Supplier loyalty

Trust.

Trust is such a critical part of working with recruitment suppliers. Trust that they will find you suitable candidates. Trust that they will represent your interests with integrity, professionalism and passion. Trust that they will do the job.

So why is it that when some employers struggle with recruitment, and suppliers aren’t performing, they are tempted to try out different approaches? Trust goes both ways, and should be built on commitment, communication and honesty; something which takes time and mutual obligation.

Before breaking loyalty with suppliers, I exhort you to consider the following:

• Have you met them?
• Have you given them good insight into your vacancy, objectives, business, culture and values?
• Are they properly incentivised to focus on your vacancy? More an issue with transactional than transformative approaches, but you typically get what you pay for.
• Do you have a good understanding of their track record recruiting for you, approach, values, tools and how they research, attract and engage candidates? And does this align with your needs?
• Have you checked your needs are realistic?
• Have they confirmed this with their knowledge of the marketplace?
• Is there anything you can do differently, internally, to get a better outcome? Salary, working arrangements, other benefits and even job titles can make an impact.
• Have you given them the tools to do their job?
• Have you given them constructive feedback on where they have gone wrong?
• Have you given them an opportunity to do better?
• Are they being honest about their ability to fulfil your vacancy? Great agencies, may take on outlier vacancies because they feel it cements the relationship, and perhaps they shouldn’t be penalised for a na?ve mistake.
• Perhaps they employ one bad egg. Does this represent the wider business?

Getting useful insight from these questions will build a better relationship with your existing suppliers, and allow them to do a better job. But unless you have asked these questions of your whole recruitment process, you are setting yourself up for failure again, with no improvement on your access to candidates, and potential damage to your brand from diluted representation in the marketplace.

It may be that you do need to take a different approach, in which case use this desire for improvement to inform how you talk to new suppliers, and start off a relationship with the right expectations.

Take a considered view on the state of your recruitment before making short or long term decisions, and see the benefits in a more effective service.

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