The Recruitment Industry Is BROKEN!
Troy Saddler
Facilitator of Incredible Connections Between Engineering/Executive Professionals & Excellent Organizations
Car Mechanic: It will cost you $1,000 for a new Suspension and Steering System…
Customer: Done, when can you start?
Lawyer: It will cost you $300/hour to retain my services for this case…
Customer: Done, when can you start?
Plumber: It will be cost you $200/hour for my assessment of your leak…
Customer: Done, when can you start?
Recruiter: My fee is $35% for executive level searches…
Customer: That is too high for us. We typically pay our recruitment partners 20%. Take it or leave it.
Recruiter: Done, when can we start?
Recruitment is vital to every organization’s success, yet we play this game far too often of under-valuing our service and taking what a hiring manager tosses at us out of desperation. What ends up happening is the recruiter takes on the search assignment at a lowered fee that they know is below market & their own personal standards. They quickly grow frustrated with a search that they shouldn’t have taken to begin with and this frustration bleeds into the interaction with candidates.
Never lower your fee as a way of entry. That is no way to foster a new (healthy) relationship with a customer. You think you've won their business, but you've really communicated to them that you have no integrity and you're easily manipulated. Recruiters are constantly having to justify their fees and it doesn't need to be like that. If you are truly offering value, then make sure your fee anchor holds. To my fellow Recruitment professionals, offer more transparency into your search process. Weekly search reports should be part of your service so that your client sees your activity and knows that work is actually being done.
Let’s uphold the integrity of the profession and get back to being a legitimate value-add service!