This section of our web site contains information that will be useful to
companies considering a recruiter.
Selecting a recruiter to represent you and your company is an important
decision. This person is the first contact a potential employee may have
with your company and it is important that the candidate comes away with a
positive image.
Recruiting is a high turn-over business. New recruiters come in on a
regular basis, especially to the large, nationwide recruiting firms. It
takes a long time to become a professional recruiter and we strongly encourage
you to use a recruiter who is a Certified Personnel Consultant (CPC).
These people have reached certain milestones within the industry and have
passed a rigorous exam having to do with ethics, law, process, recruitment
practices, etc. A CPC will have been a professional recruiter for a
minimum of 3 years.
Some recruiters specialize in a particular industry or job function while
others are generalists, working on any position that comes by. It is in
your best interest to work with a recruiter who knows, and is known, in
your industry. This person will know your competitors, your
customers, and which companies have people with appropriate or similar skill
sets to match your job. More importantly, at some time or another, this
person probably has already spoken with a professional who fits what you are
looking for. We'd like to encourage you to develop a positive working
relationship with a firm or individual that focuses on your industry, because
that person has the industry contacts, the knowledge of the industry, and a
reputation to uphold. With this person you can discuss trends in the
industry or keep his/her professional ears open for special opportunities for
you.
We have often heard of companies who have 4, 5 or 6 agencies looking for
the same thing. What this really means is that this company has
listed a job with these agencies, not that these agencies are actively working
on it. Any firm, company, store, or corporation's goal is to make
money. For a recruiting firm to do this (especially when there are more
jobs to work on than candidates), they have to determine which of the 30 jobs
they are aware of has the highest likelihood of success. If there are 5
agencies working on job # 333 and 2 agencies working on job #444, the smart
agency will spend more effort on #444. Here, they have a 40% chance of
getting paid for their efforts versus #333 where there is more like a 10%
chance of getting paid. Which would you choose to work on? Another
disadvantage of working with multiple recruiters is that there are only so
many possible candidates out there. If a person receives multiple calls
about one job, the entire organization is tarnished. Combine these
factors with the fact that you are receiving calls from numerous
"head-hunters", and you may easily have put yourself in a situation
where you invest way too much time with no return on that investment.
In reality, there are two types of companies for recruiters - those we work
with and those we recruit from.
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The role of a recruiter is to locate potential candidates who generally fit
the parameters provided by the company for a specific situation. A
recruiter needs to know where to find such individuals, sell the situation so
it is an opportunity for that individual, make sure that the person (and
family) will be serious about exploring this situation, and facilitate the
interviewing and hiring process. A good recruiter can also advise a
company as to the degree of difficulty in finding people who fit the
parameters and offer alternatives since we all know it is extremely rare to
find a person who is a 100% fit for anything.
Usually, the most highly desired candidate is someone who is not "out
there" actively looking for a job or blindly posting his/her resume on
the web. It is the person who is generally happy with their job,
performing well, a value to their company, but willing to keep abreast of
opportunities. In the recruiting process, Dan finds out what each person
may consider to be "opportunity" as that is clearly a relative
term. He may have talked with this person 3-4 months ago and not have
come across the right situation - until now.
The following are three primary alternatives for working with PSC.
You determine which method is best for you and your company in your situation.
RETAINER -
The retainer is normally utilized by companies:
seeking someone for a
higher level position.
for a position which is
very difficult to fill because of special technical expertise or industry
knowledge.
engaged in a confidential
search.
for a situation which needs
to be resolved quickly.
A retainer guarantees you the full commitment of the recruiter to insure
the highest likelihood of success. A retainer also provides a more
polished, successful image of your company while giving a very clear message
as to how important this position is.
PARTIAL RETAINER -
This option is usually the "best buy" for a company. A
partial retainer provides many of the benefits of a full retainer as mentioned
above, but without the capital outlay. It offers the advantage of
working only with one recruiter who is dedicated to resolving this situation
expediently. This method is used for any professional position that
needs to be filled in a timely manner. It is used increasingly by more
progressive companies wanting a smaller vendor base resulting in increased
teamwork and higher quality.
CONTINGENCY -
This method is the most familiar. It is when a recruiter gets
reimbursed only when you hire someone through the referral of that
recruiter. On the other hand, one runs the risk of receiving many calls
from numerous agencies. The down side is that if a job that is easier to
fill comes in front of the recruiter, he or she will likely spend more time
and energy on that easier job, than on your job.
FEES AND GUARANTEES -
Naturally, PSC charges a fee for the services provided. These
fees do vary depending on the type of search performed (see Search Method
Alternatives) and the relationship PSC has with the company. As
stated earlier, the goal of PSC is to develop a positive long term
relationship with the companies we work with.
Full Retainer - A mutually agreed upon fee paid out in thirds by
the company to PSC at the commencement of the search, at an agreed
upon interval and at the end of the search.
Partial Retainer - Normally a $5,000 non-refundable search
retainer fee which is deducted from the total amount due upon completion at
an agreed upon rate.
Contingency Search - The general and usual reimbursement for a
contingency search is 1/3 of the hired individuals' first years income.
GUARANTEES - In all the years that Dan has been in this business the need
for a "guarantee" has not arisen and PSC does not have a
blanket guarantee policy. There are a number of reasons for this.
The
history of PSC reflects no need for such a policy.
A
recruiter does not make the decision as to who gets hired. As stated
above, the role of the recruiter is to find and refer candidates who fit the
criteria provided by the company. The recruiter also facilitates &
coordinates the interviewing and hiring process. In no way does a recruiter
make the decision for a company as to who gets hired and who does not. Does
your stock broker guarantee that the stocks you pick will be winners &
refund your money if they are not?
