I have a situation developing today whereby a client of mine is avoiding engaging us in a recruiting project, while at the same time going through the final interview process to hire somebody who got introduced to him from me through my network. Both the candidate and the client are uncomfortable with this situation. In particular, because they're worried they're going to ruffle my feathers and I’m going to lose my recruiting fees from this project.
Well the fact is that we are going to lose our recruiting fees, but there is nothing I can do about it except take the high road and accept that when I do the right thing and help people, they will ultimately reward me by maintaining our relationship. I expect that over time those relationships will be far more important than the transaction fee or the recruiting fee that I just gave up in this particular instance.
Some recruiting companies are so focused on working for their fees that they forget who they're really working for. Some recruiting companies are so focused on closing deals that they forget what the primary purpose of their job is. It's really easy for recruiting firms to become very transactional and money driven. In fact, right now is a perfect time for people to be that way because the market is booming and there's so much opportunity, but the fact is that the best search firms are the ones that treat both their candidates and clients with the utmost dignity and respect, and look beyond the value of their monetary goals towards the value of their relationships, and how those relationships over time will reward them.
I believe a good recruiter, particularly in sales and marketing, has a long-term perspective. In our niche of this business, what we find is that good candidates end up becoming good clients. When I introduce a VP of sales candidate to a particular client and that candidate ends up being placed in a position, often times he/she will become my client. As a result of that, anything that I've done to maintain the integrity and value of my relationship with that person through the process will pay me back in spades.
If you are in the process of looking for a good recruiting firm to outsource your hiring process in sales and marketing to, make sure that you go beyond the surface and explore the values and ethics the firm has, before you decide to retain them. I believe that if the values and ethics of the firm are aligned with your own, you'll have the best success in getting the kind of results that you're looking for.
recruitingemploymentexecutive searchstaffingLabels: recruiting