The Evolving World of Recruiting: Jeff Kaye, Co-CEO of Sanford Rose Associates Featured in Executive Search State of the Industry

Jeff Kaye breaks down the history of the recruiting industry and what the future might hold; shares in Hunt Scanlon Media’s Executive Search: Trends in Talent Acquisition.

PLANO, TX – June 29, 2016 – Most people had no clue what a recruiter or headhunter was and many organizations had never used them. Then something changed! Core competencies and outsourcing emerged. In the following article, Jeff Kaye, CEO of Kaye/Bassman – Sanford Rose Associates, breaks down the history of the recruiting industry and what the future might hold.

As CEO, Jeff Kaye helped Kaye/Bassman – Sanford Rose Associates grow into the 10th largest search firm in North America and Next Level Exchange into the world’s largest training firm exclusive to the recruiting industry with over 2,000 recruiting firm clients in 30 countries. His organization has won national awards for philanthropy and workplace flexibility and has been named the No. 1 “Best Company to Work for in Texas” for four consecutive years. During his 25-year tenure in the industry, Mr. Kaye was named one of the most influential leaders in the staffing industry. He is considered an industry expert having appeared on CNN, FOX, Bloomberg and NBC; he is quoted regularly in publications including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Time and Fortune. Mr. Kaye is also a frequent speaker within the recruiting and human resources community and has been featured in dozens of international training meetings and videos.

Jeff Kaye shares, “Search, recruiting, human capital management, staffing, talent acquisition, headhunting, and even flesh peddling are all simply words. Each word conveys a different image, however, they all are about securing talent. Recruiting is therefore the profession in which we all participate. Why should the process that one uses or the contractual payment structure of an agreement be used to classify our industry? Are law firms not just law firms, or are they listed by whether they are contingent or retained or represent the plaintiff or the defendant or by the way each lawyer conducts a potential trial? Ultimately, should an approach dictate a classification?”

“I would submit that, as in all professional service firms, there are a wide variety of firms in our industry. And while some do retained, others do contingency work, some do permanent, some do temporary, and some do a hybrid of all. Some specialize by function, others by industry, others by level or geography and some, again, a hybrid of all. In all cases, an employer is paying a firm to secure or ‘recruit’ talent for their organization (the exception isan applicant paid firm which is not recruiting but instead helping someone land a job). So, my first contention is that the evolution in our industry is one that began with very rigid lines of demarcation that have since been blurred and will continue blurring until finally our industry will simply be known as the recruiting industry. At that point, a firm’s classification will no longer be placed into such limiting categories. And while certain divisions, practices, or recruiters may be categorized, the organizations themselves will not be. To create an equal playing field in terms of revenue, contract or temporary firms would need to show their revenue by adding the net margin on their contract or temporary work to their permanent fee revenue to get an accurate comparison.”

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“We all have so much to learn from one another. I have talked at staffing conferences, retained search conferences, permanent search conferences, human resource conferences, and human capital conferences. While there are many differences in the process, relationship, and terms, there are also many commonalities and opportunities to learn from one another. Our Next Level Exchange recruiting training organization is dedicated to doing just that by aggregating best practices from the industry’s leading trainers and top performers around the globe. We all have our achievement that is reflected in where we are today, but more exciting is our potential of where we will be in the future. This gap between achievement and potential is the journey that every practitioner and every organization is perpetually closing. This is what our organizations Kaye/Bassman International, Sanford Rose Associates, Next Level Exchange and Next Level Marketing Communications have been doing for decades.”Regardless of one’s opinion, perspective, or paradigm, the most important type of focus is always what is best for the candidates and clients we serve.”

About Kaye/Bassman
Kaye/Bassman was founded in 1981 with a mission to positively impact companies and enhance careers by providing the best in professional, executive, technical and scientific search. With home offices in Plano, Texas, Kaye/Bassman International provides global recruiting solutions with full range of permanent placement options.

Kaye/Bassman – Sanford Rose Associates Network search practices specialize by the ideal combination of functional area, industry sector, level and geographic location. The firm is flexible in customizing the process, relationship and terms around the unique needs and expectations of its clients. The patented Client Focused Search™ approach combined with the market mastery model enable the firm to identify, attract, evaluate and acquire the right candidates for its client’s most urgent and critical needs.