So why use a top recruiter exclusively?

A scenario we experience regularly goes something like this. A client wants to recruit a key individual, so they assume the best strategy is to put the job out to 20 different recruiters. “Surely, if we put the job out to lots of recruiters, we’ll get a good coverage of all of the job seekers at that moment in time and we’ll then be able to recruit the best people available.”

The problem with this strategy is like you, a recruiter has to put hard work and effort into any inquiry to turn it into a result.

Any efficient, well run business knows that the key to success is to pick and choose the business they target, rather than working on every client enquiry.

As a recruiter – if you are aware that there are 19 other recruiters also aware of the role, you’ve a 1 in 20 (5%) chance of getting a result; therefore you put in the required amount of effort for a 5% chance project. This equates to either no effort at all, or a quick 5 minute search to see who you know off the top of your head.

To the client – this manifests itself in the results of 19 skin-deep, poor quality searches yielding the obvious candidates; usually the most desperate / active candidate that are making the most noise and are on the radar of recruiters (so that explains why we get the same CV from 5 different recruiters??).

If you’re a project company, you would never take a project on under similar circumstances, so why expect a recruiter to work this way? I once said to a client with this kind of mindset “Suppose one of your clients calls up and says ‘Hey, there is a £500k cheque waiting in my office for someone to deliver this piece of equipment to our factory, but i’ve called you and your 5 biggest competitors & the first one to turn up at our factory with the equipment will get the £500k cheque”. Faced with this situation – you’d likely gracefully decline this business. The risk is far too great; yet you ask recruiters to do exactly the same thing. It makes no sense”.

We work best with clients when it’s a partner relationship where we have the time to invest in a high quality, deep search which yields the best results possible – leading to the best hires.

So – our advice is take your time and build up a relationship with a top recruiter in your discipline. Meet them, build a relationship with their people and when you are then looking to recruit the top people in your sector use their expertise, network and contacts to talk to and then hire the best people you can.

Anything less than this and you are wasting your time.

#wynneconsulting