Agency and Inhouse musings from a recruiter who knows

It’s often perceived as an adversarial ‘us versus them’ thing, and never the twain shall meet. Like two completely different species.

I’m talking about the difference between being an agency recruiter and working for a company in-house in Talent Acquisition.

But is working in-house really the laid back, shooting-fish-in-a-barrel gig recruiters imagine it to be? And are agency recruiters really the ignorant gate crashers who would sell their granny for a commission cheque that some in-house TA professionals might suggest?

Who better to ask than someone who has worked on both sides of the placement divide, the ten-year recruitment veteran Rob Line.

Manchester-born Rob is currently a Principal Consultant in cyber security for Australian-based CyberSec People.

I caught up with Rob recently and we started our chat by talking about his career so far.

Hi Rob, it’s great to see you again. After working as a very successful agency recruiter, what originally took you in-house?

Hi, David, good to see you too.

My first stint in-house was completely accidental. A friend of a friend, who knew me as a recruiter, was an investor and the legal counsel for an up-and-coming business financial platform called BizPay. As recruitment agencies were likely to be key customers I was seen as an ideal salesman and marketer. And as the tech sector was booming at the time and the fact that I loved the product, I agreed. Very soon, as the company started to grow, I became the unofficial Talent Acquisition manager; acting as the conduit between the external recruiters we were using and the business.?

I must say that the overall quality from the agency recruiters was dire, and I told my bosses that we needed to change if we were to expand at the rate required. And that’s when they handed me the TA role. Within twelve months I increased the headcount from 15 people to over 70. When the need for recruitment plateaued I decided to move on.

And the role you moved to was another in-house TA position???

Yes, but this time instead of a start-up it was a multi-national company – but not one many people in Australia had heard of. What had been the fairly well-known Australian brand Invoice2go was effectively bought out by the US company bill.com. Working in TA for a multi-national was eye-opening.

I can imagine. Overall, what were the biggest shocks when you made the transition from being an agency recruiter to working as TA in-house?

The first thing I found, moving into a TA role in big tech, was the speed, or should I say the lack of speed. Things take a long time. From roles being signed off, to hiring managers getting all parties on-board with what’s being sought, and an almost glacial three-and-a-half month lead-in time for positions.

The biggest shock when I moved to bill.com was that the outreach part was super-difficult. As an agency recruiter – particularly one with a good reputation – prospective candidates would be intrigued; they don’t know who the client is or what the position looks like, and your language is very different to that of an in-house recruiter. With bill.com I would reach out, the prospects would click onto the website and invariably say, ‘Oh, it’s not for me.’

If the company was familiar, it would have been so much easier.

So a lot of it is about brand awareness?

100%.

You need brand awareness alongside a good Employee Value Proposition (EVP). In a competitive market you need to have compelling reasons why prospects would choose to work for you rather than the company down the road. The way I’ve likened it is to be going on a Tinder date completely naked; with nothing left to the imagination.

If you look at companies like Canva – who have an amazing brand in the market – they have crazy stats around the amount of applicants they attract. It can make all the difference.

While I try to get that image out of my mind, what did you enjoy most and enjoy least about working in-house??????????

I enjoyed a lot. I particularly liked learning how hiring fits into the strategic goals of a function. I know that sounds very high-level but it’s really understanding what the company is trying to achieve. You understand the reason why you’re hiring those roles. You understand what the impact on revenue will be and what will be the impact on the particular metric. Once you understand that, you can articulate it to a candidate, and they can recognise their own worth in the process.

As an agency recruiter you hear words from companies such as ‘mission’, ‘vision’ and ‘values’, but they’re only words. In-house you have a front-row seat at the steps being taken to achieve these big-picture goals.

Agency recruiters like to think they’re true partners with the companies they work with, but the reality is that they are not. They’re a service provider. That’s not to say recruiters can’t have fantastic relationships with clients but when you’re working internally for an organisation, and you’re working across multiple managers they are actively listening to you. They are listening to you in terms of how best to recruit for that role, what processes are optimum to follow, how many stages, who needs to be involved, how we are going to benchmark it, assess it, test it, and interview, the lot.

Only a very few external recruiters have that level of influence.?

What else do you see in-house TA doing for a company that external recruiters don’t?

Allied with the idea that TA see the big picture of the business’s medium and long-term visions, and agency recruiters tend to be solely focused on short-term seat filling, TAs have the responsibility for strategic hiring plans; building talent pipelines and communities. Building the whole infrastructure.

TAs must work closely with hiring managers to make sure their teams are fully invested in the whole hiring process.

Hiring is a team sport, after all.

Going back to external agencies, when you were in Talent Acquisition in-house, what were your perceptions of agencies who were trying to sell you their services?

My first thought was, ‘Wow, it hasn’t improved!’ I soon realised there are a lot of very, very bad recruiters out there.

Bad in what way?

Spammy intros, I mean super spammy. Absolutely no personalisation. They came at us with no idea of what we were about. No introduction. No specialities. Of course they claimed to be specialists but when asked to demonstrate how they specialised it became clear they weren’t. And no follow-ups. Totally unprofessional.

How often were you getting agency emails compared to cold calls? What was the ratio?

97 to 3, I’d say. The majority of which just looked like spam.

Did it bother you when you were in-house to receive cold calls from agency recruiters?

