Global recruitment firms argue about staff poaching
TMP Worldwide recently hired former Korn/Ferry executives James Bethmann and Jeremy Hanson for senior positions in TMP Executive Search, North America. Five days after the hire, TMP said it received a letter from attorneys representing Korn/Ferry threatening a lawsuit unless TMP withdrew its offers of employment and ceased recruiting any Korn/Ferry employees.
John Mclaughlin, group president of TMP Worldwide in the Americas, has seen fit to comment on the matter in a press release. He said TMP has received "more than a dozen unsolicited calls" from other Korn/Ferry executives since it announced the two hirings.
Mclaughlin said: "I find it especially ironic and troubling that, without any evidence of wrongdoing by TMP, Korn/Ferry sees fit to condemn and threaten us.......the bottom line is that TMP is the firm with a vision for the future of executive recruitment - at every level - and that's attracting the industry's top talent."
The global search firms have seen quite a few headhunters switch their loyalties recently amid nervousness about the future of executive search in flat recruitment markets. One of the biggest problems facing most of them, however, is the sheer number of consultants with literally nothing to do.
