Pre-interview candidate prep: retained versus contingent

As a recruiter that does both retained and contingent searches, I'm curious how those that have worked on both sides of the business handle the pre-interview candidate prep call. As a retained recruiter, you are "on the payroll" so to say and are more likely to be acting in a consultative capacity with your client. I like to think that I'm always acting in consultative way with my contingent clients, however they aren't always as willing to treat our relationship the same way and may not want the kind of feedback a retained relationship allows. On a contingent search, you are motivated to bring the best candidates to the table but also to ensure that they are dialed-in for the interview so a bad interview doesn't totally derail a deal. So my question is do you handle those pre-interview candidate prep calls any differently than you would if you were retained?

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Permalink Reply by Edwin Ostrand on April 14, 2011 at 3:52pm

Well, I would have to say that I would have Sandra on my team any day, as anyone with her passion and grit is a winner in my book!

As for paid vs. consensual it is not about emotional involvement, the question was posed in the content of cost efficiency for services rendered. Would you lease your stud horse on contingency that the client was pleased?

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Permalink Reply by Amber on April 14, 2011 at 3:57pm

We do mostly contingency, occasionally retained. The retained searches are often from clients who we also work with on contingency. (By the way Edwin, the "level" we work at does vary, but if I take them on I work them to fill them!)

Besides the fact that I think any search we take on deserves the same quality of service, the fact that to be paid a fee either on retainer or contingency requires me to successfully fill the position.

The relationship with a client (retained OR contingency based), the candidate, and the position all determine the amount of time spent throughout the process, including interview prep.

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Permalink Reply by Edwin Ostrand on April 14, 2011 at 4:10pm

Amber, I agree you with all recruiters work very hard for their clients, else they would be out of business. The level I was referring to is executive level, or "C level. (i.e. CEO, CFO, CCO, COO, CIO, and board members). I apologize for any confusion I may have caused.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Alfred on April 14, 2011 at 4:18pm

@Edwin ... It makes sense Retained or otherwise that a Professional Executive Recruiter would have to spend a lot more time Interviewing, preparing, and closing a C level candidate ...

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Permalink Reply by Amber on April 14, 2011 at 4:19pm

Edwin, I know what you meant and was not remarking on it in a negative way - just really saying that if I take on a search for any level of position, I service them the same. And have also had some mid-level jobs take more work to fill then some higher level ones!

That's how I based my answer to Jeff's question: So my question is do you handle those pre-interview candidate prep calls any differently than you would if you were retained?

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on April 14, 2011 at 4:37pm

@Edwin Yes i do in fact breed the stud on a contingency basis in some cases. Live baby on the ground that stands and nurses and the owner of the mare likes the baby. Then i get the stud fee. Sometimes i get a stud fee up front with no guarantee of anything other than the mare be preg tested in foal. the stud doesn't know the difference he's prepped the same way and does the same thing with the same result. :) He doesn't care how he gets paid. He works every bit the same way in both cases.

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Permalink Reply by Edwin Ostrand on April 14, 2011 at 4:55pm

Sandra,

All the thoroughbred breeders of racehorse that I know get paid up front, and their fees are up there too. Then again we are talking thoroughbred and they generally perform better.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Ward on April 14, 2011 at 4:59pm

There's no point in even asking this question because of the morons who want to somehow suggest they're as good or better than the other are going to derail this into a contingency vs retained debate. Who gives a shit. Many contributors in this forum think they're God's gift to recruiting so to debate is such a waste of time.

To answer you question briefly. If you've truly vetted the candidate and your absolutely certain of their ability, you arm them with the ability to put their best foot forward in terms of comparable accomplishments, war stories, etc. The differentiator is your relationship with the client and how well you know them. If you just another recruiting schmo who works only with HR and not the hiring executive, your ability to truly prep your candidates is limited. Thus, the stronger the relationship with the stakeholders, the better your ability will be to help your candidates put their best foot forward. Keep it simple son.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Alfred on April 14, 2011 at 5:14pm

@Bill your are right but not sure you would feel this is not a valid question posed in the Blog ... Who are the morons you speak of ...? It's assumed if we are all professionals that we all have honed our styles with respect to the Full Cycle of Interviewing and Closing a candidate 50k or 250k- I do retained searches now and again and only if a Client has had a problem for a long time... Id love to hear from the Retained Search Recruiters perhaps I could learn something ... I think the point of the blog is do we work differently ... Why would you want to silence contributing responders - so who cares if they have an ego or an edge...

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Permalink Reply by Bill Ward on April 14, 2011 at 5:23pm

Paul- The morons are those that look for any reason to derail a conversation into a pissing match. If you fit that bill, than feel free to include yourself . Otherwise, don't take my comment personally. I find that many of these questions posed end up going in a completely different direction...like the retained vs contingency debate. Suffice to say, if your clients pay for your service and receive long term value for the service you provide, who cares how you are compensated? Retained search professionals work hard, contingency shops do as well although they are completely different models. I personally don't see many successful retained search firms dabbling in contingency. Independent contractors? Sure, they take what they can get. Frankly, I don't care about how it gets done, as long as the results exceed client expectations. How you accomplish that goal is all relative in my opinion. And that's all it is...my opinion.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Alfred on April 14, 2011 at 5:29pm

@Bill, No I take no comments personally I think I wrote a blog about that recently... I just think that we need to let the comments flow ego and all ... Everyone one has a perspective to share or pick a part ... To tell you the truth this is one of the reasons we ( or I) get so engaged in this site ... Lets hear all the views and opinions ..