After being on both sides of the recruiting fence I get the pride a corporate recruiter has in doing their job.  I made the jump to the agency recruiting this year and if anybody understands how things work inside a big corporation, it is me.  I have written more over the past couple of years about corporate recruiting than I care to admit.  After all, I am doing what I once thought I would never do. 

I know what it is like to live inside a spreadsheet and to be asked by my manager- why did you use a recruiting agency?  I remember the hard conversations I had with management when I used an agency.  I remember many corporate initiatives were to eliminate agency fees all together.  I feared losing my job if I used an agency.  After all, corporations were hiring corporate recruiters so they wouldn't have to pay fees to external recruiters.

So- I get it.  This year hiring is hot!  The demands put on corporate recruiters are often unrealistic and there are not enough hours in the day for the corporate recruiters to manage the process, source, hire and on-board the individuals needed to make the company successful. 

Corporate recruiters need help.  They can not manage the escalating requisition load effectively with the limited amount of resources they have availability. 

So, I pose the question to you. If you use an agency recruiter, do you feel like you are waiving the white flag?  Do you feel like you just can't fill the jobs in the time frame that you want to hire them if you hire an agency recruiter?   

I'm going to give a positive spin on this though.  I think using an agency recruiter to augment staffing is just smart.  There are executive level searches, time sensitive searches, and niche roles that not all corporate recruiters are able to fill.  I'm saying this as a former corporate recruiter who worked on hiring sales people around the globe and also was tasked with finding an inside sales person in Virginia.  My plate was full.

Agency recruiters are not foes of corporate recruiters.  Well, they shouldn't be.  They should be seen as colleagues.  One is not better than the other.  They both serve their purpose.

For me, I really enjoy the hard to fill roles and embrace the opportunity to work with multiple organizations. 

If you are a corporate recruiter, I urge you to partner with an agency recruiter when you can and to work with your management team to support using agency recruiters. 

We can all co-exist.  It is just good business sense. Even with the fees that are incurred, hiring the right people at the right time can make or break a quarter (or a year) for an organization.

Do you need sales people?  I'm here to help and partner, not to get you fired.  I've been in your shoes.  Call me.