The changing business climate has forced firms across all segments of the recruitment industry to reassess their business strategies and objectives. The economic nose-dive of recent years has had disastrous effects on the largest of international search firms, smaller boutiques and sole proprietors alike - all suffering significant losses with respect to revenue and profit margins. This overall reduction in client spending has caused a reassessment by services companies across the board as they attempt to meet the needs of their clients and keep the proverbial doors open.

Our own firm is by no means immune to these dynamics of change. Handler & Associates went through our own period of reassessment, as we found our revenue impacted by the downturn in the economy. As a result, we developed a broad array of search products that expanded upon our traditional retained search offerings and those of the search industry as a whole. We feel that we have found a solution that appears to have "clicked" with our clients and provides greater access to candidates through use of current technology.

It became clear that we had to quickly adjust our business focus to better incorporate the latest technology as more and more recruitment sites and online resources became available to our classic client base. We had to find viable options that were priced competitively, provided services that the client company could not do themselves and that would generate the best candidates in a timely manner, in order to stay in tune with the demands of the marketplace. Fortunately for us, the recruitment tools available on the Internet to our present and potential customers have not met client needs. As an example, HR executives using these widely-available resources have found themselves overwhelmed with resumes due to position posting and resume mining, the vast majority of which did not meet the requirements of their companies' open positions.

Our eSourcing products grew out of this demand for greater refinement of technology sourced resumes. It took advantage of our standard research functions (honed through 25 years of retained search) and incorporated the latest and greatest resources available through the Internet. We implemented this product before the economy slipped, and soon found we had performed in excess of 200 such engagements in our first year of the offering. By our second year, we executed three times as many sourcing engagements as we did our traditional search engagements. The notion of an "outsourced research product" in addition to usage of the latest and greatest technological advances in recruitment had proven itself highly successful very quickly.

At the same time, we found that many of the larger, international firms were trying to go "up" market - focusing on only the high end of the search spectrum and concurrently go down market with products and subsidiaries for markets which they did not fully understand in an attempt to maximize profit margins and satisfy Wall Street. We have, instead, adjusted our model and pricing to best suit the market, rather than continue to force a "square peg into a round hole." Our now-broader suite of product offerings allows us greater opportunity to obtain various pieces of recurring business with our established clients, even as the ebbs and flows of the market reduce the number of high-dollar search engagements. Our lower-end products have resulted, more often than not, in multiple engagements with our clients as we work with them during their own economic down periods.

On the other end of the spectrum, contingency firms have found themselves in a buyers market, their clients interested in their lower prices, but with a cost - a limited ability on their part to fulfill their clients' overall needs. Our offerings, however, have allowed us to develop stronger and deeper client relationships. We can quite easily assist multiple departments within an organization and provide recruitment tools at multiple levels within the organization (including searches at the executive level). With many of our regular clients, we switch back and forth between our search and sourcing products - all driven by their specific needs - and in some cases we are simultaneously providing several different levels of service. Furthermore, we also now have more small-sized client companies who we can truly call relationship driven as their total range of needs keeps us active with them (in some form or another) on a continuous basis.

Since the beginning of 2002, we have further enhanced our portfolio of products with "eSearch" (which has often been called "retained search lite"). This product utilizes the same model as our sourcing products, but with a greater emphasis on the research, assessment and referencing. The scaled-down nature of this search offering provides greater flexibility with respect to pricing - allowing us to remain competitive with the pricing structures of higher-end contingency firms, all-the-while maintaining our commitment to retained search quality, ethics and standards.

As we look forward to 2003, our strategic plan includes attracting sole proprietors across the USA. The marketing and business development tools we have put together over the years will assist them in growing their business in their present location, and our research, execution and administrative functions will provide them better delivery of services. Our broad array of retained offerings opens new markets and income streams with little or no effort. A sole proprietor would inherit these advantages plus a full array of benefits with none of the downside, while maintaining their own independence. We are now actively talking with individuals who might appreciate this type of relationship.

Handler & Associates is a 25-year old retained search firm headquartered in Atlanta GA. Its founder William Handler is a former VPHR of a fortune 500 company. He is a member of IACPR and is currently International Secretary of the World Search Group. Eric Handler has been associated with the firm for 5 years after finishing a 6-year period with the largest wire and cable manufacturer in the US where he held a variety of technical, operational and managerial positions.

Handler & Associates
2255 Cumberland Parkway
Building 1500
Atlanta GA 30339
770-805-5000
www.wlhandler.com