How to get the most from your Recruiter!
Whether you like or loath Recruiters, they serve a purpose. I have personally have been on the receiving end of gratitude many times for solving staffing issues for businesses and I’m sure this is the case all across the world or the model wouldn’t of worked so well for so long. Therefore like any Service Sector it’s logical to know how to get the most from your recruiter as opposed leaving them as a last resort. There are clients I have, that receive the best possible from us at Hays. It is because they know how to use us the best way. I will share these small tricks to help you too.
1) Meet regularly: I know we always ask to “meet for a coffee”, but there is purpose to this. It really does help us match up the right candidates for you and prevent wasting your time with others we would otherwise have sent. Face-to-face interaction tells much more than a brief chat on the phone. Viewing the workplace tells us everything we need to know about cultural fit too. You would prefer it that we meet all candidates beforehand, it is the same for our candidates we are discussing your business with to them. Therefore anything that helps us do our job surely helps the end result to you!
2) Give notice: The client that maximises our use, let us know of a job as it is being considered. Not when it is live or worse when they have tried and failed to find the candidate themselves. The longer you have had to wait for necessary staff the more your business will suffer. Also the more time we have the better the options to you. We understand this is not always possible, but if holding off till the last possible moment is simply a preference, it may be worth reconsidering this approach with a view of improving the end result.
3) Be honest and open: The more information we receive the better. Those little assumptive facts that may seem like nothing to you, are everything to us. We look for similar roles so need to differentiate further where possible. Imagine telling your Real Estate agent you just want a house? The amount of properties you maybe shown that are not what you have in mind will be time consuming, frustrating and eventuate to nothing. Generally we are as descriptive as possible i.e. large Garden, modern kitchen etc… Therefore do the same with your Recruiter.
4) Reply quickly: I always ask my clients to get back to me within 24 hours of me sending candidate profiles over. This is more than fair as will only really send 3 from a much larger list. This is not just an idle request though. The candidates know they are sitting on your desk and are keen to see what your company thinks of them. The longer they wait, not only are they growing frustrated and despondent, but they will go elsewhere. We see it all the time when a client eventually gets back to me and really want one of them and they have chose to go to a competitor.
6) Think of us as part of the team: As soon as you think of us as an Asset to your business the better. We focus on this side of your business leaving you to do more of what you are best at. We like to think our ourselves as partners with our top clients. This may be a nice way of thinking of your recruiter, but maybe the best way to think of us is as one of your staff. We have a key role that if utilised properly aids your business with the right staff. How you use and communicate with a team member will be different to a third party service provider, why? You manage your staff to your own best interests. Thinking of us the right way will inevitably get the better result for your recruiter.
8) Don’t try too hard for a bargain: It’s an old saying “you get what you pay for” which is annoyingly true, but it always feels good to find a bargain. However if you’re using your recruiter in a candidate-short market for example, you will want to make sure you are the first place your recruiter presents the top talent too. This will be less likely if you have negotiated some sort of bargain. By spending the right amount on the recruitment process decreases the chances of having to find funds to fix the same problem coming up again too soon. In short you will be paying for not taking on the right fit again and again to probably more and in more ways than the standard recruiting fee.
9) Accept there is lots of work that goes into the end result you don’t see: We don’t pretend to be able to do your job. We accept and respect that you are an expert in your field and without knowing everything you do work alongside you. The same goes for your recruiter. It is a high-demand role where hard work and smart thinking rewards the better recruiters and their clients. There is more than simply putting an advert up (which yes you can do yourself). If recruiting relied on adverts alone we would not be a profitable business model. Want to know more about the processes invite us in and we will happily describe them for you.
10) Discuss trends: Recruiters work to KPI’s. Meaning they need to speak to a minimum amount of candidates and clients. The key to doing well with this activity is listening. Everyone’s needs are different and they give a great snap shot of the market in each conversation. This type of front-line knowledge is priceless. If you want to know what the general market is doing, what your competitors tend to pay for specific role or what candidates are thinking, ask us. All business works in the future, predicting spikes and dips and prepare as best as possible for them. Asking your recruiter about what they are finding could be gold for your projected figures.
If I was to become a client and work with a recruiter in the future, this advise is exactly what I would be doing. By doing the job for years I know what makes Recruiters tick and what is needed to excel. I would take my insider knowledge and use it to my advantage. I know many of you are already doing most of the above, but will find something to improve from the list. Some may not be doing any of this, and no doubt feel your recruiter is an expensive option for what you receive. Maybe this is part the reason you feel this way? Try it out, call your recruiter for a meeting and give it all a go and see how your view of your recruiter changes for the better.
We all want the same results, so by working together, accepting professions and engaging correctly we will all benefit.
tom@purplepatchconsulting.com
