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Why Use A Recruiter - Part II

• What We Do To Find You the Best
• What you Really buy when you use our Service
• Why Recruiters Are Worth What they Charge
• Why Use a Recruiter When looking for a New Company

Why Recruiters Are Worth What they Charge

Quoted from The Fordyce Letter

"When I need a heart by-pass, rest assured that I won't select my surgeon on the basis of what he charges" That's what an ailing executive recently opined when he was informed by his doctor about his arterial blockage problems. Why then are corporate executives so tightfisted when dealing with what is so commonly thought of as the "heartbeat" of their companies… top talent?

Companies think very little about paying the often excessive fees charged by their outside accounting and legal firms… or even to the gaggle of consultants who promise cost –cutting and streamlining miracles in other areas of operations. Yet, when faced with brain drains, talent deficiencies or the need to replace one employee with a better one, their thoughts too often turn to parsimony. This K-Mart mentality belies and contradicts their stated objectives to "hire the best", especially at pecking order levels below the "big picture" executive suite inhabitants.

Of course recruiting fees can vary from firm to firm but, when they do, you will almost always find that's those on the low side are sure to excludes some very key ingredients of the process, all of which are vital to providing the indispensable services necessary to satisfy the needs of the employer.

So why are recruiters worth what the charge? Just a few of the often unspoken reasons are:

Expertise – Nobody knows the employment marketplace better that a professional recruiter…nobody. In house human resources, no matter how effective, view the marketplace through an imperfect or misrepresentative prism and tunnel vision is there occupational hazard. Just as physicians are cautioned against treating members of their own families, so too is it folly for an in-house HR professional to believe that then have an undistorted and unbiased picture of the employment landscape. They are vulnerable to the pressures of internal politics and cultural dimensions which do not hinder the outsider. Street-smart recruiters already know the neighborhood, including the unlisted addresses so often overlooked by the insiders.

Cast a Wider Net – A professional fisherman will always have more to show than a weekend angler. Recruiters are in the marketplace day in and day out. They know the unfished coves, reefs and inlets that are unknown to others. The job-hunter bookshelves are filled with lore about the "hidden job market" The same holds true for the for the professional recruiter who has a detailed roadmap to the hidden talent sources which will never be accessed by newspaper ads, alumni associates, applicant databases on the internet or any of the other more familiar sources of people.

There are occasional pearls through these sources (and someone inevitable wins the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes too) but you have to shuck an awful lot of oysters to find them. Recruiters only give you oysters proven to contain pearls. Your only job is to determine which pearl is the best. Want to catch what you're fishing for? Hire a guide!

Cost - There is a misconception among employers that the cost of a hire equals the cost of the ads run to attract the person hired. Nothing could be further from reality. Try adding these to the TRUE cost and you'll see just how cost effective an outside recruiter can be:

Salaries and Benefits of the employment/recruiting staffs PLUS those of the line managers involved in the hiring activity (who are not productive in their normal job pursuits when they're out recruiting); travel, lodging and entertainment expenses of the in-house recruiters; source development costs; overhead expenses including but not limited to phones, office expense, postage, PR Literature, applicant database maintenance, reference checking, clerical costs to correspond with the hundreds of unqualified respondents, etc.

Unbiased third party input – A recruiters stock-in-trade is their integrity and their reputation for finding someone better than a company could have found for themselves. For a mid to senior level executive, the average recruiter may develop a "long List" of a hundre4d or more possibilities. Each must be called and evaluate against the position specifications as well as the personality "fit" with the company and the people with whom they will ultimately work. Once this is winnowed down to the "short List" an even more intensive intertwining process begins to narrow the search to a panel of finalists for review by the client. This process is not, as some believe, simply romping thought the file cabinets or putting the job opening out to others in the recruiter's network with crossed fingers that someone good will show up.

It is highly unlikely that a professional recruiter will be plowing new ground with your opening. They deal within spheres of influence far more familiar with your needs than any internal recruiter and, more often than not, view the finalists as people who are competent to solve client problems rather than just fill an open slot in the organizational chart. Because they want to do business with you again and again, they are looking for (and challenging you to excellence by hiring) the "truly exceptional" rather than the "just satisfactory " so often settled for by in –house hires.

Confidentiality – Advertising or otherwise publicly proclaiming an opening, aside from it's cost and demonstrated ineffectiveness for sensitive senior level opening, often create anxiety and apprehension among the advertiser's current employees who wonder why they aren't being considered or worry about newcomer transition problems. Just as often it alerts competitors to a current weakness or void within the company.

Speed – The recruiting process is always faster thought a search professional who is continually tapping into the talent marketplace than one having to start the process from scratch. For every day that a key opening remains unfilled, a company's other employees must grudgingly do double duty. And this doesn't factor in the profit opportunities or competitive advantages lost to a company because a position remains unfilled or is done on a part-time basis by other less qualified.

