www.scirecruitment.co.nz

No recruitment agencies please; consultancies only!

October 28, 2010 at 3:16 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

If you are a manager or owner of a business and you have had to deal with external recruiters cold calling you one after another trying to market the best candidate in the world or convince you that you should make time to meet with them as they do things differently and can offer something that no other living being in the universe can, you have my sympathy.

Over the years I have worked in the recruitment industry in New Zealand I have seen it over and over again – the so called KPI’s driven approach. If you were to have your first job in the recruitment industry and joined an established recruiter tomorrow they will spend the first few weeks instilling it in to you – you have to make a certain number of cold calls and arrange a certain number of client visits per week. The fact that you are new to the industry and you do not know much about the various industries or the functional areas you are recruiting for is immaterial.

At the end of the day it is a numbers game you will hear your manager telling you. Is it really? I tend to disagree. Here is why. I am a firm believer that recruiters should focus a lot more on the quality of their communication with employers and candidates and not the frequency and volume of cold calls. This approach will allow recruiters to actually hear what their clients and candidates need and gain a better understanding of the industries in which they operate.

In the current tight job market in New Zealand, when many question the relevance of recruiters, it is essential that managers change their approach and focus on the value-adding aspect of the services they are offering. Pushing your people to make more marketing calls will not bring in more business or create additional demand for your services in the current market. Re-evaluating your strategies and re-packaging your offerings to meet more closely the changing needs of your clients and candidates will.

Now more than ever recruitment companies need to spend more time on training their people to be consultants, not just agents. There are far too many recruitment agencies in New Zealand at the moment and very few consultancies. Agencies operate on the basis that recruitment is a numbers game; consultancies constantly look for new ways to add value to their clients and candidates. Agencies are focused on cash flow and weekly KPI’s; consultancies invest in their people and build strong and meaningful long-term relationships with clients and candidates.

Agents make cold calls to meet their KPI’s for the week; consultants contact employers when they identify opportunities to add value to their organisations. Although both agents and consultants operate in the same market, and often employers and candidates cannot tell the difference, the quality of services delivered by these two groups of recruiters differ substantially. Can you tell the difference? Write to us and tell us of your recent experience dealing with agents and/or consultants.