The Value of a Recruiter

Recruitment organizations are being challenged from all sides. Employers and candidates are looking for alternate ways to locate talent or to seek employment. Specifically, as it relates to employers, the age-old recruitment model is being threatened by in-house recruiting functions, recruitment technology tools, off-shore sourcing models, and low-cost posting options. All of these tools, methods and services are about the “finding” component of recruiting. These options are all based on the premise that “finding” is the key to a successful new hire for employers. While this can be true for lower level and entry level jobs, the facts are that for the more mission-critical types of roles at the key contributor, manager, director and above levels, finding is the easiest component of the recruiting process. The key to success in these competitive and mission-critical roles is in the “selection and persuasion” of candidates. That is where the value of a recruiter is greatest.

Ask yourself how many times you have been “found” by a sales agent of any sort…telephone companies, computer service providers, gyms, weight loss services, make-money-from-home employers, and hundreds more. They found you, they email you, some even start calling you. Have they converted you to a customer? My guess is that in most cases the answer is no. Have they spent any time doing more than repeating their message daily or weekly via email or voice messages? No, they have not. They are concentrated on “finding” but are ineffective at converting you through the power of conversation and persuasion. In fact, there is little time spent or invested in the “selection” process. They have no idea if you truly need what they offer, they just keep banging the same drum regardless of need or fit.

Many recruitment models are like these online and phone sales agents. They fail to leverage the value of selection and persuasion but rather focus only on finding targets. This is where recruitment organizations earn the fee. Recruiters are capable of selecting the right targets from a collection of many targets. Recruitment firms are experts in using their skills to select based on the criteria and fit characteristics shared by the employer. Once the right targets have been identified, a professional recruitment agency will then begin the process of persuading a candidate to consider a move. This is not as easy as calling the candidate and saying, “Want a new job?” It is an exercise in courting and persuasion. It typically begins with a complete understanding of what would motivate this candidate to make a change. Absent any motivation for change or perhaps the wrong motivation for change (money only, about to be fired, et cetera) the finding of a target is a dead end. The work begins after the right target is identified and a motivation that is appropriate is discovered.

As an employer, if you want the candidates that are easily distracted, ready to jump ship, have little motivation or the wrong motivation for change, then a process that excludes a professional recruitment organization is acceptable. If you want the best fit candidates, with appropriate motivation for change, to be selected and sold on you as an employer, then pay the fee to a professional recruiter and let that recruiter earn the fee. The value of a recruiter is that they can “select” the right candidates to target and will “persuade” those candidates to consider you as an employer. I have not seen a website or electronic service that can do those things effectively.

When do you find value in using a recruiter?