10 Mistakes Companies Make When Hiring Recruiters

This will be a series in which I discuss what research showed to be the ten biggest mistakes companies make when working with recruiters. This doesn’t mean recruiters don’t make mistakes. The purpose of the series is to assist companies in getting the most value when selecting or using a recruiter.

I’m regularly asked about using recruiters. Most of time it’s because the person asking has had such bad experiences with recruiters. They want to know if they are wasting their money using a recruiter. A very valid point. Recruiters are really just a way of outsourcing the hiring function. It is not much different than most other outsourcing functions, so it is important that companies understand who they are outsourcing to and what the goal is for the outsourcing. Most companies do a lot of due diligence prior to deciding on whether or not to outsource and not on whom to outsource with. I’m constantly amazed at how little due diligence they do when outsourcing to recruiters, considering the fees are generally in the 5 figures.

First, let’s understand the different types of third party recruiters. For the most part, recruiters fall into two categories, contingent and retained. Neither type of recruiter is better than the other. They both serve a purpose and there are excellent professionals doing contingent and retained searches.

1) Contingent recruiters get paid when the company hires a candidate the recruiter presented. Since there is no cost to the company unless they hire a candidate, companies often use more than one recruiting firm for the same position. The recruiter knows that this creates competition among the recruiters. This may sound like a good thing, but there are drawbacks. For instance, contingent recruiters know the first recruiter to get a candidate’s resume in the hands of the company is the recruiter of record and therefore the one that gets the fee. In today’s world, with email, there may only be a few seconds that determines which recruiter will get the fee. As a result, contingent recruiters tend to be very time based. As a recruiter who worked on contingency for 13 years, I can tell you from personal experience that there is nothing worse than finding out you didn’t think a candidate was right so you didn’t send the resume or that another recruiter got a candidate’s resume there before you so they get the fee. Contingency isn’t always about finding the best candidate. It is often about finding a hireable candidate first. Since not all companies hire the best, sometimes average talent wins the recruiter the fee.

Also with contingent recruiters, the company takes on much more of the responsibility for the hire. Meaning, often companies only view contingent recruiters as a means to source candidates and not as a trusted adviser in the hiring process.

2) Retained recruiters are just that, they are retained by the company to fill a specific position. Like a lawyer or an accountant, the company pays a percentage of the fee up front for the recruiter’s services. Since the company is paying money in advance they rarely engage more than one recruiter to do the search. Retained recruiters should be a trusted adviser to the company. The recruiter should be an integral part of the hiring process. They should be involved in every step along the way, advising the company as needed to ensure the company’s hiring process is effective. Since time isn’t a concern, this type of recruiter should spend a lot of time learning about the company, meeting everyone in the interviewing process, understanding the company’s culture, and obtaining a deep understanding of the company’s business. The recruiter should bring in resources, provide interviewing coaching, bring the proper screening tools into the process, and make sure that the company is fully aware of all issues, from compensation requirements of the candidate to concerns the candidate might have that would prevent them from accepting an offer. They should meet personally with every candidate in order to build trust with the candidate. The recruiter takes a greater responsibility to make sure that the deal comes together. If the deal doesn’t come together it shouldn’t be because of some surprise issue at the end of the process. A good retained recruiter will make sure all of the issues have been addressed and if there are issues that can’t be overcome then there is no sense in continuing the process hoping it will all work out and wasting a lot of the company’s time.

Since the retained recruiter isn’t competing with other recruiters time isn’t the main driver. A retained recruiter has the time to thoroughly vet the candidate. If they aren’t right, then there is no need to send in the resume. Better to continue the search to find the best candidate.

As I said earlier, both types of recruiters serve a purpose and both have great professionals that are willing to help you. Deciding which one best fits your needs often depends on the position you want filled (contingent generally work on lower level to mid-manager level positions, retained work on upper level director to the “C” suite), how closely you want to work with the recruiter, what services you want the recruiter to provide, and the level of trust you have in the recruiter’s ability.

