The return of the retainer

It's time recruiters fully understand the service they are offering their clients. Many of us are working on a Contingency basis (ie: only being paid for a successful placement, irrespective of who is put forward for the position); as we think this is what the client wants - in reality a contingency based payment is really only favoured if you are putting forward 1 candidate, if you are working for the candidates best interest.

If you are indeed working for the clients best interest, you should be supplying them with a good number of candidates for them to be able to make their own final choice as to whom will suit them best. The client should be paying you a set fee for providing suitable applicants to meet the position requirements, irrespective of if they choose one of your candidates or not!

The problem has become that clients are expecting "Retainer" services at "Contingency" prices.

Many recruiters are now starting to understand their value in the number of hours it takes to screen a pool of candidates and charge accordingly - determined by putting forward ONLY qualified and suitable candidates. If you understand a clients' needs, their work environment and the type of candidates that are successful for them, you should be able to simply and easily put forward a number of candidates for your fixed price.

If you, as a recruiter, know what criteria your candidates bring (eg: industry knowledge, market experience, skills, achievements and performance records/evaluations) and then the client isn't interested in anyone you have put forward, does that make all your hard work obsolete? What if the client initially declines and then follows the candidate up at a later stage? It is dangerous to only be engaged on a "contingency" basis.

A good recruiter knows that they are only putting forward SUITABLE candidates - so you should be able to charge the client for that service!

Next week we'll be discussing ways you can move to charging on a "retainer" basis comfortably! Feel free to drop us any comments, as we'd love to hear about your issues with invoicing clients!!