Oz Wilde of Clayton: 4 Reasons why Facebook, Jobsdb.com and the Internet cannot replace headhunters

Mar 5, 2008

Category: Media Tags:

Hong Kong-based headhunter Oz Wilde gives his 4 reasons why the Internet, new media and Facebook-style services will not replace his job of headhunting for hedge funds and asset managers.

The Internet offers many great new ways to connect people, but only headhunters can:

1- Understand and define a position – Even companies doing the hiring have a hard time expressing what they want.
2- Fit people and companies together – Headhunters can sense the personal and cultural chemistry possible between people and companies better than an online site.
3- Pigeonholing – Some of the most important aspects of candidates and companies do not fit within forms. It can be, for example, difficult to tell whether to consider someone as a person who has jumped between jobs or has gained broad experience.
4- Searching the unsearchable – Good candidates are never looking for jobs, so you need a headhunter to find and cultivate them.

To Oz, this does not mean Monster.com, Jobsdb.com and others will fail, but it does mean such sites need to specialize in volume jobs that are specific and easily defined, such as McDonald’s, or serve as a broad prescreening source for headhunters. Sounds like these sites should start parallel headhunting services.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Headhunters, Oz Wilde, Clayton, Hong Kong, Monster.com, Jobsdb.com

Discussion

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Pieter-Paul

I think that Internet and New Media services will not replace headhunting, they will change the whole system though.
Headhunters will have to change the way they operate and start competing with smaller companies that for example specialize in searching in LinkedIn through a premium account. I see numerous smaller headhunting companies popping up here in Holland. They are much cheaper than the more conventional headunters and use innovative ways of finding people through all sorts of niche Social Networks or more commonly used public SN's.
Companies can also take a more active role in recruiting by for instance starting up their own alumni network. Through such a network new people can be found through 2nd and even 3rd grade connections. An alumni network can also support the attraction of New Business (like Mckinsey already does for years).