I read a blog post and the content got me thinking about the recruitment industry and how much of it appears to be very short term in its outlook. I don't mean to generalise and I know there a lot of good agencies who don' t take this approach, but a lot do.
Clearly recruitment businesses are there to make money - but I think the focus is too much on the generating fees rather than delivering a good quality service. For me its always been the case that if you deliver a quality service then the fee/income takes care of itself.
Focusing on fees over service, leads to a short-term approach which I think is an unsustainable way of running a recruitment business. Depending on the size of the recruitment business (i.e. with your larger recruitment organisations) it may be sustainable but will undoubtedly have an impact on your reputation.
So, why do recruitment businesses have such a short term view? Perhaps they don't actually set out to be short term but there are many factors which either directly or indirectly lead them to follow this
path.
Here are some of the things which I think lead to a short-term approach in recruitment:
Do you think the recruitment industry suffers from short termism?
Alex
NB. this article was originally posted on my blog: www.alexonrecruitment.co.uk
I do believe short termism exists but the clients promote this idea by not treating recruiting firms like professionals. Thus independent agencies feel "what's the point" and become a resume clearing house since they see other firms doing the same and grabbing a fee here and there. Client companies should realize that if they give the agency the time of day are respond in a timely fashion there will be a much higher level of serviceability. Search firms, like anyone else, need encouragement otherwise they will just work on a volume basis and hope for the best.
Regards, Chris Hofstetter/CTH Corp.
Thanks for your comments.
Leigh - Agree with your thoughts and yes I think it can change but needs to be driven as much by the client side of the relationship, which leads nicely onto Chris' comment
Chris - absolutely agree with you; this is the point I have made many times and therefore good to hear you and therefore others share the view that clients too need to change the way they operate.
Michelle - I agree you can be very successful in recruitment but the recruiting world is changing and therefore whilst histroically you could do well in the industry whilst not being focused on 'too' much on quality I think this will change. Social media, Direct attraction by clients will mean there is a greater emphasis on agencies/consultants standing out from the crowd and providing a value add & quality service. There will always be a need for recruitment businesses but i think quality will be a much greater focus. All the best to you.
I'm with you Slouch - I just can't see how any recruiter/agency can stay in business (or even survive a few months) without being concerned with quality.
I can't even picture sending an invoice without having performed some type of "satisfactory or better" service for my client. Throwing
unqualified resumes to a client? Is anybody actually making a living
doing this?
In my experience the vast majority of recruiters simply provide "adequate" service. Few even go so far as to visit their clients
regularly. Many just make the placement by somehow dragging up a
candidate who fits. They send the invoice. The invoice gets paid.
They may or may not ever do business again.
Are they dismissing "quality" in their service? Not necessarily. Can they bank on future business? Not necessarily......
Here is the rub. What is a quality candidate/service? It has become obvious to me that what is quality to one company may not be to another.
ie; i place a lot of accountants with public firms. Even within a 200 mile radius a candidate who is quality to one firm, another would not touch with a ten foot pole.
ie: service..some clients think it's quality service if we find them a candidate and leave them alone. They are barraged by phone calls from recruiters who tell them, "we are different, we provide quality service".
The take is that this brand of client does not want to talk to you five times a day or even a week. They feel that you provide quality service if you find them three candidates, set up the interviews, prep the candidate, shut up sit down and speak when spoken to. I have several like this that have called me for years because i do what they want done, when they want it done and leave them alone. Others want to talk about every candidate for an hour before they even decide on a phone interview. They consider it quality service if i am available to speak with them three times a day and stay with the process through salary negotiations and keep them posted on employee feedback for 6 months.
Since candidates, clients and recruiters come in all different flavors each will seek their own level where the interaction is profitable and successful for all parties.
It's my take that the bottom line is what keep recruiters in business, how one gets to the bottom line depends on what the client wants and how they want it done.
Quality like beauty is perhaps in the eye of the beholder.
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