Should the recruitment industry deploy tighter rules and regulations?

Who agrees the recruitment industry should be more tightly regulated?

Many times i see recruiters floating CV's without the consent of their candidates, or floating unsolicited CV's to recruitment line managers who then claim the CV's as their own.

I recently send a CV to a my client with my terms and conditions, as agreed from project sign off, they then came back to me and said they already know the candidate and thus i wouldn't get a fee, i clearly knew this was not the case, how do we regulate processes to avoid this and stop companies miss leading us? Who should be in charge of regulating the industry?

Also i feel that companies should be capped at how many recruiters they use at the one time, a limit of two at the most i believe otherwise we as recruiters are just "another CV in the mix" and thus our true use value is not seen. What do you think?

Regards

Theo Mark

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Comment by Mitch Sullivan on April 18, 2013 at 3:32am: How would a cap on companies only using 2 agencies be enforced?

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on April 18, 2013 at 9:12am: Oh God. Why is it every time someone doesn't get their way the solution is more regulations / less freedom? You want to regulate candidates too? It's possible the candidate already applied online to your client but failed to disclose that little nugget to you. Hence, company already knows candidate.

If you're truly a partner and valuable to your clients, they're more likely to work with you exclusively. No "big brother" regulations needed.

Comment by Derdiver on April 18, 2013 at 10:42am: This has been done with a VENDOR list. Pretty common in the US with large companies. Companies have internal recruiters and databases. When sending over a candidate make sure they have NOT applied to the company in the last 6 months. However if the company keeps saying that people you are sending over are already subbed then either you are bad at your qualifying OR they are not worth working with and you should start pulling people from there. Just my 2 cents.

Comment by Sandra McCartt on April 18, 2013 at 5:43pm: Companies make the rules about who they pay and who they don't because they sign the front of the check and you sign the back. Quit bitching and wanting somebody else to make things the way you want them to be. If you want everything regulated and controlled go get a degree in criminal justice and get into law enforcement.

Comment by Stephanie McDonald on April 18, 2013 at 6:01pm: I can't imagine presenting a candidate without a signed agreement. That's a great way to ruin cred with me. If you submit someone and we aren't partners I assume its a gift.

Comment by Theodore on April 18, 2013 at 9:35pm: Hello guys,

I appreciate what you are all saying and i understand and accept your opinions. In response to Amy, it’s not about recruiters not getting their way, are you an external or internal recruiter? As an external agency i come across clients who aren't as helpful every day regardless of exclusivity and therefore just think that a little regulation in our industry would assist external agencies who have to battle hard clients on a daily basis.

In response to Sandra McCarrtt i appreciate your enthusiasm and passion in your response but just want to make it clear, regulating the industry is not about having too many legalities in the process at all, it’s about making processes fare and even for both the external agencies and internal recruitment HR companies, also Sandra i am in no way having a wing i am just finding it difficult dealing with areas in the industry that are not streamline.

When terms and conditions are set by agencies are they vetted by an external authority? Do all agencies have the same terms and conditions? Are all agencies complying with industry standards, i don't think they are.

Sandra if we as recruitment agencies do not come to a consensus on processes then we run the risk of the industry getting a bad name and also we run the risk of clients not fully appreciating our efforts and work, do you want that? I often come across situations in Australia where recruitment is not fully appreciated or understood and it’s because of processes and rules not being streamline, one agent might have different rules and regulations to another agent and that confuses the client who then goes over everyone's head and makes their own rules and regulations , this creates a high level of confusion in the industry.

Sandra in life we are governed by rules and regulation every day if we have no rules it creates confusion and slowly industries die out because everyone does what they want, when they want. I'm sure this is not how you want recruitment to end up. Are you an agent or a client?

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on April 18, 2013 at 9:50pm: Why battle hard clients? Just get new ones...
Nearly 10 years on the agency side including area director building a direct hire team for a clerical staffing agency. Now corporate. I've been on nearly every side of this business and still haven't seen it all. Someone, somewhere, will find a way to surprise you. I had crappy clients during my agency days - we didn't work together for long.

The "rules" are simple - open communication all around, signed fee agreement, and treat people the way you want to be treated. No regulations needed. As I said - get new clients. If ALL of your "clients" are behaving like this better look at the common denominator. Check the mirror.

Comment by David Wells on April 19, 2013 at 12:50pm: Its a much longer discussion than this forum would allow but "regulations" in terms of a government authority providing laws in order to regulate our industry, would probably be a detriment to many people you included. Regulations often favor ingrained companies, reduce competition, and provide access for regulatory capture by larger companies at the expense of small.

" When terms and conditions are set by agencies are they vetted by an external authority? Do all agencies have the same terms and conditions?"

None. And that actually makes it better for everyone. The market can sort out the good recruiters from the bad and good recruiters rise to the top, gain exclusive or semi-exclusive relationships, and generate significant revenue.

I am sure everyone here came across situatoins where recruitiment is not "fully appreciated or understood" and that is the sales side of the job. Its your job to make the client understand what value you provide, its not the government's job.

And your final point speaks volumes. You seem to think people cannot self organize and they need government to provide rules and regulations and without these rules industries will die out. Its actually quite the reverse. As an aside I am on the agency side, have been for over 7 years (I love it!) and most of my clients work with us or possibly us and 1 other firm. But sometimes when entering new companies I do have to compete with several firms. And as Amy said open communication all around staves off disasters and if the client does not adhere to these rules, I fire them. One of the true benefits of being a contingent recruiter!

Comment by Sandra McCartt on April 19, 2013 at 9:20pm: Theodore, my young friend I own a third party recruiting firm. Starting a little over 37 years ago I have seen and heard a lot of baby recruiters whine about things not being fair, blah, blah, blah.. Here's my take.

Fair is a kindergarten word. We live our own ethics or we don't. Most who don't have a short shelf life. Nobody is going to protect your little butt from either candidates or clients who don't treat your sense of entitlement the way you think they should.

No industry that I know of operates on rules of how they run their business to make things equal and fair. I think that might be the norm in a socialist state which has no interest to me at all. We have all the rules and regulations we can say grace over already.

Here is a flash for you. Recruiting as an industry has always had a bad name. We have come a long way in the last four decades. We create our own respect based on our own individual business ethics, not blowing smoke and delivering what our client wants in a timely manner.

If you are getting your ears pinned back, you think your clients and candidates are lying to you, my advice is go find some new clients build a reputation with them so they can trust you and you them. As far as candidates, we work in the people business. People forget who they talked to yesterday, a company may have an internal referral on a candidate who does not know his next door neighbor has talked to HR about him.

Just so you don't think I m picking on you individually. I have heard this wailing whine, THAT'S NOT FAIR, THERE SHOULD BE A RULE ABOUT THAT from every baby recruiter I have ever met, except those who had been in business for a few years.
I could write you a book about how ridiculous your need for somebody to makes rules and laws to make things "fair for you". I will condense it. Grow up.