What if I told you that up to 10% of placed job candidates are not detected, resulting in over $1 billion in uncollected placement fees industry-wide?

What if I also told you that missed placements that have been identified within a year have a 78% chance of successful collection?

Would you leave that money on the table, or would you want to know how to identify those missed fees and collect on them?

How to Identify Missed Fees

Staffing firms should be tracking candidates at least annually to identify successful referrals that they weren't aware of. This may include a LinkedIn or Google search, or simply calling with the candidate to see if they've found a new position yet. The trouble with this process however, is that it takes time away from your recruiter's core job - recruiting - so it's really no surprise that fewer than 10% of candidate submissions are tracked at all.

While problem isn't new, there are new ways to solve it. Fee Catcher can automate candidate tracking and send alerts once a successful placement is made with your client - so you never miss a placement fee again. Rather than taking valuable time away from your team, automate your tedious tasks to keep your recruiters focused on producing more successful placements.

How to Collect Your Fees

Most of the time, a placement is missed because of a client oversight and they will pay once you bring it to their attention. So always start your fee collection process with a simple phone call to alert the client of their oversight and to remind them of your fee. You'll probably find that at least half of your clients will pay without a fuss.

In some cases, however, your client may bring up a sort of gray area: perhaps the candidate was already in their database or was submitted as an internal referral directly to the hiring manager. In these situations, it's critical to consider your history with the client before you do anything that could potentially damage the client relationship. If you have a long-term relationship with the company and you've never had an issue with them before, you should probably let this one slide. On the other hand, if you have a new client or one who is consistently causing you headaches, you may want to ask for proof for why they're not paying you. With proper documentation on your end, you may be able to collect your fee directly from the client, or you may need to consider escalating to a collections agency or lawyer.

Whatever the case, be sure to use your best judgment when deciding on a plan of action and remember: it's always worth a follow up call to the client as soon as you identify a missed fee. Chances are good that they'll pay you once you bring the missed placement to their attention.