Today’s guest blogger is Wilson Cole. He is the CEO of BackdoorHires.com and Adams, Evens & Ross, the nation’s largest credit and collections agency designed exclusively for the staffing and recruiting industry. In 2008 he was inducted into INC Magazine’s, “INC 500” for being the CEO of Adams, Evens & Ross, the 307th fastest-growing privately held company in America. Adams, Evens, & Ross has helped more than 3,000 staffing and recruiting firms recover more than $1 billion in past-due debt and is an NPAworldwide Endorsed Program. In this post, Wilson discusses the primary excuses they hear regarding back door hires.
They already knew a person they hired from somewhere else
Easily the most popular is when a staffing company calls me to say that a hiring company gave the excuse they already knew a person they hired from somewhere else, even though this same person used to work for the staffing company. Unfortunately a lot of staffing companies will give up on their claim at this point. In this situation, unless the hiring company can show the hired person was under active consideration, odds are strong that AER can collect on a claim.
They never signed an agreement
The next most popular excuse for back door hires is that the candidate didn’t last the 30, 60, 90 or whatever days that was guaranteed in the contract (in regards to replacement guarantees, not money back guarantees). Another excuse from hiring companies is that they never signed an agreement. In my experience, this excuse indicates that the hiring company doesn’t plan on paying you related to the hiring of this person and never planned on paying.
The hiring company claims the person they hired already applied with them months or years prior
Another excuse, a variation of the “they already knew them” excuse, is when the hiring company claims the person they hired already applied with them months or years prior. This is irrelevant unless they were actively considering the person (and can prove it).
A hiring company hired someone as an independent contractor or consultant, not a full-time employee
Another excuse for back door hires is that a hiring company hired someone as an independent contractor or consultant, not a full-time employee. This excuse is easily squashed by having a signed contract and having specific wording in that contract that if the person is hired directly “for any position, in any capacity, then a fee is owed.”
A hired person that was presented by another recruiter
Another excuse I hear is one of a hired person that was presented by another recruiter. Timing is the key here. This excuse is more plausible the closer it is given after someone is presented. The more time that passes after someone is presented and this excuse is given, the more likely there is more to the story. Hopefully you do not run into the scenario I have where clients have called to say the HR manager at a company took a resume presented to them, passed it along to another recruiter, split the fee with them and then gave this excuse.
A candidate was referred to them by someone internally
One last excuse is that a candidate was referred to them by someone internally. This is especially attractive for companies that have internal referral programs, but as long as the staffing company has clear documentation of a job being presented to the candidate, we should be able to collect.