I think the saying is “preaching to the choir”  or “preaching to the converted.”  Get ready because here I go.

Your clients are being sold on filling jobs without the help of independent recruiters.  There was an article in the NY Times titled Why We Never Use Professional Recruiters and I think some companies are likely to listen to this message because it gives them a false sense of confidence in what they can achieve without the cost of your service.  While this may seem like “preaching to the converted,” I am hoping you can use some of my arguments with those that are crazy enough to confide in you that they are planning to go it alone.  If you have a favorite way to overcome this foolish client behavior, please share your story by commenting on this blog post.

10 Reasons Employers Should Use Independent Recruiters:

1. Recruiters can attract the best people. Why mess with what makes the business a success or a failure? If your livelihood depends on finding good employees and they are what drives your profit and results, then why try to do hiring without the benefit of a professional focused on your company’s needs.
2. Recruiters define and describe the position best. The use of professional independent recruiters will force you to know what you are looking for. A recruiter knows what is out there and can coach you on the realism of your position description, the availability of talent, and the cost of the talent you need. Do you ever see the For Sale By Owner signs on homes? Do you think those sellers have been coached on prepping their house for sale? Do you think they know the proper price for the home? Do you think they are as motivated as someone that has hired a professional to sell the house for them? I don’t. I think they are just giving it a try to see if they can find an easy sale and when it becomes really important to sell that house, there will be a realtor.
3. Recruiters keep employers focused. Is locating talent your company’s core competency? If so, then go it alone. Just because LinkedIn makes candidates more accessible to you does not mean you will be better served to do searches for talent without a recruiter. Your company president probably has the know-how to cut the grass and pick weeds on your corporate campus, but is that really where you need to leverage his/her time? Just because there is a manual on how to use that gigantic punch press out in the factory, does it mean that you should run it without an operator that specializes and has trained to use it? Do what you are good at, not just those things you have access to do.
4. Recruiters save staff time and cost. Not only will a search for an employee distract managers and leaders, it will also cost the company more money than a search turned over to an independent recruiter. I compare this one to the old in-house print shop scenario. Companies claimed to be saving so much money with their in-house print shops compared to having things professionally printed on the outside. Sure, if you don’t count the cost of employees, their benefits, the cost of space, and assign no overhead to an in-house printing operation, it will look great. Employers are doing the same thing today with recruiting. Do you really want senior managers and leaders out on Facebook and LinkedIn trying to find talent? And are you sure you know what their time is worth per hour? Add benefits and overhead to that number and independent  recruiters look like a bargain at any price.
5. Recruiters speed  the job fill. The real costs or opportunity costs of an open position can be enormous. Many studies say that in profitable companies an employee generates 3 to 5 times their annual salary in value. So if you leave a $70,000 position open for just one additional month, that is $18,000 to $30,000 the company will never see again. Independent recruiters can also focus efforts on the likelihood of a “yes” when the offer is eventually made. I’m very certain that most managers do not have the skills needed to coach and troubleshoot all the reasons a candidates would say “no.”  In fact, it would be very unlikely that a candidates would share with the employer the reasons for a potential “no” until it is too late. Independent recruiters have the position with a candidate to ask what a staff member may never uncover.
6. Recruiters know where to look for talent. If you are 100% confident as an employer that the best candidate for your opening is on LinkedIn, then maybe a recruiter is unnecessary for building the short list. We all know that is not likely as some candidates are “passive or not active” job seekers. You need an independent recruiter with networks and tools to find these people. Recruiters have the tools, subscriptions, a peer group for support and a network that is better than yours. A simple question: Is your manager capable of calling into the competitor’s company to get their best talent out for an interview? If they do that, will the competitor know what you are up to within minutes?
7. Recruiters know how to attract talent. Recruiters are expert at understanding motivation to move. They can predict for you the proper and real motivation vs. the misleading and bogus motivation. I can only guess that your managers and leaders have not been trained in doing this?
8. Recruiters are less apt to lose the best candidates. There is likely only one best candidate for your open job. Do you want that candidate being handled by an inexperienced manager or someone that does this 20 times before breakfast?
9. Recruiters offer a method for continuous improvement. Why stop recruiting after you fill the job? If you can keep your staff focused on the core business but have a recruiter looking to replace the weakest player on your team, you will be on a path to continuous improvement. Don’t hire one at a time, hire always. Independent recruiters allow you this potential.
10. Recruiters produce results. What other professional group do you work with that will work on a contingent basis? What other professional group guarantees their work even though they have little control over what you do to ensure the success of their placement? Most candidates leave because they don’t like the company or the direct supervisor and the recruiter has little to no control over those two contributing factors, yet they guarantee their work.

If you are 100% confident as an employer that the best candidate for your opening is on LinkedIn, and that your managers can attract those candidates, will never scare off good candidates, and will not increase the chance of a turndown by the best available talent…then you are running a recruiting company, not a business focused on whatever it is you do as an employer. You are in the wrong business, we have found the next great recruiting organization!

I hope one or more of these becomes useful for you.  Please share your ideas!