Adding split placements to your business mix is always worth considering. As the economy and recruitment both continue to recover, next year may be an even better-than-normal time to consider splits. There is pent-up demand for hiring and employers will be eager to get their open roles filled quickly. Splits can give you access to a wider candidate pool, increasing the odds of getting the right candidate in front of your client—before your competition does.
Here are a few ways that adding split placements can benefit your recruitment firm:
- If your main niche is not recovering, you can easily adjust to a different/new sector
- If your client has roles opening up and you don’t have sufficient candidates, a split partner can help you develop a short list
- If you are seeing new markets emerging (like cybersecurity or fintech), working on a split-placement basis can give you a leg up on your competition
- If your client has openings in new or different geographic locations (even globally!), a local split partner can be a tremendous asset
- If you have recruiters with excess capacity, working on splits can fill those gaps and create a new revenue stream for your business
- If you really like (or are better) to just focus on one side of the placement (either finding clients OR finding candidates), splits allow you to play to your strengths
- If you are positioned for growth but are worried about additional overhead, add split partners instead of recruiters
- If you don’t like managing a team, split placements connect you with like-minded recruiters that you don’t need to supervise
If you don’t have a lot of experience with split placements, there is a learning curve and possibly a leap of faith required. We recommend strong written agreements between partners, a clear division of labor, and an agreed-upon schedule of communication to keep the process flowing smoothly. You may also want to consider use of an escrow service to hold the client’s fee (particularly for large salaries) if you have a money-back guarantee that could require a refund from your partner. Be willing to do more than half the work, and over-communicate to increase your odds of success.