Split Placements

Making split placements outside of your specialized niche or industry is a strategic business move that can add significant revenue and help attract multinational clients. So why is everyone not doing it? Stepping outside of your comfort zone is scary. It is often intimidating putting yourself out there when you are unsure of who and what you will encounter. You may find other recruiters that have the same clients, or may be concerned you will balk at the client’s questions outside of your specialty. The competitive nature of everything we do in our business ventures can create doubt and uncertainty. It is amazing that our worst fears are often never realized, and in fact, anxiety is turned into success.

Consider this split placement story where the result of stepping out paid off for a firm:

A Memphis-based member of NPAworldwide used to work purely finance roles. As the network advertises firm roles across the globe and of all specialties, his confidence to attain these roles grew. He also quickly realized the strength of trading partners after being exposed to recruiters that have varying specialties outside of his own, including work in engineering, as well as roles and candidates outside the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

New recruiters come into a recruitment network to expand their reach, build their revenues, and to better serve clients and candidates. If you’ve never been in a split network, what’s the learning curve? How does it work? How long will it take to get that first split placement fee in your pocket? Where do you start? Here is a story about how a couple of experienced NPAworldwide members reached out to a brand new member and helped close a deal:

Don Previti, managing partner of DVP Partners, LLC, and Jim Lyons of LH International, who both work the financial services domain in New York City, were advised of a new member, Elisa Sheftic of Right Executive Search, who had just joined and had a very similar focus on the financial service and hedge fund space, and both took the time to call Elisa and introduce themselves. “It was immediately apparent we had many mutual shared connections and direct business compatibilities,” Don said. Don and Jim invited Elisa to lunch in Manhattan, where they both work, so they could meet face-to-face and discuss their success on NPA and how they can help her optimize the power of the NPA network, Don said. “I believe this was a pivotal point in defining our relationship and success going forward,” Don said. “Following our in person lunch with Elisa, we summarized some immediate action points and agreed to send each other some open requirements.”

One such role was a Senior Compliance Officer in the hedge fund sector based in San Francisco that Don had been working on for four months and was unable to fill.

Within a week, Elisa sent Don a great candidate, which his client wanted to interview right away. The phone interview went well, and the candidate was invited for an in-person interview the next week with the hiring manager and two partners. They made an offer, and the candidate started last month at a $150,000 salary. Don’s placement fee was 20%, so he earned a $30,000 commission, half of which goes to his new partner, Elisa. “So within 3 weeks of Elisa joining NPA, we had our first deal closed,” Don said. “I will be sending Elisa a check for $15,000 and we now have two additional requirements that are in varying stages of success.”

Elisa said that one of the things that make her partnerships successful is that Don and Jim are very quick to get her feedback. Openness and transparency shows a level of trust that can reassure a new member that recruiting is not always a dog eat dog world.  

“That’s a tribute to their professionalism and the strength of their relationships and it makes my team and I want to work on their assignments,” Elisa said. “Anyone in this business for any length of time knows that is not always the case with partners or clients and it is appreciated and it’s the stuff long lasting relationships are made of.”

This deal not only shows the power of the network, but the power of folks like Don and Jim, who took the time to reach out to a new person and introduce themselves.

“I believe this short story demonstrates the power of a split placement network when people reach out and leverage the national and international resources provided,” Don said. “I also hope this provides all new members a sense of encouragement that their first placement will happen and it’s in their hands to reach out to like minded partners to facilitate the process.”

I saw a post on a social media site yesterday about split placements. One recruiter emphatically stated he does not believe in split placements. Fair enough, splits aren’t for everyone. But I always feel it’s shortsighted to summarily dismiss splits. Here are 3 reasons I think every recruiter should consider split placements:

Split placements can even out business cycles

All business have ups and downs, including recruitment. There are times when you have more jobs than you can reasonably expect to fill, and there are times when you think you might never get another one. If you’re working the candidate side, you know there are times when candidates are a dime a dozen and other times, like now, where it’s darn-near impossible to find the right talent. Adding splits to your business model can help you even out the highs and lows. When you don’t have enough candidates or jobs, lean on your trading partners to fill the gaps. When you have too many, your trading partners can help you fill those orders more efficiently.

