Is it OK to treat people like #@%& in the recruitment industry?

No is the simple answer to this question, but as this is a blog I need to go into just a little bit more detail.

Firstly I accept recruitment for what it is, a daily slog of highs and lows, and lower lows, and lower lower lows, and more highs, and some more lows. I'm the type of person that thrives in chaos. I wouldn't say I'm a masochist as that's a little too far (maybe at weekends), but I find nothing more satisfying than proving people wrong, especially people who are unprofessional. If somebody makes an unsubstantiated complaint about me, I make it my life’s mission to find that person a job so they feel bad for being so scathing about me. If a client messes me around without regard, then I will be especially nice to them, and then place their job so they realise they should have treated me with more respect. Maybe this makes me a freak to some people, but the reality is it just makes me a good recruiter (Excuse the self-praise, my boss should back me up here, and notice I said good, not great). You have to make the gold from the poop in this game, and sometimes show the gold for the poop that it is, or as my eloquent Cambridge graduate boss would say, "where there's muck there's brass."

Yet, this aside, it never ceases to amaze me day in and day out how acceptable it seems to be to treat each other like sh*t in the recruitment industry. For the people that don't thrive in the proverbial dung like yours truly, it's a horrible place. And it pains me that recruiters with real promise quit before realising their potential, due to being disillusioned with the state of the industry. It pains me that when training people in recruitment, you have to teach them how the likelihood is they will have their time constantly wasted, and will have to become cynics to make a success of their careers in this game.

Now whilst I'm sure we'll all shed a tear for the poor recruiters who get shafted on a weekly basis whilst earning fat salaries, the reality is there's always another sufferer beyond us as we are effectively middlemen. There's always a candidate who doesn't get an interview or has their time wasted, or a client who turns a good candidate down to offer somebody a job who had no intention of accepting it in the first place. The fact is, the way some people feel it's acceptable to treat each other in this industry sucks sometimes - and no I'm not perfect either, but I do try my best to be ‘not perfect’ in the nicest possible way!
 

Now I’m sure there will be a lot of clever recruiters who claim to have the perfect relationship with everybody they work with, and who will leave some smart comments on here about how it’s all a direct result of how you work, and if you meet all your candidates for two hours, and all your clients are retained then you won’t ever have this issue blah blah (no names mentioned, but you know who you are!). The fact of the matter is, though, that you guys are kidding yourselves: we all get messed about, and anybody who pretends the recruitment sector is all roses and sweet perfume is deluded, or a masochist!

Don’t get me wrong I have some great clients and candidates -especially the ones reading this article, you guys are amazing ;) - but some companies and people I work with seem to feel it’s acceptable to waste my time, and that of my clients and candidates, without apology or explanation. It's not acceptable to dishearten genuine jobseekers via me, or disadvantage genuine employers for your own gain through my services, without even having the decency to apologise.  

One of the reasons I wanted to highlight this is that there is a lot of talk about recruiters behaving unprofessionally, yet all too often the truth is that the people who are messed around the most are the middle men and as a result many genuine people they are representing. Maybe this is a direct result of contingency recruitment and years of unprofessionalism in the sector. Maybe it’s a direct result of people having used bad agencies in the past. Or maybe it’s just a result of some people and employers feeling recruiters’ feelings and the feelings of their clients are not important, and that they are there for the taking, to use, drop and ignore as you like when it suits.

Now I hope you like the way I Iured you in with humour and then finished you off with a good old rant. As, truth be told, a rant it is, and a rant that chances are will go no further than a few shares between recruiters, a few likes from candidates who I've stood up for, maybe a few comments from holier-than-thou companies trying to convince people that their processes and ethics are squeaky clean.

As a cynical recruiter I know it won't change anything, but maybe if you can help me spread the word by sharing this with your colleagues, liking it if you like it, and commenting if you agree or conversely if you think I'm an idiot who has it completely wrong. Perhaps together, we can make a few people think about how they treat people, and whether a disrespectful, unprofessional approach is affecting others in ways they don’t immediately appreciate.

Peace.