High Tech and High Touch: Headhunting, Technology, and Economic Transformation

In High Tech and High Touch, James E. Coverdill and William Finlay invite readers into the dynamic world of headhunters, personnel professionals who acquire talent for businesses and other organizations on a contingent-fee basis. In a high-tech world where social media platforms have simplified direct contact between employers and job seekers, Coverdill and Finlay acknowledge, it is relatively easy to find large numbers of apparently qualified candidates. However, the authors demonstrate that headhunters serve a valuable purpose in bringing high-touch search into the labor market: they help parties on both sides of the transaction to define their needs and articulate what they have to offer. As well as providing valuable information for sociologists and economists, High Tech and High Touch demonstrates how headhunters approach practical issues such as identifying and attracting candidates; how they solicit, secure, and evaluate search assignments from client companies; and how they strive to broker interactions between candidates and clients to maximize the likelihood that the right people land in the right jobs.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Getting Clients and Job Orders 2. Qualifying Clients and Job Orders 3. Constructing Candidates and Securing Placements 4. Evolution or Revolution? 5. Booms, Busts, and Changing Labor Markets 6. Being a Headhunter Conclusion References Index

About the Author :
James E. Coverdill is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Georgia and coauthor, with William Finlay, ofHeadhunters, also from Cornell. William Finlay is Professor of Sociology at the University of Georgia. He is the author of Work on the Waterfront and coauthor, with James E. Coverdill,of Headhunters,also from Cornell, andThe Sociology of Work.

Review :
From archival and interview data—1,106 industry publications articles and interviews with 33 headhunters, 7 of whom were also informants for the first book—a fascinating case study emerges of an occupation markedly shaped by the evolutions of the last 20 years.... this is a fascinating and consequential look into the behavior of one group who sits on the fault line between the impending forces changing the face of the labor market as we know it. The rich descriptions speak to the evolution of an occupation under the impact of technology. (Work and Occupations) [High Tech and High Touch] provides a fascinating account of an infrequently studied profession at [a] significant moment in time that will deepen your understanding of how labor markets work. (Social Forces) Finlay and Coverdill help shine a light on the social aspects of this market, in which personal characteristics matter more and the actively employed are potentially considered as candidates. Their work highlights that the full implications of the technological and cultural revolution undergirding the "new economy" are only beginning to be understood. (American Journal of Sociology)