It’s a beautiful thing, this crazy world of ours. There’s always something going on. The stock market is going up. Or, it’s going down. Companies are merging. Or they’re selling off a business unit. New technologies change older ways of doing business. Tariffs will ruin the holiday selling season. And then, tariffs are postponed. Brick and mortar stores are closing and on-line stores are opening brick and mortar. Today’s ‘no openings’ is tomorrows ‘urgent’ assignment.
Change is the gift that keeps on giving. We must go looking for it and unwrap it.
Here’s a short list of places to look for the gift of change that can translate into placements.
- New products in new categories
- Plant based meat substitutes are the new hot offering at big fast food restaurants, including McDonalds, Burger King, Dunkin, White Castle and Denny’s. With two big companies showing triple digit increases in market share, other food and beverage companies will be racing to grab a part of that market category.
- FIND THE GIFT: Regardless of your prospects’ current product offerings, present candidates with expertise in an ancillary market to top level executives in your current niche. Those companies might just be ready to broaden their product offerings. Run candidate email marketing campaigns and market candidates from your current niche to companies in an ancillary market.
- Changes in leadership
- It can be easy to assume senior players stay in place. Not true. During the first three quarters of 2019, more than 1,000 CEOs stepped down or were kicked out, as reported by Challenger, Gray and Christmas. Some of the former CEOs are from big companies, including WeWork, JUUL, eBay, Gap and Nike. Others are from much smaller companies. CEOs (and other senior executives) aren’t any more permanent than the rest of us.
- FIND THE GIFT: Target your marketing calls high up in the organization. Very high. Call at the CEO and Board levels, even if you haven’t made placements there (yet). Tell them you know companies make changes at the top and you want to help them when they do. Market high level candidates to higher level executives. Higher level placements generate higher level fees.
- New and shiny objects
- Companies always need something new that they didn’t need before. Sometimes, they’re able to train existing staff on new process or new technologies, but sometimes they need to hire those skills from the outside.
- FIND THE GIFT: Always be asking, “What’s the one skill the company needs to continue growing that your people don’t have now?” It might be a technology, or it might be knowledge, or it might be a process. CNBC is already reporting on the list of hot technology skills for 2020, but it’s the prospect’s answer to this question that serves as your invitation to market candidates matching their ‘wish list’. Bring them what they say they’ll need and when they’re ready, you’re ready with the talent they need.
If you go looking for change, you’ll find it. That’s where the money is in our business.
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Shiny objects – what’s next?
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/19/these-will-be-the-top-10-most-popular-tech-skills-of-2020.html?__source=newsletter%7Cmakeit
