The Good, Bad & Ugly of Using Multiple Recruiters
A recent article written by industry expert Greg Savage, featured on Recruiter Daily (www.recruiterdaily.com.au), the difficult topic of ‘multi listing’ jobs was discussed. ‘Multi-listing jobs’ simply means clients listing the one vacancy with several different recruiters.
Now, as clients, or potential clients reading this, I am sure you are running through a raft of reasons in your mind as to why it is a good idea for you to list your position with several recruiters. I am guessing the following are on
the list:
- to get as many good candidates as possible
- in case one agency has a candidate the other doesn’t
- to keep us on our toes
- to see what else is out there
- am I on the right track, are there any others?
So of course you are thinking I am about to tell you to use one recruiter only, and of course for that to be Footprint Recruitment.
Truth is, yes I do think you should have one recruiter who you have a sound relationship with as a primary contact, if that is Footprint Recruitment – excellent. But fundamentally you need to know your recruiter, feel
comfortable with them, confident in their skills and abilities and assured that they know your business and understand the roles they are recruiting for.
As Mr Savage accurately points out in his article, if you list a role with 4 recruiters, you can not expect 100% commitment and effort from those recruiters in return. What you will get is 25% commitment, because that’s all
you have shown them.
Ask yourself this question, if you were an Accountant, would you complete a full year end on a potential clients accounts, to the most thorough and detailed level possible, if you knew that at the end of the process you would
not be paid for the job, because another accountant who was also working on the same task in competition got chosen instead? Probably not I imagine.
By having a sound relationship with your recruiter, and using this recruiter exclusively for an initial period for each position, you ensure you gain the full commitment from that recruiter, seeing them throw their full range of skills and resources at filling your role with the ideal applicant.
If, after an agreed initial period of time (which will vary depending on the position), your recruiter has not been successful in filling the assignment, and after an open and honest discussion you feel it is appropriate, then it may
be the appropriate time to approach another agent to assist with that assignment.
The final thought to consider is this; here on the Central Coast, as we all know, it’s a small world. Recruiters are effectively all fishing from the same, sometimes limited, talent pool. So by multi listing positions with recruiters you will most often end up with the same list of candidates. How does this end up?
- With frustrated candidates getting confusing calls about the same role from several sources;
- With some recruiters resorting to unprofessional and inappropriate screening processes in order to get the candidate in front of you first to try and secure the placement fee, with little regard to the suitability of the candidate for the role; and
- With you with your time wasted trying to liaise with several recruiters and having resumes put in front of you which don’t fit the brief.
Your time is precious and best spent working on your business, so don’t waste it.
About the Author
Kristy-Lee Johnston is the Director of Footprint Recruitment Pty Ltd, a Central Coast Recruitment and HR Services Agency which is run by locals, for locals. Footprint Recruitment specialises in the temporary and permanent recruitment of office support, accounting and finance and professional services staff whilst providing a range of generalist HR solutions.
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