A word on SPLIT placements

A good percentage of my business involves split placements. I thought it would be good to take a minute and make a note of some of the principals those of us who do splits should think about. Here are a
few of mine:

In order for me to continue providing the level of service my clients have come to expect from me I must have a strong network of trusted partners. I will do my very best to make

sure our relationship is financially rewarding for you.

I promise to treat your time as valuable as my own. I will not suggest that you work on something that does not have a reasonable chance of success.

I will not keep the “hot” job orders for myself but will let you know as soon as I do when there is an opportunity to score quickly.

I realize there are many different styles of recruiting and will do my best to provide you the information you need in order for us to be successful together. Your need for clarity on position requirements, client benefits, process and feedback, etc.will always be viewed as important as my need for the same.

Presenting your candidates to my clients makes me look good and I value that. I will not use your candidates to gain a stronger position for my own.

Once you have introduced a candidate to me I will treat them with the same urgency and consideration as any candidate I may have generated on my own.

How I treat your candidates is not only a reflection on me - but you as well. Once your candidate is in process I will keep them informed at every turn. I will not leave them wondering what is going on. I will not
avoid their calls when I have bad news.

Upon receipt of payment from client I will IMMEDIATELY send you 50% of the fee. I will not at any time treat your money as my own. It is
yours from the moment it lands on my desk.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Anyone care to add anything?

Comment by Patricio Carjuzaa on September 22, 2010 at 11:10am: Couldn't agree with you more - it is unbelievable how some people need to be reminded of morals and ethics... even respect...

Comment by Sandra McCartt on September 22, 2010 at 2:37pm: If i send you a candidate for your client i will not tell you how to do your job with your client.
If you send me a candidate please do not tell me how do to mine. I know my clients just as you know yours.

If i send you a candidate who is being presented i will not call you three times a day and ask you for status on the candidate. I will assume that if anything is moving you will let me know. Please don't call me three times a day to tell me to push my client to move forward and how we are going to lose the candidate if my client does not act. Trust me, i want to make money as much as you do.

If i send you a candidate, you tell me the candidate is not a fit for your client i will not argue with you, tell you your client is making a mistake and must be an idiot for not considering my candidate. I will not keep you on the phone for an hour selling my candidate to you when you have already told me he is not a fit. Just tell me why and what i need to find and i will go find another one that may be a better fit.

Working splits effectively requires mutual respect for recruiting styles, client relationships, knowledge and the other recruiter's time. If we aren't on the same page we need to ring the bell, close the book and blow out the candle. Not everyone can work together effectively. Sometimes it's like playing doubles in tennis, one partner has to "serve and sit down" get out of the way and let the other partner play the point.

My feeling is that we have to genuinly like and enjoy our split partners then work as a team rather than using them as a drop shipper of inventory.

I have some great split partners. They know things i don't know, we listen to each other, respect the other's input, knowledge and frustrations. I would recommend them to any of my clients to take over my relationship with my client if i decided to leave the industry. To me it doesn't get any better than that.

We should be able to identify a flakey split partner prior to a conflict. Most who don't pay have done it before so ask for a reference from someone else they have worked a split with before you sign on. Sometimes strange things happen with splits just as they do in busines in general. If a client flakes out and doesn't pay we both take the hit. If you don't get paid i don't expect to get paid. But you better verify it to my satisfaction or i become your worst nightmare. :)

Comment by Rob Kornblum on September 22, 2010 at 4:29pm: Jerry- Fantastic post. It really comes down to mutual respect.

Comment by Rob Kornblum on September 22, 2010 at 5:14pm: Jerry- If you find yourself searching for split partners, or for a technology tool to help you manage your communication and contracting with partners, I would love to get your take on a new network we recently launched at Bullhorn called PowerFill. www.powerfill.com. You don't have to be a Bullhorn user to be a member and it's free. Our community is very IT focused at this point. Cheers, Rob

Comment by Kalch on September 23, 2010 at 2:05am: ive do anywhere from 5 to 10 split placements a year (i still love you mccartt) and have never had an issue at all. Im in canada and have never signed a split fee agreement with anyone. Our industry is based on trust, data, and networks that we spend our career building. It makes no sense to not show the same respect to someone else that they show you. For example, if a split partner wants to call a biotech candidate, give them the correct phone number, not some phone number of a divorced guy who wants outta dodge to leave his wife to go work in the film industry. Honestly, who would do such a thing?!

I double my income some years based on split placements. Some my clients, some my candidates. I also run a great book/desk of my own. I agree, sometimes it's hard to allocate resources when another hh calls me to focus on their stuff. i want to, really sandra i do, and I will.

Back to the point at hand... what is it again, oh ya, splits.... I love 'em.

Comment by Kalch on September 23, 2010 at 2:12am: And, Jerry, I agree with everything you say. Unfortunately, a split fee agreement is really worth only the paper it's written on. My suggestion is to start a forum 'THE SPLIT FEE BLACKLIST'. No better way to cause damage to someone than to post something here, where 20 thousand in the industry can easily see their name.

Comment by Brian Pho on September 23, 2010 at 8:12am: @Jerry: Fantastic post. The NPA encourages split placements. I also reguarly do split placement with some of my recruiting partners and I have found split placements to be extremely useful in order to complement a full permanent desk. I was always told by my mentor, "Treat your split partner exactly like someone working in your office".... Trust is built upon mutual respect between the two partners and I believe sharing ALL information between each others is critical in order to make a successful split placement happen.

Comment by Sandra McCartt on September 24, 2010 at 12:43pm: I love you too Kalch, if i live to be a thousand i will always laugh at the conversation i had with both the ex wife and the guy who thought biotech was two IT guys. I wish i had recorded it so we could replay it over a good glass of wine. There were a few moments during that conversation that i really thought i was being " punked" just so you could hear me scream. :) For what you do ...this bud's for you. The education i have received from you is greatly appreciated and highly valued.

Comment by Kevin Kirkpatrick on October 5, 2010 at 4:21pm: Great Post

Comment by Jenna Loh on February 9, 2014 at 11:23pm: Hi Jerry, I totally agree with you on your thoughts and sharing on your blogs.

I wonder are you still open to split placement. I am operating from Msia and I have some good candidates from Semiconductor R&D would like to move out and find a more promising career out from Msia. If you're open, do contact me at jenna@mypath.com.my or my hp is 6016-416 6989.

Hear from you soon.
Cheers

Jenna Loh