Being a headhunter, I can’t help but draw an analogy of the portal to posting a job online and expecting optimal results, consistently.
When we post jobs we mainly do it for marketing: demonstrate to companies looking to hire that we have a lot of jobs so if you’re new to our cities we work in, you (company) should know we’re legit….but we are never expecting to land the person from a job posting response. Does it happen - sure. We probably land maybe 1/25 to 1/33 or so from a posting. Let’s say 3-4%.
In my world, we’re headhunting. We’re typically searching for the gainfully employed, strong tenured, career progressing person.
This person we ultimately seek and find is not:
- Someone who changed jobs frequently (demonstrating they run from problems or they are the problem)
- someone who is not employed. Yes of course there are exceptions but it’s not likely a company is going to pay us a large fee to find someone on the sidelines (the thought being they could find that person themselves perhaps)
I genuinely believe the instances where a portal transfer makes sense are going to be more highly successful when we can find the gems. IMO, it’s likely using the money war chest to buy someone away… lure someone away that is…like headhunting. Find the star and flex that we’re Texas. We have Austin, education and a Tier 1 athletic program. SEC. Consecutive playoffs. Talent developers. NFL player producers….and then find that talent that’s already committed AND performing well that just wants a better opportunity (including the same or more NIL $$ too).
Thus, I’d contend that we should be headhunting those types of guys BEFORE the portal door opens. In fact, it should ideally already be a somewhat done deal when they enter or perhaps letting guys get through their post season so as to be high integrity teammates until the post season is concluded.
For the most part, however, our best success is going to come from hiring the best high school talent directly from high school. A transfer will have baggage. Some might be a carry on. Some might be a 4-set , 50lb full luggage set. Find the portals that just have carry on…the ones doing well already and we lure them to Texas making them a better player/competitor with more national spotlight and ultimately a higher probability for the NFL. Those are the portal guys I want.
The ones that can’t start so they’re leaving and don’t want to put in the work. Pass.
Find the guys wanting to better themselves.
Not the guys running from problems.
Tier 1 recruiting is headhunting. The portal is a means. Akin to our job posting placement rate we should be able to get value from it. But it’s nowhere near as important as high school recruiting and establishing the right culture fit from Day 1. If utilized properly (headhunt vs troll), it can be impactful.
When we post jobs we mainly do it for marketing: demonstrate to companies looking to hire that we have a lot of jobs so if you’re new to our cities we work in, you (company) should know we’re legit….but we are never expecting to land the person from a job posting response. Does it happen - sure. We probably land maybe 1/25 to 1/33 or so from a posting. Let’s say 3-4%.
In my world, we’re headhunting. We’re typically searching for the gainfully employed, strong tenured, career progressing person.
This person we ultimately seek and find is not:
- Someone who changed jobs frequently (demonstrating they run from problems or they are the problem)
- someone who is not employed. Yes of course there are exceptions but it’s not likely a company is going to pay us a large fee to find someone on the sidelines (the thought being they could find that person themselves perhaps)
I genuinely believe the instances where a portal transfer makes sense are going to be more highly successful when we can find the gems. IMO, it’s likely using the money war chest to buy someone away… lure someone away that is…like headhunting. Find the star and flex that we’re Texas. We have Austin, education and a Tier 1 athletic program. SEC. Consecutive playoffs. Talent developers. NFL player producers….and then find that talent that’s already committed AND performing well that just wants a better opportunity (including the same or more NIL $$ too).
Thus, I’d contend that we should be headhunting those types of guys BEFORE the portal door opens. In fact, it should ideally already be a somewhat done deal when they enter or perhaps letting guys get through their post season so as to be high integrity teammates until the post season is concluded.
For the most part, however, our best success is going to come from hiring the best high school talent directly from high school. A transfer will have baggage. Some might be a carry on. Some might be a 4-set , 50lb full luggage set. Find the portals that just have carry on…the ones doing well already and we lure them to Texas making them a better player/competitor with more national spotlight and ultimately a higher probability for the NFL. Those are the portal guys I want.
The ones that can’t start so they’re leaving and don’t want to put in the work. Pass.
Find the guys wanting to better themselves.
Not the guys running from problems.
Tier 1 recruiting is headhunting. The portal is a means. Akin to our job posting placement rate we should be able to get value from it. But it’s nowhere near as important as high school recruiting and establishing the right culture fit from Day 1. If utilized properly (headhunt vs troll), it can be impactful.