Post-Hire Downtime – Not only is speed an essential part of the professional recruiters process, the ability to locate a person who can immediately "hit the ground running" with a minimum of "ramp up time" saves time after the hire. All too often, a hire selected through less effective sources offering a smaller talent pool requires several months of expensive training and orientation.

Reality – Professional recruiters often recognize and have a duty to inform clients that they may be mistaken as to the type of person sought, the salary required to attract them or the possibilities that the solution might just lie in areas outside the traditional target industries….. something an internal recruiter is politically disinclined to do. Too many hirers fail to understand that a professional recruiter's primary function is not necessary to fill a slot, but to provide the right candidate to solve a problem.

Negotiation – Master negotiator Herb Cohen says that "negotiation is the analysis of information, time and power to affect behavior… the meeting of needs (your and others') to make things happen the way you want them to." As a buffer and informed intermediary, the professional recruiter is better able to blend the needs and wants of both parties to arrive at a mutually beneficial arrangement without the polarizing roadblocks which too frequently materialize in face-to-face dealings.

Prioritize company resources – It is often amazing to see how much of a company's revenues are squandered on non-productive perks for existing high level employees while they penny-pinch on what is every company's lifeblood…talent acquisition. Club memberships and the like may be fine, but no one with an IQ higher than Forest Gump's believes that these expenditures contribute to a company's profit margin. But one well-placed employee can be the cause of a company's profits skyrocketing. And the fee for having hired these people pales to insignificance when compared to the contributions they make to the bottom line.

The next time you think a recruiter's fees are too high, put them in the proper perspective before asking fir that Blue Light special or spinning your wheels thrashing about trying to fill vital openings with less effective(but not necessarily less expensive) pedestrian methods. Savvy executives learned long ago that the fee paid to a recruiter is a shrewd strategic investment, not an extraneous expense.

 

Why Use a Recruiter When looking for a New Company

As a Candidate, you may have come to distrust "Recruiters, Headhunters" and we don't blame you. Unfortunately many of our predecessors and novices in this business are much like the famous used car salesmen. Abusive, shoving candidates down your throat, sending you non – qualified people, not listening to your needs, etc. No doubt, a recruiter some where, somehow has given you a bad taste in your mouth. They've given us a bad taste in ours as well which is the exact reason we don't work for a large recruiting firm. We don't like the lack of ethics, the "hard Sell" sales approach, and the "get in your face" attitude some recruiters use to manipulate you into making a decision.

We consider you a respected, intelligent person. Capable of making a good decision. We understand that you are looking for the BEST company to work with.

This will clarify what you can expect from me throughout the recruiting process, and what our requirements are as we represent you to our clients. We have two objectives in the recruiting process:

1. We want the lives of our candidates to be enhanced by the positions that we provide.
2. We want our clients to be convinced that our candidates are the top performers in the industry.

What makes our service unique is our belief that our job is to find a good "marriage" between Candidate and Company. We will only work with reputable companies who offer the best to their employees. We also only work with candidates willing to work with me and who possess high work ethics, character, talent and respect. We believe you are the customer. Our fee is paid by our client company, there is no fee or cost to you.

Your role in helping us to achieve these objectives is outlined below.

1. It is critical that we establish and maintain effective communication. If we understand your needs as well as we do our clients, we provide a higher quality service. Please be honest and direct when defining your expectations from us.

    

2. We are aware of the value of your time, and your desire for confidentiality. Before we proceed with telephone conversations, we will ask if you are in an environment where you feel free to talk. If not, we will be happy to call you at home, or at a more convenient or private opportunity. We will return your phone messages in a timely fashion, and we ask to be extended the same courtesy.

    

3. Once we have presented your qualifications to my client, we will set up an interview at a time that works for both of you. We will provide you with information about the company prior to your meeting and we will advise our client of the results of our background verification.

    

4. After an interview has been arranged and completed, we will negotiate your compensation, benefits, start date, etc. as you have defined them to us. What is required of you is to call us after the interview. At that time, the client will express interest, decline, or want further information before making a decision. WE will advise you as we are informed. We would ask you the same -yes you want the job or no you don't or you need specific information before you can make a discussion.

    

5. We will not release information about you without your permission. We are as committed to protecting your interest as we are to meeting the needs of our clients.

We are sensitive to the fact that this may be an unfamiliar process to you. Please never hesitate to call us with any questions. We are here to help you.

In Summary – Using a recruiter puts you far and above others seeking a new opportunity because you meet directly with the Hiring Manager/Executive, therefore bypassing much of the corporate red tape. Decisions are made much more quickly, communication is kept open and you have much better odds of success (plus you can get the BEST compensation possible)

For additional information on interviewing, and career search methods we highly recommend a book called: Knock em Dead in 1999 and Knock em Dead Resumes, written by Martin Yate. Also "Rites of Passage" by John Lucht.

See also: Candidate Tips. There you will find resume tips, interviewing tips, and strategies to help you in your search.

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