I need and in a cost effective manner. The best luck I've had has always been with hiring someone to my company and training them on the industry. Their fresh outside perspective tends to bring enough new angles to keep things going for me. Otherwise I tend to rely on my networking abilities...especially for the difficult positions.

posted February 20, 2007

Hi Amybeth

I've always compiled my own research as generally I find it more effective as I know the information I'm after in order to ensure I can fully understand a companies needs. We tend to work as a team (being small'ish we have too!) on the candidate side and have specialists in competency based interviewing who run this side of things.

The amount of time spent usually depends on the market sector and any previous experience I have of them, I would say for instance that any company within the telco space could be covered via the internet and existing inhouse knowledge within a short period of time whereas obviously greater research is needed outside of this.

Good question though, always interested in hearing the standards out there.

Rob
http://www.aquantra.com

posted February 21, 2007

Hi Amybeth,

Used to do recruitment, the company I worked for had a feed from the leading recruitment websites for all new CVs. We used CQ database to store them all and then could keyword search through them.

Received about 16,000 CVs per week - server kept falling over as it kept filling up !

posted February 21, 2007