High Tech and High Touch

E. Coverdill James, William Finlay

Description

In High Tech and High Touch, James E. Coverdill and William Finlay invite readers into the dynamic world of headhunters, personnel professionals who acquire talent for businesses and other organizations on a contingent-fee basis. In a high-tech world where social media platforms have simplified direct contact between employers and job seekers, Coverdill and Finlay acknowledge, it is relatively easy to find large numbers of apparently qualified candidates. However, the authors demonstrate that headhunters serve a valuable purpose in bringing high-touch search into the labor market: they help parties on both sides of the transaction to define their needs and articulate what they have to offer.As well as providing valuable information for sociologists and economists, High Tech and High Touch demonstrates how headhunters approach practical issues such as identifying and attracting candidates; how they solicit, secure, and evaluate search assignments from client companies; and how they strive to broker interactions between candidates and clients to maximize the likelihood that the right people land in the right jobs.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Sociology
• Labour

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501713996
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

HighTechandHighTouch

HighTechand High Touch

Headhunting,Technology,and Economic Transformation

JamesE.Coverdill and William Finlay

ILR Press an imprint of Cornell University Press Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2017 by Cornell University Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Firstpublished2017byCornellUniversityPress PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData

Names: Coverdill, James E., author. | Finlay, William, 1955– author. Title: High tech and high touch : headhunting, technology, and economic transformation / James E. Coverdill and William Finlay. Description: Ithaca : ILR Press, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017015924 (print) | LCCN 2017020594 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501713996 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501714009 (epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501702808 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781501702815 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Employees—Recruiting—United States. | Executives— Recruiting—United States. | Information technology—Economic aspects—United States. | Social media—Economic aspects—United States. Classification: LCC HF5549.5.R44 (ebook) | LCC HF5549.5.R44 C635 2017 (print) | DDC 658.3/1110973—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017015924 CornellUniversityPressstrivestouseenvironmentallyresponsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Tomyamazingsixyearoldsonandmyequallyamazing but slightly older wife (from Jim)

Tomymotherandtothememoryofmyfather(fromWilliam)

Acknowledgments

Contents

Introduction:HeadhuntinginanEraofDigitaland Economic Transformation

1.GettingClientsandJobOrders:SellingSearchand Securing Business

2.QualifyingClientsandJobOrders:SeekingInformation, Assessing Risk, and Allocating Effort

3.ConstructingCandidatesandSecuringPlacements: Sourcing, Qualifying, and Brokering Deals

4.EvolutionorRevolution?InformationTechnology and Social Media

5.Booms,Busts,andChangingLaborMarkets:Whythe Great Recession Did Not Produce Good Job Candidates

ix

1

23

46

67

91

117

vi i i Contents

6.BeingaHeadhunter:TheEvolutionofanAccidentalOccupation

Conclusion:WhatWeCanLearnfromHeadhunters

References

Index

135

155

169

183

Acknowledgments

Thosewhoconductsocialresearchwitnesstheextraordinaryand heartwarming kindness of strangers. Many of the headhunters we inter viewed for this book did not know us. Nonetheless, they were generous with their time and insights, never once recoiling when we asked for ex amples or more information on work activities that for them seem more routine than revealing. Another group of headhunters encountered us for a second time as we conducted this project. They had helped us with our first book, nearly twenty years ago, by offering interviews, opportuni ties to conduct fieldwork in their offices and at their conferences, and by providing introductions to other headhunters. When we contacted them by phone and email about our interest in updating and expanding what we knew about the business, every single one of them offered words of encouragement and made time for us. Years had passed, but these helpful strangers were—yet again—not just willing but also eager to describe, il lustrate, and explain their work practices to us. We are indebted to all of those who gave us so much, either once or now twice, so that we could write about their industry.