You know that terrifying moment when you look into the mirror after a haircut, and it is completely not what you wanted. Of course, you have to be politely British and say “I love it!”… but you absolutely hate it!! Or what about when tradesman say they are going to have your work done by next week… but one month later you’re still waiting for it to be done. Or when you're looking at the bus timetable, and it says the arrival time is in 1 minute…. But 10 minutes later you’re still waiting in the rain! These are massive generalisations of course. Most hairdressers, tradesman and bus drivers know how to do their jobs, do it on time and exactly how you want it.

How many professionals or professions are well known for saying they are going to do something but then don't deliver?

Unfortunately, in recruitment this generalisation exists. A few recruiters out there have tainted the industry, by saying they can fill any role that comes their way, but then letting the client down at every hurdle. Of course, for many inexperienced recruiters, the buzz of winning new work can be such a driver that they don't stop to consider whether or not they should be even working on it.

• Recruiters should be giving value and quality to the service they offer
• They should be specialists not generalists and use this knowledge wisely
• A recruiter’s personal database should be their black book… if they have to go outside of it, there's a problem

So what’s wrong with saying “no”?

“No, sorry I don't specialise in afro-caribbean hair, but you should speak to “X,Y,Z”. Or, “No sorry I don't specialise in recruiting architects but I can find you a sales manager!?”

Making commercially intelligent decisions is part of every business, and where as some recruiters will take anything they can get, the most successful ones make decisions based on where they can deliver quality of service and a rapid response. That way the client is satisfied and the recruiter’s pipeline is healthy. The savvy recruiter won’t sit and stare at job boards hoping to find the perfect candidate for a role that they don’t completely understand.

At FMC, we take saying “no” very seriously… unless the role sits within our specialist area, and is on terms we are happy with… we won’t work on it. That way we never make false promises and our clients are consistently confident in our ability to satisfy them.