Will
the company guarantee that the hiring authority, the team, the job, the
opportunity, the long term potential be exactly as the candidate perceived
it to be during the course of the interview process?
Under a contingency search, will the company guarantee that they will not
change the job specifications, hire someone through another channel, put the
position on hold, or promote someone from within after the recruiter has
spent 4 weeks of his or her straight commission time working on this
assignment?
The recruiter does NOT decide who gets hired nor can the recruiter attest
to the fact that this person will be the best person a company has ever
hired. Conversely, the recruiter cannot promise to the candidate that
this company will be the best company she/he will ever work for in his/her
life. This is why there are interviews; for a company to decide if this
person fits their needs and for the individual to decide if the company
matches his/her desires. Information given to a company by PSC is
normally provided solely by the candidate and has not been independently
verified by the recruiter. PSC also provides copies of the questions
and answers provided in references.
PSC is aware of situations where a company may be acquainted with an
individual or may have received their resume from another source. However, the
company passed or has not acted on the candidate for one reason or another –
perhaps because they only had the information provided on a resume. By
finding out more than what is on a piece of paper, PSC has
been able to help companies land the talent they need. The standard on
the topic of multiple referrals (monster board, other agency, etc) is:
“In the case of more than one referral, the source whose referral
caused the action (interview) leading to the eventual hire will take
precedence. No fee will be paid unless the hire was the direct result of interest initiated and stimulated by the recruiting
firm”
-Fordyce Letter 6/2001
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WORKING TOGETHER AS A TEAM -
In order for any relationship to be a "win-win" relationship,
expectations need to be clear and mutually agreed on. Over the years, Dan has
learned that companies generally expect certain things of a recruiter.
To know the industry - know
the players, the issues, the technology.
To be a good representative
of their company. The recruiter is the first contact a candidate may
have with a particular organization and that first impression is critical.
To
be honest with company and candidate alike.
To
not be an arm-twisting "head-hunter".
To
receive only pre-screened and qualified candidates and to not be inundated
with resumes. Normally, we refer no more than 4 candidates.
On the other hand, in order to be successful in a search, the recruiter
certainly needs to be able to expect certain things from a good company.
To have the trust and
confidence of the company so the recruiter is considered to be part of the
hiring team.
To understand the company's
interview process - who interviews, is there testing, who decides and how,
how does the company want to handle references, etc.
To
receive feedback as to
how a person is on/off target within 24 hours of a submittal or interview.
Most of the candidates that PSC places are not necessarily out actively
looking for a new position. It has been through numerous contacts over
time that Dan has learned what is important to an individual. People say
"if you happen to hear of --------------, let me know". They
rely on Dan to be their "ears to the industry". Therefore,
they need to be treated differently than someone who was laid off 3 months ago
and comes "knocking at
your door".
Along this same line, not all candidates have a current resume and we
prefer that they do NOT put one together. Why? you may ask. What will a person
do with that resume? More than likely send it out to your competitors and
mine. This is not something that I want to have happen. The purpose of a
resume is to provide an overview of a person's professional experience. If a
person does not have an adequate resume put together I will provide the
information that is relative to our search so that the company will have a
clear understanding of the persons skills and expertise as well as other
pertinent facts gained by talking with that individual.
PSC relies on the relationships and contacts we have developed over
the years. When PSC is engaged by your company to search for a
professional with specific skills we:
- need to have a clear understanding of the position, the company, the
manager, and why this situation is a good opportunity.
- search our data-base for people to contact who
- fit the given criteria
- know people who fit the given criteria
- contact other resources who may be aware of such an individual
- after developing a presentation regarding this situation personally
contact all the people on list to explore their own interest or to see who
they might know who would be a good fit.
- of those who express interest, qualify them and family regarding
- technical fit
- personality and fit with company
- growth potential
- location (talk with spouse & family)
- compensation
- "hot buttons"
- will they seriously assess this opportunity.
- check references
- present the best in either written or verbal form and expect feedback
within 24 hours
- arrange interviews; advise company as to critical issues for
candidate
- debrief after interview and provide feedback to company as to thoughts
of candidate
- negotiate offer
- guide candidate & family regarding resignation, counter-offers, fear
of change, etc.
- maintain contact with candidate to ward off any problems.
This is what you pay a professional recruiter for.
INTERNET RECRUITING -
An experienced Professional Recruiter (one who has the designation CPC)
does not merely go on the internet and search for resumes that contain certain
words and then e-mail these resumes to a company. This is NOT what you pay us
for.
- A resume may have been put on some board in 1998 and has been floating
in "cyberspace" even though the individual has changed jobs 3 times
or has a completely different direction.
- Intelligent professionals realize
that the web is not at all secure. The perfect person for your job is likely
at your competitor but this person realizes that his boss has as much access
to the web as you do.
- The internet or a mere resume cannot screen an
individual regarding their personality, their verbal communication skills,
their "presence" or their drive.
- Most professionals cannot put
all of their experience on a resume. Besides that, normally a resume is
written for a particular position - one which may be just different enough
from what you need that you may miss a perfectly viable candidate, unless you
have someone who can dig deeper.
The job of a professional recruiter is to find those passive lookers who
are currently working (perhaps doing the job you need done), who are fairly
happy and doing a good job, but wise enough to want to be kept informed of
career opportunities. Yes, certainly good people are downsized or want to
actively seek a new position and the internet can be a resource for these
people and we have placed these people as well. We will use every avenue
available to get your position filled with the right person as quickly as
possible.
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