Split Placements

Today’s guest blogger is Henry Goldbeck, of Goldbeck Recruiting. Goldbeck Recruiting is a recruitment and executive search firm located in Vancouver, BC. As true employment consultants, they bridge industry expertise and headhunting excellence with human resource support throughout the hiring process to improve the success of a new recruit.

Since 1997, they have filled challenging positions in industries and expertise areas like sales, engineering, biotech, accounting & finance, manufacturing & operations and the non profit sector.

Cross-regional recruitment partnerships, and indeed cross-sector and cross-specialty partnerships, represent a huge benefit that the NPAworldwide network provides to member firms, clients and candidates. While it’s true that sharing the workload also means sharing the fee, it’s also the case that such alliances can lead to otherwise unachievable recruiting victories, to the satisfaction of the client and the long-term benefit of your bottom line. Read the rest of this entry »

Whether you’re new to splits or have many years of experience, a good recruiter split fee agreement can help you avoid disputes with your trading partner. What are some of the elements to incorporate in your agreement?

First, make sure you HAVE a signed, written agreement. Read the rest of this entry »

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: Read the rest of this entry »

NPAworldwide placement activity has remained consistent throughout the pandemic. Members continue to rely on each other for split placements and they are finding pockets of activity around the globe, in multiple industry sectors. Here are some notable items through the end of the third quarter: Read the rest of this entry »

An independent recruiter is someone who is hired by an employer to find a candidate for a specific job and who does not work in-house for an employer, but for themselves as an independent contractor that several companies hire to find their new hires. One of the most frequent complaints I hear or read about recruiters is that they do not return candidates’ telephone calls. If you are a candidate who has attempted to reach out or contact an independent recruitment firm, keep reading because my post today focuses on three reasons why independent recruiters don’t return candidates’ calls and three ways to try and get a response.  Read the rest of this entry »

It’s no secret that the recruiting landscape has changed dramatically with the pandemic — and not in a good way. With fillable jobs in short supply, collaboration between recruiters can help determine which agencies survive and which are forced to shutter. If you’ve been open to splits in the past but have relied on them less frequently in the recent strong market, have shied away from splits altogether or have embraced them in your business, there’s good reason to increase that activity now. Read the rest of this entry »

As the Director of Membership of a split placement network, one of the first topics that come up with recruiters considering membership is if they have formerly, or are currently making split placements. Further questions reveal they didn’t make the split placements the “traditional” way. Instead, they provided a candidate to an employer via an online service like BountyJobs or Scout. 

In 2020, I have found that  the “recruiter community” language for split placements has changed. You can no longer assume that when recruiters state they have made split placements that it occurred the “traditional” way.  Specifically, what I mean by “traditional” way is when a recruiter with a job works directly with a recruiter with a candidate and the candidate is hired by the employer. This results in the two recruiters splitting the client fee.

“Traditional” split placements happen in one of the following ways:

1. Informal Network

• Recruiters form their own, usually small, network of trusted trading partners. Most savvy recruiters will have signed split fee agreements even if they make splits with recruiters they have known for a long time.
• In addition, larger informal split networks exist online in various Facebook groups or on Linked-In. It is not unusual for recruiters in these informal networks to have never met face-to-face or know much about the others background. 
• If you are a recruiter considering making split placements with other recruiters or are currently making split placements and do not have an agreement signed with the other recruiter, check out our sample split fee agreement which can be used as a starting point to create your split agreement.

2. Formal Network

•  A recruiter pays to participate in a formal network. In NPAworldwide, members pay one-time enrollment fees, monthly dues, and brokerage payments when split placements occur.
•  Networks can have a general focus or specialize in an industry or niche. In NPAworldwide, we have over 10 practice groups that help specialized recruiters navigate the community and easily form relationships or customize their experience to their most prevalent industry.  Some networks may include members located in only one country or state and others, like NPAworldwide, have members throughout the world.
• Formal networks should have rules of engagement so that trust can build among its members. If the formal network is not built on trust, an environment develops where split placements will not flourish. The rules of engagement will typically include how to handle candidate referrals, client poaching, permission to advertise, etc . Also, a formal network should address what happens if something in the split placement process does not go well. Of course, clear and written communication between the recruiters can minimize these situations. As a cooperative of independently-owned recruiting firms, NPAworldwide recruiters are bound to act within the Bylaws approved by our members.
• Signing the network’s membership agreement or contract binds its members to abide by its rules of engagement and may eliminate the need for a split fee agreement to be signed between trading partners. In NPAworldwide, a separate split fee agreement between trading partners is not necessary since the owners of the member firms signed the NPA Membership Agreement.

In contrast, split placements that come about from a client utilizing Bountyjobs or Scout are only labeled splits because the online platform itself is taking a percentage of the fee off the top. Many frustrations can exist in these types of splits due to the transactional nature of the placement, as well as the loss of candidate ownership and lack of direct communication and relationship building. 

If you are considering adding to your bottom line, consider all of the above when making the best decision for your independent recruiting business.

There are a lot of reasons why we believe a split fee model makes sense for recruitment firms across the globe. NPAworldwide Chair-Elect Jason Elias of Elias Recruitment in Sydney was a recent guest on The Resilient Recruiter podcast to discuss this topic. We often discuss splits as an option to even out cyclical fluctuations in cash flow, or as an economical means of business expansion. Jason sees value in split fee placements that allow him to serve his clients more effectively. Read the rest of this entry »