To Internet companies, getting the right person now matters most. By Randy Schoenfeld he pace and scope of Internet businesses spell disaster for conventional executive recruiters and the companies that retain them. Traditional executive search isn't set up to deal with new media realities, and while every major recruiter is rushing headlong onto the Net, the walk won't match the talk if they can't provide executive search retooled for Net lifestyles. Besides filling jobs, recruiters sidle up to clients by providing counsel, usually about human-resource and organizational issues.
Traditional search relies heavily on executive networks and candidate databases.
Usually, that recruiter is working on one or two assignments for a client at any point in time. Getting the right people in the right place right now matters most. There's no room for traditional formalities that give the illusion of thoroughness. Execution outweighs long-term planning. For starters, the gold isn't in the Who's Who books or published databases.