Can we give agency recruiters a break?

I have recently jumped the fence to internal recruitment. Over the last 5 years I've built up a great network of agency recruiters on LinkedIn, and 100% of them wished me well in my new venture. No one called me a traitor and no one told me I was making a bad decision. I got a few ''may the force be with you" comments as I crossed over to the dark side... but you know, overall everyone was positive. Most importantly - I didn't get the expected tidal wave of BD. No sharky sales calls, no gimme tactics. I was touched. I have a lot of fondness for agency recruiters, having been one and also just generally loving an underdog.

Since starting my new role, I've began cultivating a network of internal recruiters to get exposure to their practices and tips for success. There is a lot of debate on how agency recruiters don't know how to speak to them, deal with them or partner with them. I can see it from the in-house perspective now that I'm in this chair, but I still have one eye through which I can see my old agency life.

I'd like to think I was a decent consultant. I found good candidates and serviced my clients to the best of my ability. I didn't do the crappy spec CVs and I barely touched cold calls once I had built up a base and reputation (again, sorry management). I am a fairly effective communicator and would like to think I tried to understand and partner with companies and in-house teams over the years. However to be quite honest, I definitely didn't have a clue how to speak to internal chaps the way they wanted to be spoken to. It wasn't from lack of will or aptitude - it's simply that you're blind to the perspective of someone who you have never met, never really spoken to and who's job you have never done. 

I didn't know an internal recruiter is just as ridiculously busy as an agency one. I didn't know they had targets and KPI's too. I never fully appreciated that their hiring managers are their stakeholders and their relationship with them can be just as tenuous as that of an agency and their client. In-house recruiters still have to control each part of the process with precision and care for it to be a success - exactly the way an agency recruiter does. They still have to juggle everything and work in constant flux - the same way agencies do. 

I dealt with some amazing in-house teams when I worked in agency - you know the ones that actually make your life easier? And now, as I sit on this end of the phone, I have a renewed awe for everything they did behind the scenes. Likewise, I've felt the true value of the agencies I'm working with (especially the ones that deal with tech roles!).

Believe me, each side has their place in the recruitment process. Neither is better or worse than the other. Both are incredibly skilled at the things they look after. 

If the agency and in-house communities sat down and had open, transparent conversations about how they work and what they care about, it would solve a lot of problems (and probably reduce the back chat on LinkedIn).

Instead of - internal vs agency vs clients vs candidates - all moaning about each other's shortfalls, let's starting talking about what we are looking for so we can raise the standard in the industry and drag ourselves out of this petty hole. Let's have discussions and give each other insight on how we can all do our part effectively and work cohesively with our comrades in the supply chain. We are all clearly passionate about recruitment - that's one thing we have in common. Let's start with that, and take it from there eh?

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