Contingent search is the dumbest business model in the history of business models.
A long title but it needed to be said.
Contingent search is the dumbest business model in the history of business models.
Name another professional service industry that works for free, maybe getting paid later. I’ll wait.
And no one on either side even likes contingent search. So how did we get here?
Once upon a time, talent markets were different. Take any skill area: tech, marketing, HR, whatever. They’ve all become increasingly specialized.
Requirements went from broad to specific.
Contingent search made some sense when skill sets were broad. Foster a pool of similar candidates, work on similar openings. But that’s not the world we live in anymore.
Everything is headhunting. Time intensive. Highly targeted.
On the company side, you’ve got two inadvertent issues:
1. Lack of commitments means higher fees. You’re paying for every search that wasn’t a success.
2. Using multiple firms guarantees someone’s time is getting wasted. And every firm knows it.
The misdiagnosis death spiral ensues. You get bumped down the priority list. You think no one can find what you want. You engage more firms. They all know it. The problem compounds.
It’s time for a re-think.
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