November 2024

Show me another profession where its professionals are competing against each other for a fee… What’s worse is that recruiters are accepting of this behaviour. Imagine me hiring 3 different window contractors for my home and having all 3 companies in my home at the same time during installation… Efficiency and logic would dictate that I would enlist the service of ONE company to install the windows throughout my house…(shout out to Pioneer Windows & Doors – highly recommended!) I find it difficult to understand how any competent executive within a company would think that it is good for business to have 3-4 different recruiters working on any given role at the same time. Somehow we believe that the more eyes we have on a search, the greater the odds of filling that position… Hiring Authorities: “We don’t do retainers!” or “It’s against our policy to agree to exclusivity.” What you’re actually communicating is you have commitment issues, and you’d prefer to prolong your searches & increase redundancy, all resulting in a bad hire in the end with that person quitting or being let go for reasons that were missed during the hiring process. Think about it. You spent more time babysitting all of those recruiters then properly evaluating those candidates. This isn’t about money… I’m more concerned about those recruiters who submit themselves to this type of treatment, not realizing the value they bring to companies and people’s lives… Call me radical, but I prefer to work exclusively with a company and pour everything that I am into that relationship. Like any other healthy relationship however, this must be reciprocated.

Car Mechanic: It will cost you $1,000 for a new Suspension and Steering System… Customer: Done, when can you start? Lawyer: It will cost you $300/hour to retain my services for this case… Customer: Done, when can you start? Plumber: It will be cost you $200/hour for my assessment of your leak… Customer: Done, when can you start? Recruiter: My fee is $35% for executive level searches… Customer: That is too high for us. We typically pay our recruitment partners 20%. Take it or leave it. Recruiter: Done, when can we start? Recruitment is vital to every organization’s success, yet we play this game far too often of under-valuing our service and taking what a hiring manager tosses at us out of desperation. What ends up happening is the recruiter takes on the search assignment at a lowered fee that they know is below market & their own personal standards. They quickly grow frustrated with a search that they shouldn’t have taken to begin with and this frustration bleeds into the interaction with candidates. Let’s uphold the integrity of the profession and get back to being a legitimate value-add service!