Recruiters. This is what it means if a client rejects your shortlist

Do you accept the fact that your client can reject candidates you present on your shortlist?

Yes? Then you lack ‘Recruiter Equity’.

Recruiter equity is the trust, the buy-in, the belief that your clients have in your ability and your judgment. It is the combination of your experience and your knowledge, and it gives you the power to
advise clients and truly impact the outcomes of your interaction with them.

Most recruiters lack equity all together. The presenting of a shortlist for a permanent brief is a classic example. The fact is, that if a client rejects or will not interview any of your shortlisted candidates, it can mean only one of two things — both bad.

You misunderstood the brief. You got it wrong.
The client does not trust your judgment.

It can mean nothing else.

Both of those outcomes is a disaster. And it means you did not get equity into the relationship with this client. Equity means ownership or a share of ownership. In this case joint ownership of the problem and
the solution.

Recruiter equity is the key difference between winners and losers in this business. Do your clients trust your judgment? Do they interview every candidate you refer? No? Then your recruiter equity is low – maybe non-existent. It takes
hard work to build up your equity.

It takes determination, study and practice. But it all stems from our attitude. Think about the best recruiters you know. The relationships they have with clients amount to
shared equity. Sharing the problem. Sharing the solution. Sharing the
rewards.

View the video for more on presenting the shortlist.

For all my vlogs and blogs please see 'The Savage Truth'

Comment by John Heffron on September 23, 2010 at 2:02pm: Indeed!

Comment by C. B. Stalling!! on September 24, 2010 at 10:08am: You seen to know alot about this. Has it happened to you alot?

Comment by Greg Savage on September 24, 2010 at 6:46pm: No CB, not in the last 29 years. Although in my first year in recruitment, while I was learning, it did. How about you?

Comment by C. B. Stalling!! on September 25, 2010 at 4:12am: maybe 20 years ago but my track record is 95 % of the time I get an interview for every candidate sent to client.

Comment by Greg Savage on September 25, 2010 at 5:09am: Very good CB. Seems you should also be writing blogs and vlogs to assist those who don't have this level of client relationship. I am sure you do. Can you post the links?
Cheers Greg

Comment by Sunil Suri on September 28, 2010 at 10:00am: The reason for this is poor knowledge transfer from the hiring manager/client to the recruiter. This will definitely lead to poor documentation. This will result in poor hit ratio and reflect badly on the recruiter. But I feel even the client should take steps to see that proper knowledge transfer takes place. After all a win-win situation gives better results. My view.