So often, I hear clients tell me, “We don’t like putting a position with just one agency.”
Often hiring managers or talent acquisition teams erroneously think that more is better. However, it is worth knowing that as recruiters, when we work on a ‘contingent’/ ‘subject to chance’ basis, we typically work on between 15 to 30 jobs at any one time. Not just us, but all agencies.
Because we are working for free, we have to grade/rank the jobs in order of priority, to work closest to the fee, and in order to make sure we are successful against our targets.
If a job is with a company with a great brand, in a great location, and a relatively easy skillset to find, it is higher on our list.
If for any reason it is a more challenging position, or requires more work, it is difficult for us to justify spending the time it needs, because there is always the possibility that you might decide not to recruit it, so it ends up at the bottom of our lists, particularly if we know there are other agencies working on it.
It is easy to think that by putting it out to multiple agencies, you are multiplying effort, but the reality is that you are getting less effort from each one, and at the same time, candidates are getting approached multiple times by different agencies, and you end up a little bit like a house with several “For Sale” signs. This doesn’t help your brand in the market for this talent.
It is worth realising that when we work on a contingent basis, recruiters are scraping the surface of the talent pool. Think of the top of the iceberg where 30% sits on top of the water, that’s the active talent pool you are seeing who are active and will respond to LinkedIn in messages, but there are 70% who don’t respond to LinkedIn messages or emails. I know that I personally don’t answer these emails! And you probably don’t either. That’s passive talent -- the talent you want for your job. What you need to do is have a recruiter that is relentless to reach the candidates who won’t respond to a message, probably because they are good at what they do, and not desperate to leave where they are, at their desks. A good recruiter knows your position and the candidates and knows how to headhunt.
When your position is difficult to fill, confidential, niche, in a remote location, time sensitive, or important enough to hire the best talent, then you need to partner with a recruiter that has a good search methodology and looks at the entire job market.
This is how you fill tough roles with the best candidates, not by continuing to put it out to multiple agencies..
Let me demonstrate the effectiveness of this way of working on your next project!
