Where are all of the candidates?

Common sources of candidates with a discussion of the pros, cons, and issues incurred with each method.

Contingency Recruiters
Most contingency recruiters often have 50 or more jobs to work on at any one time. Getting contingency job openings is easy for a recruiter. Recruiters often keep this many openings so they have better odds of a placement. If a job opening is considered easy, which few are in many fields, it may get worked on. Odds are probable that not much time will be invested. The majority of contingency recruiters will only scan their database and possibly post your job. Often, employers will see the same candidates they had already found on their own. While it may seem like there should be incentive to work on a requirement at a 20-25% fee, and the promise of additional business, most contingency recruiters have an endless supply of openings and only a handful of companies they focus on. Often, little or no effort is expended on any one job opening, and the positions that do get worked on, are the ones they consider the easiest. Very few dig deep enough to successfully generate highly desirable candidates. When there is no commitment from a company, there is a usually a matching commitment from the recruiter.

Job Postings
Candidates searching and replying to job postings represent a very small percentage of potential candidates for a job opening. An overwhelming majority of possible candidates are not looking at job sites and job postings. It is not always the case, but there are sometimes issues with candidates that come from job boards. Do they, or did they, have problems with their employer? Do they have issues with their current or past manager? Were they let go? There are sometimes legitimate reasons, but often there may be a problem. The relatively few superb candidates that do come from job postings have often applied to several companies, and they are in very high demand. You are now competing with multiple other brand name companies for the same person, so your odds of converting this person to a new hire is extremely difficult. Many human resources departments have given up on external job postings as a serious way to locate the cream of the crop in technical fields. They will post anyway, but they do not expect the candidates their hiring managers are looking for.

Resume Databases
The same reasoning that applies to job postings applies to resume databases as well. The senior and manager level candidates companies and hiring managers desire to interview and hire are usually not posting their resume. For the relatively few exceptional candidates who do post their resume, you are again competing with multiple employers. As many companies have realized after the heyday of online technical recruiting, resume databases and external job postings are often best left for non-technical or light industrial type positions. Also falling into the category of not being the best use of a company's time is attending job fairs.

Human Resources
Human Resources is an invaluable resource utilized extensively by all successful companies. Companies that do not put people first, will have turnover and less productive employees. Unfortunately, HR is tasked with a multitude of important responsibilities, so they typically cannot devote the time necessary to directly source candidates from a competitor or other relevant companies, which is where the top candidates often come from. Also, most HR departments will not engage in direct sourcing methods due to issues of legality and the perceived impropriety of contacting people directly at competitor companies.

The Difference Between a Recruiter and Headhunter.
While there are similarities, there is a difference. A recruiter is a dynamic and skilled professional that offers invaluable services to an organization by performing duties such as job posting, resume database searching, agency organization, candidate on-boarding, resume and candidate screening, and possibly other essential human resources duties.

A successful headhunter does not rely on more modern means of locating highly desirable candidates. While they may use the Internet, a headhunter digs much deeper into organizations to identify and establish relationships with candidates, often referred to as passive job seekers. They often cold call and utilize other innovative methods to identify these hard to find people. As is the case with relatively few employers publicizing jobs, the overwhelming majority of the nearly 140,000,000 employed people in the United States are not actively looking for a job. Headhunters invest a significant amount of time identifying, attracting, and recruiting these people for companies.

Where the Candidates Are
Not always, but the candidates that companies will often find most attractive to interview and hire are usually working. While it may seem like everyone must be looking at job postings, posting resumes, perusing jobs on company websites, talking with employees about jobs, relatively few actually are. Many of the most desirable candidates have never been on a job board in their entire career, and most are fairly content with their current position, but are often open to a new opportunity when it is presented. To successfully fill a position with a high quality candidate, employers need to tap into the enormous supply of passive job seekers who are unaware of a company or job opening. This usually involves utilizing the services a professional headhunter.