Split placements offer economical business expansion

At some point, most recruitment firm owners have been faced with the decision of expanding their business to meet demand. Many owners will opt to hire staff, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, splits can help you grow your firm WITHOUT adding extra overhead: no recruiters to pay, no desk costs, no training, no tools. You’ll bring additional revenue into your recruitment firm by working with other successful recruiters and sharing the fees. Split placements can help you quickly expand into new niches or geographies without the onboarding time (and money!) it takes to research and develop a new desk.

Split placements can help you serve your clients more effectively

No one likes to say no to a good client. Whether your best client comes to you with an opening that needs to be filled urgently, or an opening for a role you don’t normally work, or an opening outside of your typical geography, splits can help you say yes with confidence. You may also find that you can fill open roles faster, or work on more placements simultaneously. One of the best ways to keep your clients is to provide top talent faster than your competitors. Splits can help you meet that goal.

While split placements can include an element of risk, they are also an effective tool for many successful recruiters. Keep an open mind and give it a chance!

In a network, independent and boutique agencies look to add value to their clients and candidates by positioning themselves as global recruiters covering all specialties without losing their culture or personal service. When you are electing to involve another recruiter on a search, the efficiency you both show will always close deals. Here is a story of a brand new Sydney based member reaching out to another member.  They are both generalist recruiters, both looking to service their client and candidate as best possible.

The firm with the position joined NPAworldwide near the end of December of this past year. The owner and one of her recruiters had attended an open lunch meeting as a way to meet some of the members prior to joining. Right after Christmas break, this owner was already working the system to find a recruiter to match up to her client’s needs. Sparing no time, it was a matter of calling the other firm, and they proved to be very welcoming and friendly. The client required a Client Services Officer for their Financial Planning business in Western Sydney. They had advertised the position themselves but hadn’t had much success. After briefing the other recruiter on the role and giving all pertinent details that they would need to properly source a candidate, the search was on. As this was a first split experience, it was unknown how important this search would be to the other recruiter or what kind of results would be returned.

The very next day the recruiter already sent over an excellent candidate along with her reference check! The firm was amazed at this efficiency and extra step that was taken. The candidate met with the client on January 14th. They loved her. She subsequently had another interview and psychometric testing and the client offered her the role on January 22nd with an immediate start date. Both were so excited.  The firm would have never found this passive candidate with out the split partner’s help. The efficiency of delivering a strong candidate that was ready to make a career move made all the difference in this split.

In March, the client had already paid their invoice and the split fee sent to the other recruiter and the network; all in the space of two and a half weeks. What really seemed to click was the collaborative nature of working together to help place a great candidate. With both trading partners putting the focus on efficiency instead of letting time lag, everyone was on board from the start to end. The turnaround time was very quick and the mutual respect had been extremely refreshing.

If you have been wondering what the return on investment could be when joining a network or splitting with another firm, this is an excellent example of how a firm’s revenue grew in just over two weeks.

We have all seen an award winner accept a prestigious honor from their peers, whether in our work industry, a committee or organization we are a part of, or just on television. Whenever I see that moment of honor, I aspire to one day become someone who is looked up to and respected enough to receive such recognition. In a split placement network of close to 500 firms and over 1,300 recruiters, it is easy to feel as though your efforts are going unnoticed; however helping others when there is no financial gain for yourself is one of the true signs of a leader. The following split story highlights not only a great international split, but also a member going out their way to see others achieve success.

At a Global Conference meeting held in Denver, CO, a member, Jim, from Georgia, connected with several strong members in the network, one being the regional director for the Canadian membership, James. Jim’s firm planned to work several international roles and he has been hoping to find some solid candidate providers they could reach out to at this meeting.

