Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dan Nuroo on November 22, 2008 at 7:22am

Interesting point I think? not really in answer to my question though...... I mentioned throughout the post that we don't use agencies due to a couple of reasons, a) my CEO hates them, b) my team and I have been kicking enough goals for a lot of years not to worry about them. My question, I thought was how people who cannot use Agencies how they deal with the calls? sorry if I was not clear on that.

Nick Leslie-Miller said:

So Dan

It begs the question. Are you up to the job? are you finding the people with the skills that your company requires? if you are then you really dont need agencies. If you are not then maybe you should talk to a few.

Permalink Reply by Dan Nuroo on November 22, 2008 at 8:02am

Naturally.... I'd expect my sales people to call only if they had done research on the company, have a reason for the call, ie can add value (not just "do you have any open requirements?", or "what happens if you have a really hard to fill role?", be able to articulate their own differentiator when asked. I'd expect my sales people to listen as well, to be friendly, not arrogant and treat all people in my organisation with the same level of respect, and if asked be able to answer the simple question "what is this call in regards to?". People who talk down to, or aggressively at reception people or anyone do and should get very frosty receptions.

When professionals call with solutions, with something different, innovative or just damn clever..... that is what i expect from my sales people and others.. I expect more than just tele-marketers with a script and the idea that "the longer I can keep someone on the line the closer they are to buying something".

Permalink Reply by Dan Nuroo on November 24, 2008 at 4:48pm

My Dad used to tell me of the danger of assumptions, or what a previous sales manager told me a lack of qualification. Yes my CEO hates them, but he also hates going to the doctor, he still goes, does anything he can to avoid it, but he still goes.


Nick Leslie-Miller said:

I thought you and your CEO hated ALL recruitment agents, whether they bothered to be polite and courteous,or got to know and understand your business or not.

Dan Nuroo said:

Naturally.... I'd expect my sales people to call only if they had done research on the company, have a reason for the call, ie can add value (not just "do you have any open requirements?", or "what happens if you have a really hard to fill role?", be able to articulate their own differentiator when asked. I'd expect my sales people to listen as well, to be friendly, not arrogant and treat all people in my organisation with the same level of respect, and if asked be able to answer the simple question "what is this call in regards to?". People who talk down to, or aggressively at reception people or anyone do and should get very frosty receptions.

When professionals call with solutions, with something different, innovative or just damn clever..... that is what i expect from my sales people and others.. I expect more than just tele-marketers with a script and the idea that "the longer I can keep someone on the line the closer they are to buying something".

Permalink Reply by Dan Nuroo on November 25, 2008 at 6:48pm

I just received an email from an agency with a great take on this......

"Sick of calls from recruiters?

You may have noticed the large recruitment agencies are feeling the pinch (especially in IT and construction engineering) and you may be being called on more regularly by recruiters that are not aware of your skill set. One client of ours commented that one large agency had four different recruiters (4 would be a slow day at the moment - DN) call them on the same day and all attempt to float inappropriate candidates to them. It appears that many are either not using or possess a CRM system.

We see our job as a facilitator to growing your business - and that means an efficient quality service that allows you to get on with the running of your business.

We also work with other recruitment agencies to fill briefs at no extra cost to our clients. This means that the agencies are calling us instead of you. If you are a client of #####, feel free to direct recruitment enquires from agencies to us at #####

A standard line that some of our clients use is:

"We use ##### Recruitment to do our recruitment, if you would like to supply candidates to us, please contact them on @@@@@@@@@@""

Interesting approach... I liked it, something different. Unfortunately, I still cannot use them, but a great idea none-the-less

Permalink Reply by Becky Metcalf on November 26, 2008 at 2:55pm

Hi Dan,

It occurred to me reading here that you still hadn't actually received any responses to your question here. I thought I would put in my $.02 for you.

I haven't really been doing anything very creative to head off the calls, just being honest. I came from the other side as well which makes it easy to say, "Hey, I've been there and I know where you are coming from, but we're not in need of an agency because I take care of recruiting in-house." Usually if you *listen* and give your response in a manner that is respectful to their job they roll with it. Only the nasty ones will go on to question whether or not you are good enough at your job to not need their services... And those certainly aren't the ones I want to work with anyway!

