Clients tend to view agency recruiters one of two ways: as
trusted advisors and partners or as opportunists to be avoided whenever
possible. The recruiting industry has
gotten a pretty bad rap but it’s not hard to understand why: unkept promises,
unreturned phone calls, unanswered emails, resume “slinging” and poor adherence
to best practices impaired even further by the high rate of employee turnover
all damage the rest of the world’s perception of who we are, what we do and why
we do it.
When the recruiter you’re working with seems to drop the
ball, there is absolutely a good chance that the individual/firm you hired is a
poor representation of our industry; however, there is also a chance that the
root of the problem is a mutual failure to set appropriate expectations or one
party’s failure to understand how the other does business.
If you hire a firm on a contingency basis, (certainly not always, but) more often than
not, you’ll get what you paid for: nothing.
And that’s not your recruiter’s fault.
We’re in a business where we are often expected to work for free and as
a function of that, we are put in a position to re-evaluate the cost of doing
business with individual clients on a daily basis. Here are a few of the most common ways
clients unwittingly “de-prioritize” their own searches:
Bargain Hunting
· everyone
loves a discount, but recruiters provide a valuable service and if you don’t
feel the work warrants the fee, you don’t need our help yet
· if
you’re working within a budget, don’t try to negotiate the recruiter down to a
below-market rate; instead agree to a fair fee and limit your searches to your
team’s most urgent, most vital needs—we would rather work on two jobs we know
you intend to fill than twenty we don’t
Radio Silence
· if
we have questions, answer them—take the time to help us collect the correct
data before we begin the search so we don’t waste our time, your time or
candidates’ time
· when
we submit candidates, evaluate them and respond with feedback promptly (24
hours or less); or at a minimum, acknowledge the receipt and set expectations
for your reply
Slow Motion
· time
kills all deals; good candidates don’t stay on the market very long and when
they decide to make a change they will explore all of their options—we need to
be able to prepare candidates for any potential delays, but remember that no
amount of preparation will save the hire if your top candidate receives another
offer first (an actual offer beats a potential offer 100% of the time)
· interview
processes are a lot like dating; you can’t be afraid to show that you’re
interested—the moment a candidate has reason to question your level of interest
is the moment s/he begins talking her/himself out of wanting the job
When the client makes no cash investment in securing our
services we are taking a gamble; that means if your job isn’t a safe bet, it
gets less attention. The best (FREE) way
to mitigate that risk and get your job the attention you feel it deserves is to
be more responsive than other clients—the second best way is to agree to a
higher fee. A good recruiter is
motivated by the promise of results first; money comes in a close second. Two for two pushes you to the front of the line.
And finally…
We only place as much importance on your search as you do.
If you need the job filled, you will make yourself available to us, you
will make speaking with candidates and moving them through the process a
priority and in return, you will see more recruiting activity, stronger
candidates and faster turnaround. The
next time you don’t feel that your search is getting the appropriate response,
evaluate what you could be doing differently to demonstrate the urgency of your
need and put it to the test—the results might surprise you.
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