As I ambled down the gangway, I looked back at the Airbus 330 resting on the tarmac. The mid-morning Houston sunshine twinkled on her windshield, Air France Flight 036 giving me a wink.

Returning from Paris, I had just tied up an Executive search integral to my client's European operations. Unexpected events had the ripple-effect ramifications of sending my client's stock tumbling. As quickly as possible, they needed boots-on-the-ground leadership at the epicenter of the trouble: Paris.

The "Talent Acquisition" team painted the recruiting task as Goliathian. (I had to check my handy pocket-sized "PC Etiquette" manual on that one--isn't Goliathian a Biblical reference? Is that allowed? Herculean would be more appropriate, but then again, that would imply broad-of-girth, which would better describe my seat-mate on the all-night flight across the Atlantic--but that's a topic for another time.)

As I dragged my jet-lagged bones (and bulkhead-waffled facial features--thanks to Mr. Herculean's arm-rest-breaching heft) through G-Dubya Bush International, I experienced a sort of catharsis. Success amidst chaos will do that. Despite the odds, I was able to snag a Mr. Wright from my client's competitor. Because this created new sales opportunities for the European sales team, the sales team was quite happy. Because I had put the European sales team in place there, I was quite happy. Because I gave Mr. Herculean half of my Air France breakfast croissant, he was quite happy.

I started thinking about my travels this year and the miles I'd put behind on talent searches. From noshing fiery BBQ Beef in Lenexa, Kansas, to imbibing Labatt Blue in Toronto, to savoring egg-and-cheese crepes along the Sein in Paris, just to name a few. I was out "getting" talent. Not "acquiring" it.

"Talent Acquisition." The term is too passive, too supine to accurately describe the bare-fisted mashings that go on in the fight for talent. But alas, it fits the "point-and-click" attitude that has taken over since Al Gore invented the Internet. We don't hunt for talent anymore. It's acquired, like winning some sort of auction on eBay:

CEO: " Great job filling that European Sales Director slot, Bob. Where'd you get 'im?"

HR: " Overstocked.com, Stan. I lost the bid on eBay for that guy out of XYZ."

CEO: " Well, he's doing great work. Herculean results."

HR: " Funny you should say that--because that's his name."

The epidemic of euphemism-itis has infected even the corporate cubes of HR: "Talent Acquisition Specialist"; "Global Talent Acquisition Manager"; "Chief HR Officer". Every description imaginable except for the true epithet for the snoozie point-and-click approach to talent search: " Human Refuse".

Talent search rightly falls under your sales organization. It's a hob-knobbing position that requires an extrovert-like ability to scout, sell, and schmooze--not point, click, and drag a mouse. A successful sales team is populated with "hunters"; anything less, we call "order takers." Instead of "Talent Acquisition Specialist", how about something like: "Sales Manager, Talent Scouting Division". Or perhaps, "Vice President Sales, Career Growth Opportunities". And, of course, one of my favorites: "Cube-Raider".

The landscape for talent is only going to get more and more competitive. Baby Boomers are leaving the workforce in droves. The New York Times recently reported that by 2012, for every one person gained, two will be lost in the workforce. I've seen stats higher than that in other studies.

And yet I read the surprising results from a recent study conducted by InSearch Worldwide which stated: "While 86 percent of nearly 700 HR executives surveyed said they feel having a well-defined talent sourcing strategy is critical for business success, only 33 percent said their organization had such a strategy in place."

Okay, so you don't have to start re-titling your recruiting team or start crowding their office furniture into the sales bull pen. But just like your sales team attacks a biz dev strategy, you need to make sure your talent searches are similarly tactical.

How does a pro-active, process-oriented talent search strategy work out? Over 90% of the executive talent that I've placed in the last seven years is still with my client companies. Time-lined searches ensure mile-markers and precise delivery dates. My client-retention rate--those first-time customers who return to hire me for additional searches--still stands at over 99% over the last ten years.

Disclaimer: Many people wonder if I take poetic license and embellish stories such as these. Yes. I admit it. I did embellish a bit--I never gave Mr. Herculean even a morsel of my Air France Breakfast croissant.

Please feel free to visit my website at: www.cuberaider.com