By Daina Di Veto
We recently called an employer for the first time, and she was quick to tell us about her terrible experiences with recruiters. In fact, she’d had a job out to 3 different recruiters for 3 months, and had received only a couple of referrals. She wanted to know why we’d be any different…
When employers give a search assignment to multiple firms, they do so because they think it will bring more qualified candidates to the surface. However, what typically happens is the opposite: instead of a plethora of candidates, they end up with few viable referrals.
After all, recruiting is a time-intensive effort. In fact, recruiters live the adage “time is money”. When an employer gives a search to multiple recruiters, only one of those recruiters has a chance to be paid. The others will lose out. Given the odds, recruiters who accept searches under these conditions are compelled to take on lots of searches (often dozens), and likely spend no more than 2 hours a week on any one search.
If you have a critical opening, don’t spread it around to multiple recruiters in the hopes of success. Instead, work with one recruiter who knows your industry and who is willing to dedicate the time needed to bring the right candidates to the table.
At the Card Resource Group, we won’t accept searches that are being worked on by multiple firms. When we accept a search, we do so because we are confident we will complete it. We dedicate all necessary resources to it until a candidate is hired. We don’t need to hedge our bets because you haven’t hedged yours.