Regardless of which type you use, two things should never happen with a professional recruiter; the hiring manager will never think, “You’re NOT the person I hired.” and the candidate should never think, “This is NOT the position I accepted” or “You’re NOT the boss that hired me.”

The next article will be on mistakes #10 All recruiters know how to recruit top talent; #9 You must have a national firm to do an effective search and #8 All recruiters have a consultative approach. I will go into detail why these are common mistakes that lead to picking the wrong recruiter.

Want some tips on attracting top talent? Download the chapter from our book, You’re NOT The Person I Hired, on sourcing. CLICK HERE to download this chapter.

Want to assess your hiring process? Download our FREE 8-Point Hiring Methodology Assessment Scorecard. How does your company rank on these critical points? CLICK HERE to download.

I welcome your thoughts and feedback. If you liked this article and found it helpful, please forward it to others.

Brad Remillard

Ten Mistakes Using Recruiters (Mistakes 10, 9, 8)

Over the years, we’ve heard a lot of frustration from our clients regarding recruiters. Many of them indicated that using a recruiter feels like throwing money down the drain.

Much of the frustration executives experience with recruiters stems from initial mistakes made in hiring the recruiter.

We undertook an in-depth survey project conducted over a 3-year period with 425 CEOs and senior executives. We examined the top  ten mistakes and false assumptions in working with recruiters.

Some of the Top Ten Mistakes in choosing recruiters will give you a good chuckle – particularly if you’ve personally fallen victim to one of these common mistakes.

Mistake #10: All Recruiters Know How to Recruit Top Talent

A major mistake that occurs during the selection of a search firm is the assumption that all recruiters are outstanding at recruiting, motivating, and nurturing the passive candidates (those candidates not actively looking for a job, but open to hearing about an opportunity if it is compelling) and engaging them in a conversation about the position. Our clients were frequently disappointed that the search firms they engaged were unable to attract and interest passive candidates. They realized that most recruiters took the easy road of fishing in the shallow end of the pool, where the candidates are all actively looking for work and don’t need to be recruited. They discovered most just ran ads to find candidates. The very best recruiters understand candidate motivation at a deep level and are able to craft compelling statements of work that appeal to the primary motivators of top talent. The Success Factor Snapshot and the Compelling Marketing Statement (you can download free examples of these CLICK HERE) provide tools for top-notch recruiters to demonstrate to a high potential candidate what they will learn, what impact they will have on the organization, and how they will grow professionally by being in this new role. The very best recruiters consistently recruit, excite, motivate and close passive candidates. You should never pay a recruiter for candidates you can find by running an ad on the job boards.

Mistake #9: A National Firm is required for an Effective Search

The executives in our study realized that choosing a national firm to conduct a search was not a guarantee of success. Issues mentioned during our survey included having the partner sell the search only to turn it over to a junior associate, not providing adequate communication, being treated as just one of many searches being conducted simultaneously, a lack of responsiveness, and once the internal budget for the project was hit, the national firm slowed or stopped working on the project. Most shocking of all, was the national search firm’s lack of properly assessing the candidate. They simply box checked the skills and experience required. Rarely did the national firm link the candidate’s accomplishments to the annual or strategic goals of the company as a way to determine their ability to achieve these goals once hired.  These firms did not conduct deep and insightful interviews, did not understand how to measure or define success in the role, and were unwilling to join their clients during the interview process. Few took the time to actually meet and conduct thorough interviews with the candidates. Most simply took the easy way out and conducted a phone interview. Even when search fees range between $50K and $100K, this represents nothing more than a glorified resume service. The national search firms engaged by our survey participants lacked a rigorous process for finding and assessing talent. Too often they relied on the reputation of the firm’s name. Just because the firm has a national brand and many offices does not translate into success on search assignments.

