For those of you in the Staffing Industry, you know what I’m referring to when it comes to “Permission to Present”.  At Morton Consulting, we define this as clear permission to represent a candidate for a specific position at a specific customer.  We’ve seen “Permission to Present” really take off with our clients, especially in the MSP or VMS space over the past year.   In most cases, the “Permission to Present” process is something we have seen implemented once an issue with double submittals or vendor disagreements on candidate ownership.  This past week I actually saw this “Permission to Present” process highlighted as a part of a new MSP program kick-off which in my opinion is a positive trend that we hope to continue seeing as MSP/VMS programs continue to evolve.

Our team, whether Sales or Recruiting, often talk with clients or candidates who are experiencing issues with resumes being submitted for client openings without clear “Permission to Present”.  In some cases, double submittals are unavoidable but submitting a resume without clear permission is unacceptable.  For candidates, we recommend that while in the job market and throughout your career, you should manage your career pursuits in one place.  We often suggest something as simple as a notebook or an Excel spreadsheet where you can detail the positions you’ve applied for directly and then those that you are being submitted to through agencies.  It’s very important to know what agency or staffing provider is representing you to different opportunities as there are many out there and more than likely, as a qualified candidate, you are going to receive more than one phone call for new job openings.  I also believe this level of organization will provide you with a strong game plan to manage your career pursuits and an opportunity to stay ahead of your follow up.

It’s frustrating to hear from clients that vendors actually present resumes or candidates without clear “Permission to Present”.  I’m a big advocate for the Staffing Industry and I’m very confident in the value Morton Consulting and other firms can add to the staffing strategies of companies, whether large or small.  However, when resumes are presented without permission, it really gives our industry a bad name.  We have one client who for many years has called all candidates submitted before passing them to the hiring manager to validate information including “what vendor submitted your resume”.  If the candidate did not answer with the vendor that actually presented them, they were then taken out of consideration.  Not having clear “Permission to Present” a candidate to a client opening is irresponsible so at Morton Consulting we are committed to having very clear permission to associate our brand with a candidates resume for a client opening. 

In an effort to stay ahead of this trend, in May of 2010 Morton Consulting started leveraging Survey Monkey to help us manage the “Permission to Present” process for the requirements we support.  Recruiters and Account Managers cannot submit a resume to one of our clients without first having a record of the candidate completing the “Permission to Present” survey.  It’s pretty basic, we send the candidate a link, they complete a 7 question survey, and once completed we submit the resume to the client.  In almost three years of utilizing this process, we’ve had nearly 3000 candidates complete the survey.  We’ve even taken it a step further and we leverage the survey to also validate other possible conflicts or road blocks around background investigations, credit checks, and non-competes.  The process works well for Morton Consulting and it’s another example of our commitment to customers, both clients and candidates, along with a testament to our core values in making sure we do the right thing.

David Borovatz

Director of Operations

Morton Consulting

@Borovatz