Not in the least. I’m all for cold calling when it’s done properly. If you have something that’s going to improve my life I’m more than happy to talk to you. Very often I’d find myself giving constructive feedback to cold callers on what they should be doing to make the experience better for them and the people they’re calling.?

Agency recruiters seem to have a stereotypical idea of TAs. Do you perceive internal recruiters as being a bit arrogant?

The majority of TAs I’ve met are sound. Again, if you have something that’s going to help them they’re all ears. But no-one likes to have their time wasted by people offering nothing of value.??

What recommendations would you give to agency recruiters who are looking to build trust and credibility with TA teams?

First, understand your value proposition. Be niche and know your market.

No-one has a need for a generic recruiter. No-one!

Internal recruiters can be generalists but they can’t be specialists in every single field. As a specialist you will know your niche and where to find the right talent within that niche. You’ll have the network already. That’s what your client will be paying you for. That, and market intel about your niche

Next, don’t try and circumvent TA by going directly to the hiring manager. This is a bad habit that is taught to rookie agency recruiters early on: ‘Bypass the TA and go straight to the hiring manager.’ Don’t do it. It causes a world of pain and headaches and will annoy a lot of TAs.

Speak to the hiring manager, by all means; speak to them, call them, email them, but loop in TA as soon as you possibly can.??

Should agency recruiters be asking the question: ‘What is valuable to you that I can share with you?’

Every time, in every interaction; whether that’s market intelligence, or the profile of a candidate who’s coming into the market. When companies tighten their financial belts during tougher times you’ll often be told by TA that they simply don’t have the budget to employ your services. These are the times to build your worth, and your reputation, by sharing your knowledge and your advice: ‘I fully understand. Have you considered…?’

I don’t look at this as free advice or even ‘give-to-get’, I think it’s something any professional would do.????

How has working in-house changed you as a recruiter now you’re working back in Agency land?

A lot. I used to sympathise with the struggles of TA, now I can empathise. They often work with multiple hiring managers in slow processes that aren’t of their making. The outreach, as I found, is not as simple as it seems. And feedback. How many times have we, as external recruiters, been pulling our hair out shortly after one of our candidates has been interviewed and we’ve been supplied with zero feedback? Well there’s a reason for that. Often a panel of interviewers have 24 hours to submit interview scorecards which are then collated and discussed by a committee before any hiring, or subsequent interview decisions are made. In reality, you may not get feedback for 72 hours.

So set that expectation with your candidates.

The difference in timeframes between TA and agencies has also changed how I view ‘ideal candidates’. If I have someone today who seems perfect for a role, this may not be the hot property I would have once imagined it to be. With recruitment lead-ins of three months, the company will have lots of time to get across the market, and may well discover my ideal candidate anyway, and a few more. That’s not to say I wouldn’t suggest the name, but only in the spirit of sharing – not one of expecting a slam-dunk certain placement.?????? ?

I am also more selective about the clients I want to work with. I can more easily recognise TA pain points for certain companies in certain sectors and understand where I can add value. Right now, working in cyber security, I know I have lots of value to give to a regular in-house Talent Acquisition team.?

During your time as an in-house TA, who was the most memorable recruiter?

Jack Knight from Talenza. Jack is an absolutely fantastic recruiter. He knows everything there is to know about his market, he always gives great value, and he’s really good at following up.

As a former in-house recruiter yourself, what advice would you give to any agency recruiter considering moving in-house?

First, this is not just a recruitment job without BD. It’s not the easy gig that many agency recruiters imagine it to be. In many aspects there is more pressure and responsibility than there is for an external recruiter. In-house recruiters need to live with the fruits of their labour, good and bad. A poor recruitment decision could unsettle a department or even the whole organisation; and that’s the organisation that pays your wages month-on-month. As an in-house recruiter it becomes more personal – you can’t simply walk away as an agency recruiter can.

The big elephant in the room is remuneration.

As an agency recruiter you have an unlimited earnings potential if you’re prepared to work hard, and as a double-whammy don’t think you’ll be safe by not working hard as in-house TA . Not only will you be expected to work hard and deliver but you will also be likely to be in one of the first departments to be affected should redundancies be necessary. Being in TA is no walk in the park!

What I do recommend is that every recruiter, if they’re given the chance, should look behind the scenes of at least one organisation; ideally one they’re partnering with. It’s about learning, empathising, understanding their world and the candidate experience – making for a better, more rounded recruiter.?????

And the million-dollar question… Would you ever go back to working in-house?

For a million dollars, yes!

Joking aside, I’m really enjoying what I do right now. I’m drilling into cyber security as a recruiter; I’ve learned a lot in the last year but I’ve got so much more to learn. I don’t think I’ll be considering a role change any time soon.

If I ever did revert to in-house it would have to be in cyber security – that’s where I’m passionate. If there was an opportunity to really scale a security business and I had a lead role, then that may interest me. But it would have to tick a lot of boxes to stop me what I’m doing, and enjoying, right now.??

In conclusion, what would you say about both agency recruiters and in-house TA professionals???

We need each other. We have very different but equally valuable roles to play in the massively important job of talent recruitment. It has been a privilege to work on both sides and I am grateful for all of my experiences.

And I am grateful to you, Rob, for taking the time to talk to me today. Thank you.

Thank you, David. It was fun.