What's to gain from engaging just ONE recruitment consultant?

Much like anything, the world of recruitment is vast and varied. Recruitment consultants (and the agencies, consultancies, and outsourcing firms they work for) offer a plethora of different sourcing, search, and selection options – from the high-end discreet headhunting approach, to the mass advertising and screening of hundreds of CVs.

Broadly speaking, however, all recruitment campaigns fall into one of two categories: contingency recruitment or retained search.

Though often associated with higher-end roles, the defining attribute of a retained campaign is not the job role itself but rather the manner in which the campaign is financed by the employer. In short, with a retained search campaign a client will pay a consultant for their recruitment services up front, i.e. before a candidate (or candidates) are successfully hired. As such, retained search entails an element of exclusivity, as clients obviously do not want to pay more than one consulting firm to do the same job.

Nevertheless, the bread-and-butter of recruitment activity is not retained search, but rather contingency campaigns. Again these are not defined by job role (I have successfully recruited for Director and various other senior posts following our engagement by clients on a contingency basis). Put simply, contingency campaigns are the application of the “no win, no fee” approach to recruitment consultancy. With a contingency campaign, a client will usually agree a set fee with a consultant when engaging their services for a particular role (typically expressed as a percentage of the total salary accepted by the successful applicant), only to be invoiced in the event that the consultant is responsible for putting forwardthe particular candidate who is then eventually hired.

The benefits to clients of contingency recruitment campaigns are fairly obvious – you get all the benefits of the consultants’ skills in seeking, identifying, screening, and assessing potential candidates, as well as access to their considerable networks of talent, and do so with almost no financial risk (i.e. at most you only end up paying for access to one consultant’s skills & network, and only if they are successful in finding you someone you actually then go on to hire!)

This lack of financial risk, however, often leads to clients engaging the services of more than recruitment consultant. In fact it is fairly standard for hiring managers and/or HR leads to send jobs to at least three agencies simultaneously, as well as perhaps engaging further consultants at later stages. From the client’s point of view, this seems to be what our friends across the pond call a “no-brainer”. The thought process no doubt goes something like this: if you don’t have to pay for the services of more than one but can engage the services of all, why on Earth wouldn’t you?!

Well that is indeed a very good question, and the ultimate point of this article. What on Earth can you gain by engaging just ONE consultant? The answer, rather surprisingly, is actually quite a lot. Specifically, you can:

1. Ensure competition for the role is based entirely on the quality of candidates rather than the time it takes to find merely apparently suitable people
2. Ensure sincere, consistent, and responsive commitment from consultants to the whole recruitment process, from the initial identification of needs to the successful candidate’s first day and beyond
3. Lower your recruitment fees as consultants are generally willing to work at lower rates when there is a much higher likelihood of a return on their investment

1. Competing on quality, not time!

There is a very big difference between competing on time and competing on quality. If you are looking to get a role filled ASAP come-what-may, and it really doesn’t matter that much whether the candidate eventually hired is a proper match to the requirements of the job, then engaging several agencies might well be the way to go. They will each, knowing that they are competing against one another, seek to send you suitable CVs ASAP and (I’m sorry to say, since I’ve unfortunately observed it myself elsewhere) they might well be tempted to cut-corners in terms of proper pre-screening of candidates etc. in order to get their CVs over to you first.

It stands to reason that this is very far from the ideal situation. It can often lead to clients interviewing candidates only to find that they are not at all what they expected or wanted from interviewees, no doubt leaving them curious as to why the consultant did not pick up on this prior to representing the candidate – we are rightly expected to know the real candidate that lies beneath the warm words of the CV! Worse still, it can even lead to the hiring of a candidate who is perhaps on paper a good match but not at all the right fit for the organisation. This inevitably leads either to the candidate voluntarily deciding to move on fairly quickly or, failing that, perhaps being asked to go eventually, and usually by the very same people who were in a rush to hire them in the first place!

