Your prospects have internal recruiters. What can you do that they can't?

Internal corporate recruiters have a number of advantages.

They can interact with the managers.
They understand the corporate culture.
They are more up to date on changing requirements and priorities.
They know who was recently hired.
They have access to the company database of candidates.
They can use the company accounts for job boards.
They can place ads on the company website.
They can review the incoming resumes.

So with all this going for them, why would they need an outside recruiter?

Let's hear what you can offer.

Michael

Comment by Toni Fisher on May 15, 2008 at 3:38pm: As a contractor I can seek passive candidates from a clients competitors. An internal recruiter doing so could start a recruiting war or taint a companies reputation.

Comment by pam claughton on May 16, 2008 at 8:39am: I've been on both sides, and I think it mostly comes down to timing, and lack of it. Corporate recruiters ironically, often do not have time to recruit! Interesting that in your list, you didn't mention actual recruiting, going outbound to find candidates by tapping into your referral network. When a corporate recruiter has 25-40 or more reqs at once, which is not uncommon, they just don't have time to dedicate full blown recruiting efforts...they may be too busy to even do some of the things on your list, such as go to the job boards, search their own internal database and respond to postings.

The main value an external recruiter offers is speed and reach in getting a pipeline going on reqs that need coverage...could just be a timing thing, or could be a more specialized search that needs extra recruiting attention to develop a pipeline.

Comment by Michael Saulnier on May 16, 2008 at 11:30am: Thanks Toni and Pam for your comments.

I agree with both of you... and I'll add that, if an external recruiter has worked in a speciality area for a number of years, they probably have an extensive network of passive contacts they can leverage on any search. This network provides a resource any internal recruiter would not have.