Mistake #8: All Recruiters Have a Consultative Approach

One of the major mistakes in paying fees to recruiters is the assumption that the recruiter has a trusted advisor perspective to helping you make hires that are successful over the long term. Executives participating in our study realized that many recruiters have their own hidden agendas and short-term interests in mind when doing work for you. These can include the need to earn their fee quickly, identifying candidates with the least amount of effort, hiding negative information about the candidate, forcing a match when there is a dramatic mismatch, and overselling to close a deal that had no right to be made in the first place. The very best recruiters act as trusted advisors. They define a clear and precise process to identify and hire the talent you need. They force fierce discussions of candidate performance and fit, frequently playing devil’s advocate against your assumptions. Top talent in the recruiting field pressure their clients relentlessly to follow their rigorous process and focus on validating, vetting, and verifying candidate claims of performance and work style. They work diligently to ensure you are hiring the very best person for your open role.

You should always ask every recruiter the following question, “How does your recruiting process put candidates in the job, BEFORE we  hire them?” Most will not understand a successful recruiting and hiring process gets the candidate as close to doing the actual job as possible before they are hired. Few understand the importance of asking “How would you do X once you come on board?” Rather most ask, “Have ever done X in your background?” When the candidate replies, “Yes” they are qualified for the job. This is a common mistake.

For a comprehensive hiring process that does put candidates in the job BEFORE you hire them, consider our best-selling book “You’re NOT The Person I Hired.” CLICK HERE TO to learn more.

Want to assess your hiring process? Download our FREE 8-Point Hiring Methodology Assessment Scorecard. How does your company rank on these critical points? CLICK HERE to download.

Want some tips on attracting top talent? Download the chapter from our book, “You’re NOT The Person I Hired” on sourcing, it is free. CLICK HERE to download this chapter.

I welcome your thoughts and feedback. If you liked this article, and found it helpful, please forward it to others.

Brad Remillard

10 Mistakes Hiring Recruiters #s 7, 6, 5

A short reminder how we developed these 10 mistakes hiring recruiters.

We undertook an in-depth survey project conducted over a 3-year period with 425 CEOs and senior executives. Impact Hiring Solutions examined the top 10 mistakes and false assumptions in working with recruiters.

Some of the Top 10 Mistakes in Choosing Recruiters will give you a good chuckle – particularly if you’ve personally fallen victim to one of these common mistakes.

Mistake #7: Recruiter’s Value is Based on Showing Candidates

Study participants recognized that assuming the fee paid for an executive search was directly correlated to the presentation of candidates was a major mistake. The investment in search fees for most companies is a major expenditure. When this expenditure turns into nothing more than a high-priced resume service, there is likely to be significant disappointment in the value perception, even if one of the resumes presented turns into the candidate who gets hired. Top recruiting professionals have a rigorous and systematic business process for hiring, such as the Success Factor Methodology, which encompasses a cradle-to-grave process to raise hiring accuracy from historical standards close to 50% well up into the 90% range. Since most recruiters lack a rigorous process, our participants felt that there was a significant gap of value received.

Mistake #6: All Recruiters Do a Good Job of Assessing Candidates

Our participants were under whelmed by their executive recruiters’ ability to conduct an effective interview. Our participants found that they still had to conduct initial screens and catch the glaring errors and omissions ignored by recruiters. Our participants were stunned to find that most recruiters haven’t the slightest clue how to deeply evaluate a candidate. The vast majority of recruiters conduct meet-and-greet sessions with candidates in an attempt to determine if the candidate can interview effectively. Forget about determining if the candidate can do the job. Most recruiters are simply measuring likeability. A recruiter who uses a structured approach, such as our 5 Core-Question Interview and the Magnifying Glass Approach to Interviewing, overcomes this fundamental mistake.

Mistake #5: All Recruiters Help a Client Define a Great Job

Participants in our study had contracted with executive search firms assuming they would help in effectively defining the position. They politely described most recruiters’ efforts in this area as a re-write of their internal job descriptions. They found that the recruiters they’ve retained took their original two page job descriptions, added 4-6 pages of boiler-plate information, and had the audacity to claim a portion of their fees were based on this “value-added” service. When both the recruiter and the executive use the Success Factor Snapshot as the primary tool to guide the search project, accuracy and success soars like an eagle on a consistent basis.