Quite frankly, the more important a role is to your organisation (and surely the only reason for wanting it filled ASAP is its integral nature to your ongoing operations), then the more care should be taken in ensuring that the right person is hired to the role, even if that takes a little more time. Shipping out a job description to multiple agencies by email in no way helps make this more likely. Instead, sitting down with a consultant face to face to discuss in detail exactly what you are looking for and what kind of person would be the best fit, beyond the mere black and white of the person specification, will do wonders for ensuring that every candidate recommended for interview by us is not only someone who you really do want to meet, but someone who, if hired, would be worthy of your investment over the long term.

2. Getting sincere, consistent, and responsive commitment from consultants to the entire recruitment process, from end-to-end

Secondly, when you seek help from an outside consultant it’s important to ensure that this consultant is as committed to servicing your needs as you are to having them met. Recruitment consultants are usually working on behalf of several different clients for many different jobs simultaneously. It stands to reason that the amount of time and commitment we can therefore invest in servicing any one job is always dependent on the likely return on investment for that job versus others. This likely return is automatically reduced once a client assigns the role to other agencies, rendering it immediately (at least slightly) less of a priority for us.

Conversely, if a client gives us the role to work on exclusively, the likelihood of a significant return on our investment becomes much higher. If we know that we are almost guaranteed (barring any unforeseen fantastic direct or internal applications) to place someone in that role, then we are able to commit significantly more time and resources into identifying the best candidate for the job. Indeed, when I am the sole consultant working on a role, I will not to represent a candidate to it unless and until I have not only met and interviewed them myself in person myself, but already received satisfactory references from recent employers (or at the very least character referees).

It goes without saying that consultants would always love to dedicate equal amounts of time, energy, and commitment to every job role for every client; but the reality of having finite resources at our disposal makes that impossible. By choosing one consultant who has already demonstrated consistent value to your organisation to work on your behalf, you at least guarantee that your job is their top priority no matter how busy they might otherwise be.

Put another way, by assigning a role to three agencies you might get at best 25% effort from three consultants depending on their other commitments, whereas by commissioning just one consultant to work on your behalf you guarantee at least 90% (if not 100%) commitment from them end-to-end, throughout the entire recruitment process.

3. Lower fees!

As I’ve already highlighted, consultants’ decisions regarding jobs they are servicing on a contingency basis are always guided by their assessment as to the likelihood of a return on their investment. It stands to reason, therefore, that when you are discussing the thorny issue of fees, you can get a much better deal by working with only one consultant.

Some agencies do explicit exclusivity discounts (though these often require the client to also not advertise the role themselves directly, something I personally would never insist on given the fact that we are supposed to be adding-value to the recruitment process and not tying clients’ hands behind their back!) Others, such as Access Ambition – my own recruitment consultancy – adopt a more bespoke approach, tailoring the fees to each client according to their other recruitment methods, the relative importance or seniority of the role, and their individual budgetary constraints.

Nevertheless, whatever the individual policy of the particular agency, any sensible consultant will always be happy to agree a more competitive fee arrangement if you are willing to work with them on an exclusive basis for that role.

In conclusion, when it comes to recruitment campaigns employers really can (and certainly should) have their cake and eat it! By engaging a single recruitment consultancy on an exclusive but contingency basis, you get the minimal financial risk associated with contingency campaigns along with the absolute commitment to candidate quality, excellent client service, and end-to-end support traditionally associated with retained search. And to top it all, you can do so whilst lowering your recruitment fees! If you haven't yet had a conversation with your consultant about working with them exclusively, why not? And remember, if you're not sure which consultant to choose, I am always happy to provide further tips and advice on what to look out for in good recruitment consultants. Just give me a call on 020 8133 4684 or email [email protected]

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Matt J. McLaren is the Founder & Executive Director of Access Ambition Recruitment Services, a specialist recruitment consultancy for the UK campaigning sector, including charities, NGOs, and trade associations. Find out more at www.accessambition.co.uk