You are looking for a new job and you want the entire process to be as smooth and straightforward as possible. If there is an in-house recruiter working with a recruitment agency then you want them to work closely together to get the result you want. Usually everything goes swimmingly, but sometimes what happens is this…
This cat and mouse behaviour creates a dilemma for recruitment agencies. Do we just accept that in the eyes of some in-house recruiters (who probably came from an agency in the first place) that we’re a pest to be played with and crushed when desired?
It’s time to take a stand. In my view, there are too many agencies who get on PSLs via rock-bottom prices and then just throw CV after CV at the in-house recruiters, hoping something will stick but sucking it up when they are told “tough **** you will not be paid for this introduction” There are not enough agencies prepared to say, “once you’ve released the job to the agencies, that’s a sign that you, the in-house team, can’t fill it, so don’t suddenly find that the candidate has been on your database, gathering digital dust.”
This is not just my view. Some of the industry’s biggest influencers, the likes of Greg Savage, Mitch Sullivan and others have been writing about this for years. Sometimes the mouse needs to bite back - and there has to be a conversation involving a place where the sun doesn’t shine…
My view is that if in-house teams just want agencies to be resourcers then we are all wasting our time. The good in-house teams (and there are many) know they need recruitment agencies. Let’s stop competing against our clients and let’s work together, and if it’s not a mutually beneficial relationship then as then agency you need to walk away for this business, this might be painful in the short term but long term the market shift could be huge.
Chris Peace, MD, Peace Recruitment
Peace Recruitment Limited
Unit 2 Washington Court, 6 Washington Lane,
Edinburgh, EH11 2HA