As a follow-up to the meeting, Jim emailed James with a General Manager position in Canada that he was going to be discussing with his client that very afternoon, asking James for advice on how difficult the role looked to source, who could help source for this role, and any other help James could provide.

Many times, when something like this crosses your desk, you immediately get selfish and consider whether the job is in your industry, if you could take on the recruitment for it, and what is in it for you and your business. If it is not a match, which in this case it was not as James does nothing with regards to pumps/fluids, it would be really simple to not respond to the email and carry on with your day. However, that lack of response is doing nothing to build up respect for your name or brand, and also not helping the organization you belong to.

Instead, James racked his brain for fellow members he knew of that worked that particular space and took the time to introduce Jim to fellow Canadian member, Henry. He worded it exactly like this, “I don’t know anything about pumps/fluids but if I had that order the first guy I would call would be Henry.” How reassuring to hear such confidence in someone able to assist you, likely hours or minutes before you take a client call.

Well, James was completely correct in his introduction, and not only was Jim able to secure the role from his client, a 100,000+ job at nearly a 30% fee, but Henry successfully sourced it, and the two ended up splitting a $33,000 fee, with the added benefit of a happy client now knowing that the firm can handle those international positions well.

While James did not get a portion of that fee, he now has two very happy members that appreciate and respect him for connecting them, and I am sure that the next time he needs a favor or job filled, they will return the favor of responding to him with any help they are able to. I encourage you to stop the next time your mouse hovers over the “delete” button on your email to first consider what other options or reply you could provide the partner on the other end.

NPAworldwide turns 60 this year. Our members have made a LOT of split placements during that time. We think we’ve learned a few things about how to succeed at splits. While it’s true there are a lot of different ways to be successful, there is some split placement etiquette to follow that can make it a smoother process. Below are a few tips whether you are supplying the job or the candidate:

If you have the job…

1. Be committed to a successful split placement outcome. This means you want help, you need help now, and you want to close a deal. It may mean asking for help selectively as opposed to blasting out a generic post. Good recruiters will not get excited about your job if they are one of 10 recruiters on a list. Be willing to share important details with your partner about the client and the job location – this will help your partner hone their sourcing efforts.
2. Make sure it’s a good, fillable job. Even if it’s for a purple squirrel, the job should offer an appropriate salary and fee. Ideally it’s with a client you’ve worked with before, where you have a good relationship and a successful track record of placements. It helps if the job is with a desirable employer in a desirable location, but that is not a requirement.
3. Provide timely feedback to your trading partner. When you receive candidates, acknowledge that you received them and let your partner know if they are a good fit. If not, tell your partner why and how they can be more on-target.

If you have the candidate:

1. Call your trading partner BEFORE beginning any search activities. Make sure the job is still open, find out what has already been done, and if there are any candidates already interviewing. This also gives you the chance to find out if anything has changed from the posting, or if there are any other details that can help you source more effectively.
2. Find out how your partner likes to work. Generally, the person with the job will be the “lead” on split placement activity, since they are working directly for the client. Some recruiters want a lot of involvement from their trading partners; others want hardly any. Don’t infringe on your partner’s client relationship.
3. Make sure your candidate is appropriately qualified. If you have a candidate that *you* think is great but doesn’t match up with what the client is looking for, it’s probably best not to submit that candidate. Make sure the candidate’s contact information and resume are current. The salary expectation should be in line with what the job offers. Ideally, you can share insight about the candidate beyond what is included in the resume.

It goes without saying that clear communication, in advance (preferably in writing), is required from both partners in order to manage the process. I would venture to say that more than 90% of the difficulties that can arise on a given split placement can be attributed to unclear communication or mismanaged expectations. Remembering the importance of good communication plus following good split placement etiquette is sure to increase your chances for success.