~Becky

Permalink Reply by Becky Metcalf on November 26, 2008 at 8:27pm

I would have to agree! If someone calls the CEO they may get a different answer, it does amaze me that people come my direction first. Sales 101 to go top down, particularly in this case when calling the in-house recruiter equates to calling on the competition! All of us would like to believe that we are doing the best we can for our employer, but sometimes we fall short. I do employ two vendors which I have developed a relationship with to help me with sourcing out of target companies that I can't go after directly and to simply cover bases that their specialization is better suited for. And if someone approached with a similar value add - my own answer might be different. Thanks for the spirited debate Nick!

Nick Leslie-Miller said:

At least you have answered the question. But the question that agencies should be asking in house recruiters is "are you finding the right level of people that your company needs?". Just because a company has an ex recruitment agent working for them it does not mean that their problems in recruiting are being solved. My advice to any recruitment agency is if you really want a true answer to this question you should ask the CEO directly and not the in house recruiter.

Becky Metcalf said:

Hi Dan,

It occurred to me reading here that you still hadn't actually received any responses to your question here. I thought I would put in my $.02 for you.

I haven't really been doing anything very creative to head off the calls, just being honest. I came from the other side as well which makes it easy to say, "Hey, I've been there and I know where you are coming from, but we're not in need of an agency because I take care of recruiting in-house." Usually if you *listen* and give your response in a manner that is respectful to their job they roll with it. Only the nasty ones will go on to question whether or not you are good enough at your job to not need their services... And those certainly aren't the ones I want to work with anyway!

~Becky

Permalink Reply by Sarah Fraser on January 24, 2009 at 4:34pm

Nick

It appears that you can not read!

You mention a number of times in this post "are you finding the right level of people that your company needs?"

An in-house recruiter would know a lot more about what’s going with the company and the type of candidate they are looking for a lot more than you would.

What makes you so good? You seem quite arrogant to me. Its persistent recruiters like you that give third party recruiters a bad name.

Just remember Nick, YOU ARE THE THIRD WHEEL!

Permalink Reply by Dan Goyeneche on February 3, 2009 at 4:37pm

I don't mean to interrupt the love fest here, but I'd like to weigh in if possible. I don't have anything completely groundbreaking here, but I would have to agree Sarah that in-house recruiters "ideally" should know more about their reqs than any agency pitching their services. As for Dan N's original question, my reply is usually something like this, "Well thanks for your interest, we actually have a contract with another agency, but if you'd like to send over some info I can pass it along to my supervisor for future reference." ....

then I avoid their follow-up calls =)

Permalink Reply by pam claughton on February 3, 2009 at 5:46pm

Dan,

I'm on the agency-side now, but once did a long-term contract at Bank of America nad the policy in my group there was very anti-agency. The thinking was that they were hiring on people like me as contractors who had agency backgrounds and would supply us with research so we'd dive in and do the direct headhunting from competitors. Not sure if you do that in your co, but may be worth investigating. It was very effective at BofA for the tougher searches.

I found the best way to handle the agency calls was to be honest and direct and to the point, don't dance around engaging in conversation unless you are open to using them. As an agency recruiter now, I'd far rather someone shut me right down and tell me how it is, that the policy is no agencies, rather than engage me in dialogue that won't go anywhere just for amusements sake. That is a waste of everyone's time.

Just make it clear that there's no hope, and no point of discussion.

"We are not allowed to use agencies. That's the policy here, we do our recruiting in-house. No exceptions."

If there are exceptions, for tough searches, then why not have a brief discussion where you take control...cut through the dance and ask for info...."How well do you know my space? Do you work with any of our competitors? Who? What types of positions do you fill with them? Do you have any references I can call? Great, I'll let you know when we have a search that we can go out for."

A few minutes spent finding out who really does perform in your space, could be valuable down the road if you do need help. You can be sure to engage the right people, rather than the throw it against the wall and hope it sticks variety...and there are plenty of those. :)

Permalink Reply by Scott Cole on February 16, 2009 at 5:07pm

Dan,

I have the same issue. I receive call after call from recruiters following up like clockwork every 3-4 months. Our company is set that we do not use agencies but have them send contact information and file it away. The best thing to do is be blunt in the fact that you have ZERO interest in their service and to please stop calling. If the calls keep coming, which they will, then it is time to turn up the heat and be firm in the fact that if they keep calling and the opportunity ever dose come up you will not condiser them as a source for candidates. Usuially that dose the trick.

scott