I’ve been spurred to action by what some are calling “split networks” for recruiters. These new providers are positioning themselves to be split networks like NPA, The Worldwide Recruiting Network, but they are really something else. These providers serve a purpose, but they are brokers not split networks. Breathe Dave, breathe…fill the lungs, rest, exhale and repeat…
There is a new breed of provider to the recruitment industry and they are hijacking a long-established recruiter language to repackage what they do and to make a killing doing it. They call themselves split networks.
In the recruiting industry, a split has always been a deal that was shared by two recruiters. Even within the walls of a recruitment firm, a deal that gets worked on by two recruiters is a split. There are other industries that work on a similar model, for example realtors who share the commission/fee that results from the sale of a home. There is a split that is shared between the selling agent and the buyer’s agent. In a split fee environment, the fee is shared and so is the work.
This new breed is acting as a clearing house for job openings, much like the multi-listing service in property sales. But rather than taking a small percentage off the top, some are taking as much as 50% of the fee collected without doing half of the work. Can you imagine if LinkedIn said, “We will allow you access to candidates but if you do a deal, we are going to take 50% of the fee.” The recruiting community would go ballistic!!! Then why is it that recruiters seem to be OK with giving 50% of the fee earned to these clearing house sites for employers? Recruiters end up doing nearly all the work but get half the fee. “ALL the work and HALF the fee,” that would be quite a marketing tag line, right?
There are some very good split networks. I think NPA is one, but I am not an unbiased source of information. TE, IPA, First Interview and NBN, just to mention a few, are great organizations built to help recruiters do splits. There are some commendable online groups, many of which are doing the hard work of connecting recruiters to do splits. Some of these organizations take a small percentage off the top; others are even free or just charge dues. Until recently, no one promoting splits has been taking 50% for themselves unless they were doing at least 50% of the work. So be careful, a split is not always a split…sometimes it is a huge commission for a broker of jobs.
In a community that worries about “LinkedIn’s intentions” and “will job boards compete with recruiters,” there are other threats in the mix. Be careful out there! Look for services that are providing HALF the fee for HALF the work.
Now tell me about where I went wrong…feedback, comments and shares are always welcome.
Today’s guest blogger is Jim Lyons, JD, CPC of LHI Executive Search in the New York City area. LHI is an investigative executive search & research outsourcing firm covering the information technology, capital markets, private equity/venture capital, digital & social media, mobile, cloud, big data, and legal business sectors. Jim has been an NPAworldwide member since 2012 and is currently serving as the chairman of the Board of Directors. Below he discusses his experience as a member of a split-fee recruitment network.
