3 Situations that Call for a Split Placement

NPAworldwide is a split placement network. We’ve been helping our members make splits for more than 50 years, so we pretty much think splits should always be considered. If you haven’t made up your mind yet about splits, or aren’t sure how they could benefit your business, here are 3 situations where a split placement is a great option.

The job is outside your specialty / focus area. Let’s suppose you are a recruiter who fills audit and other accounting-type roles. Out of the blue, your best client comes to you and says they need a digital marketing manager. You don’t know the first thing about digital or marketing. With no resources of your own, your only real option is to tell the client you can’t help. That means some OTHER recruiter will get the job. BUT … if you’re willing to share the fee and make a split placement, there’s no need to send your client looking for assistance elsewhere. You keep the relationship AND your client doesn’t have to go through the hassle of finding and selecting ANOTHER recruiting partner for what may be a one-and-done situation.

The location is outside your geographic coverage area. Let’s change the example slightly. Instead of a job that is outside your expertise, your best client needs to hire an auditor. In Singapore. You don’t know anything about Singapore – what language is spoken, what the educational background is for an auditor, or even how much money an auditor should be making. And Singapore is 13 hours ahead of you, so you’re not looking forward to trying to actually talk to any candidates. Again, you really don’t have the capability on your own to confidently say yes. This is another perfect situation for a split placement. A partner in Singapore can help source candidates in the local time zone, will understand the business culture and customs, and knows how to structure the offer. You manage the relationship with your client so the process is seamless.

You have “leftover” candidates from a recent retained project. Sometimes we hear from recruiting firms that mostly work on a retained basis wondering if split placements are a viable option within their business model. My opinion is they certainly can be! One of the best ways for a retained recruiter to make a successful split placement is to market the “leftover” candidates from retained searches. If you’ve presented 3 candidates to your client and 1 received the offer, what do you normally do with the other 2 candidates? They are qualified candidates who have been vetted and are open to a career change. Why not market those candidates to a split placement partner with a similar job opening? Especially in a candidate-short market like we are experiencing now.

These are three obvious situations where a split placement can be the best solution. There are plenty of other good reasons to have split placements in your business mix. What’s your favorite? Comment below!