An In-House Solution

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that 25% of Fortune 500 companies employ internal recruiters to find talent across their organizations, up 10% from a decade ago. This is a trend that has occurred in the past, and we've seen it be reversed when the economy turns downward. Internal recruiting departments become "easy pickings" for CFOs who are looking to trim overhead. The reality is that only very large companies can afford to retain an internal workforce of recruiters. The article refers to Time Warner, PepsiCo, Sears, and Campbell Soup as examples of companies that have found savings and success in going internal. Nevertheless, there is one big difference today – LinkedIn -- which provides the smallest of firms with the ability to tap into a powerful database of professionals across all industries and job functions. So what's an individual to do who is searching for the next opportunity? My advice is to aggressively maintain your LinkedIn profile. For real estate professionals, keep an eye on specialized job boards such as SelectLeaders, because that's where internal company recruiters go to kick off a search.

Tony LoPinto is the Global Sector Leader of Korn/Ferry International's Real Estate Practice and founder of SelectLeaders. The views expressed in this article are the author's own.