The "game" of finding executive (and most) employment opportunity has changed. Building and maintaining a personal brand in the markets is now much more important than posting a resume on every job board know to man. Let's face it, how often are those even READ? The best recruiters search for candidates beyond the fishing of resume approach.That's why it's more important, than ever before, to have a strong WEB 2.0 and an online reputation as a THOUGHT LEADER (on and off line) --in your industry and beyond your industry (if you can) is a key to career longevity and the only way to go beyond the old fashioned resume submission effort. Top that off with having a true publicist represent and really and ad agency pitch your brand and endorse YOU on a consistent basis (as well as manage your brand on a "true-blue" level). I don't just "search for jobs" for my clients (even though that is most popular now around here), I work for clients on a regular basis to ensure they stay visible and "thought of" at all times -- job or NOT. Being proactive is where it's at!
Executive employment hunting is NOT like it use to be and recruiting has changed (not matter what people still would like to believe). And no, this does not mean anyone has to "pay an organization to hire him or her" -- anyone who is thinking along those lines has to go away from the whole placement payment thing. How many calls do you get from recruiters now? My clients are people not companies (although a company is a client when I am working on a PR campaign or event for the company).
Recruiters are paid by a company to WORK FOR THEM. I am a personal publicist/talent agent (again no different than how it works traditionally - in entertainment/sports etc., but only not as expensive I have to say) and I work for the individuals who need me to handle a personal publicity and or search project effort. We campaign, pitch and endorse our Clients' brand in order to help them gain better visibility and traction out in the markets (directly to a company or sometimes through a recruiter). No one is paying anyone for a job. Just like a company is not pay a retained search firm for a candidate (that used to be the case back during the 1990's Dot Com boom - it doesn't work that way now). It's all about paying for a service.
ECMG, is a service based (boutique) business model. We handle our clients as PEOPLE and not just a number or piece of paper in a vast database of paper. Recruiters are also mostly always retained these days and work on a fee based model --so what we do is no different. I do, however, try to make my service as cost effective as possible. I do know that singular people, for the most part, don't have corporate budgets --and that is why we offer a combo of retainer (covers publicist representation/campaign and brand management - month to month only) and commission fee structure (covers agent representation work) -- it is a hybrid of a publicist and talent agent business model.
The process of building personal branding and process of building and getting Personal PR is not something that can be done sans a fee or contingent upon "providing the work." That would be like asking an ad agency to build a campaign for your company and then telling them you will only pay when that campaign creates all new customers or helps your company sell 100k worth of pant. It does not work that way. For MOST (busy) Executives, outsourcing can be a cost effective route especially if they are not good at or want to "self promotion" (most people cannot write about themselves let alone self endorse without sounding "too overly done" if you know what I mean) and then too, MOST people only have a limited network or capacity in which to do the promotion.
We work for my clients to get them PUBLICITY and introduction opportunities (for interviews) directly to the people who need to know about them beyond what they can and or want to do on their own. They hire us to know them and recommend them for the people they are - going beyond just what a resume claims. This is why it's also so important for to only work for really great talent --people who we can rap our arms around and feel confident about recommending to an organization. After all, we have our reputation at stake in the end.
So then is hiring someone (as your AGENT/PUBLICIST) to represent you in a job search and/ or to help you achieve a better personal brand and great publicity for the long term worth it? I think you probably need to ASK yourself (first) if you are worth it and is the investment worth it.
