Yesterday I saw a tweet from @greg_savage referencing his blog post about HR and Internal Recruiters needing to lift their game. There were some decent points, some of which I've talked about in other posts. I actually think that some of Greg's observations are also true of agency recruiters too! It's also important to realise there is a difference between an HR Generalist who deals with recruitment as part of their wider remit and an internal recruiter whose sole focus and specialism is recruitment.

Inevitably I think there's always going to be this 'struggle' between client side and agency side. Personally I think one of the best ways to try and mitigate this is to realise that both sides of the fence need a better understanding of the others roles and in particular understand their objectives, responsibilities and the pressures which impact them on a day to day basis.

Having worked on both the agency and now the client side I think this helps me to manage agency relationships in an effective way because I better understand what an agency recruiter is looking to achieve and what I might do to make things work more effectively; in line with my responsibilities and deliverables.

Working client side has also made me realise that as an agency recruiter I didn't necessarily have a good enough understanding about what my contacts on the client side had to achieve. Perhaps with a better understanding it would have actually assisted me to achieve more, as well as benefit them.

So whichever side of the recruitment fence you sit, try and view things through the eyes of your contact on the other side of the fence. Make it your business to understand their job more thoroughly and it might well mean that you both benefit.