So, you want to be a recruiter?

Good question, but what sort of recruiter do you want to be?
Much has been written this year about the failings of the recruitment industry.
Many have tried to put a positive spin on this.
But in reality it’s not the industry itself, but management within the industry.

There has been, for many years a universal expectation within the industry that for recruitment consultants to succeed they must be highly skilled salespeople, be able to account manage clients and candidates and be outstanding resourcers. Terms such as “end to end recruitment”, “360 recruitment” are terms often bandied about.

This was confirmed recently in a recruitment magazine where three senior managers of recruiting organisations were asked the question, “if you had to choose between two candidates, one with an impressive sales history but poor service levels and attention to detail, the other with strong customer service orientation but call reluctant, whom would you choose?”.
All the managers had the same answer, choose the customer service candidate and turn him into a salesperson.

With a sales focus on short-term objectives rather than retention, high turnover within the industry will only be compounded. Setting inflexible targets that have little bearing on consultant’s abilities shows a considerable lack of talent recognition, something on which we pride ourselves within the recruitment industry. As recruitment consultants, as expert authorities to our clients we preach, “understand the position and match the talent to those requirements”.
How many times have we heard/said this?

Until management within the industry moves away from the “do it all” or “get out” model, the industry as a whole will continue to be poorly regarded.

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Comment by Carol Moore on June 13, 2011 at 8:41am: Well stated, very well stated!

Comment by Helen Charles-Morgan on June 13, 2011 at 10:48am: Michael well said, the industry has changed and we need more than ever to focus on the service we offer for the money we charge, being a great sales person is all well and good until it comes to delivery...go back to training and make a recruitment consultant want to offer a great service and be proud of their career, not be happy that today they made 50 cold calls.

Comment by Mat von Kroeker on June 13, 2011 at 12:45pm: No offense--- but asking the gi-normous staffing firms to steer from "immediate, short term, real-time reports driven, at-all-costs profits to satisfy shareholders" business model to... well... ANYTHING other than that, is laughable. Companies such as those are as American as apple pie, pseudo-puritan ethos, and invading oil producing countries under UN resolutions. I do agree that the face, identity, philosophies, etc. of the profession called "Recruiter" should be changed for the "talent procurement, candidate/client focused, customer service" side of the profession-- to distinguish from the juggernaut-esque, industrial staffing conglomerates. Maybe a name change is in order-- Talent Consultant, Procurement Specialist, Position Coordinator, Placer, Replentor, .... hmmm.... how about "Pundit Matriculator"--- ok, that's it--- I am no longer a recruiter by trade or profession any longer, I'm officially a professional Senior Pundit Matriculator, (or PuMa for short), utilizing full Matrics principles and procedures in a "professional induction or conscriptive employment environment", in compliance with state and federal "Body Politic" regulations governing "satisfactory human experience" in the workplace.

Hmmm.... not bad, huh? I think I'll put that on my business card.

Comment by Candace Nault on June 13, 2011 at 3:06pm: Great post! As someone who has been in external recruiting for over 15 years, I am always amazed in how we work in a profession that's MAIN responsibility is to find that "perfect" candidate or "perfect" job for clients and candidates (it's what we 'sell' and position ourselves as the 'experts' in this area of business) and YET...the hiring practices of some management in our profession is counter-intuitive to what we say we are best at...kind of like how doctors make the worst patients?

Comment by aneshwa ghosh on June 13, 2011 at 3:35pm: very well said! being a part of this field & profession I understand what you mean and strong believe in each statement in this blog...

Comment by Michael Webb on June 14, 2011 at 6:21pm: Thanks Carol.
Helen, we only talk about service-we never do!!! As a mentor of mine said many years ago, "service is like making love to an ape - you only stop when they say so!"
Mat - One day you could become PM.
Candace - or like the plumber with the leaking taps.
Thanks Aneshwa.
Bill - why not hire the person with the right atributes in the first instance?