May 2024

Hiring Authorities have a responsibility to qualify their recruitment partners. The model has been fractured for years and it will only improve if both sides are willing to take an honest look at how they’ve been handling the relationship. There is a lack of trust (and with good reason) when it comes to the recruitment profession and hiring managers have failed to leverage the skills and network of a good recruitment partner. The only way to change this paradigm is by having conversations. You shouldn’t complain about the crookedness of recruiters when you’ve engaged in transactional behaviour that fosters similar actions from that recruiter. A good recruiter can be an extension of your company if they are leveraged properly. I had a conversation this week with a hiring manager who is looking to fill a vacancy for an employee who is leaving to pursue higher education. I was told that they already had 3-4 agencies on the search, but they were willing to let me run with it to see what I could come up with. I respectfully declined the search assignment. Too many recruiters work from a place of desperation and take anything that a hiring manager flings at them. They engage in these scavenger hunts against their better judgement and realize very quickly in the process that they’ve wasted their time with a search that had a low barrier to entry, and an even lower barrier to exit. The misconception is that the more eyes (i.e., recruitment agencies) you have on a given search, the greater the chances of finding that ideal candidate. This is absurdly incorrect!! This is precisely why ghosting is a thing. Our brand has been designed to change the narrative around the recruitment profession and to inject some much-needed credibility back into this industry. The secret sauce is really not a secret – return phone calls and emails and do what you said you would do! I don’t get the disconnect, but I’m working to repair the breach, one phone call at a time.