Ask the Recruitment Consultant Anything

Astar1809

They are Humans like the rest of us, some really good some not so in this particular field.

Is there a particular aspect to graduates you wanted to ask about, or a bit more depth to the question. I am happy to answer but not sure what I am answering here.

Exodi

Finally the day is upon me! I've been wanting to ask these for the longest time;

You obviously get a large whack of commission if a candidate goes on to be permanently employed by one of your clients. Except for common decency; how do you deal with clients ending a position with you, then subsequently permanently recruiting that candidate? Presumably you spend a portion of your day with your detective hats on? Any stories about this?

I guess similar to the above, how do you avoid clients and candidates having a secret conversation at interview to not involve the recruitment agency? Surely you find a lot of posts magically filled by other candidates?

One of my colleagues sons works in recruitment; one of the clients offered him a brown envelope to allow him to recruit the candidates off the books (unfortunately he did, think he got around £2,000 for it). What are your thoughts on this?

As you said in your first post, it seems a very cloak and dagger industry.

Elliott.T123

I have a very similar background to Astar, similar length of time in the industry and seemingly covering similar sectors.
Thought I would throw out a second opinion although so far it is all pretty much "what he said".
Astar, sorry for jumping in on the thread, hope you don't mind!


Exodi to answer your questions, which I am sure Astar will also give his option on.


I have never spent time doing the "detective work" unless there is something that has really flagged my suspicions first. You do tend to develop a bit of a sixth sense for when something like that is going to happen. In my experience how you react depends on exactly what has happened, how good relationships are and if the fee is worth chasing etc. There have been some situations where we have just turned a blind eye, for example when the client involved was our biggest client spending over half a million a year with us and the fee involved was a few thousand. There are other situations where we have sent out letters threatening legal action if we don't receive the fee (we have never had to escalate beyond this) obviously you have to decided if this is worth it though as very few companies will work with you again if you send them a letter like that.


The best story would be the client who were hiring guys to do gas/electric work, they needed to hire about 2-4 a week as they had won a huge contract. They would usually hire 1 a week via us and claim 75% who they interviewed didn't have the right certificates etc. About 2 months later we get a call from one of their engineers who had just been fired telling us that during the interview they were saying to the guys if they cut us out they would get paid and extra £2k a year and that he had a list of every engineer they had hired over the last 6 months. Turned out there were about 20 guys they had interviewed via us that they had hired directly and told us were wrong. Legal letter went out, we got the payment and never worked with them again. I believe 6 months later they lost the contract as their staff turn over was so poor... we had great pleasure in helping their engineers move to competitors for higher pay and a far better working environment.


The main way to avoid that is building strong relationships with your clients. If you are delivering a good service and genuinely helping a client find the best staff they will (usually) treat you as a partner and will value your service.


I think that is very short sighted by your colleagues son. Recruitment is actually quite a small world and there is a lot of cross over between companies, I would be surprised if that didn't eventually get back to his current company and I can bet they will make all the other local agencies aware of what happened.

Astar1809

Some great Questions lets get stuck in.

Backdooring, is the industry term used for taking a candidate and cutting the recruiter. It happens and I am currently about a week away from going legal with a nationally known (a multi billion pound company) who made contact with me to provide a solution for a position their PSL (preferred supplier list) had struggled to fill, They do not regularly use me as they deem my services too expensive compared to the other agencies they work with but as this was a special hire they agreed it was worth it. I attracted a candidate to the role from a rival whom was ideal for the role, sent in the CV and arranged an interview, it was after the interview was arranged (at this point they have no contact details for the person only name and background) the company realised they had a few people whom knew this person and the candidate let me know he had been contacted directly by directors/manager he had worked with before telling him how great it was there and how welcome he would be.

two days later the interview is cancelled and I was told they had a re-jig in the office and the position was no longer needed. It happens and at this point I felt like I wasted my time chalked it up to experience. Fast forward a month and the company he was working for put up an advert themselves seeking the same job title as this person I was trying to poach, I then do my research and figure out the person I attracted to the role was now working for them. At this point I send in my bill at the 25% (the fee we agreed for a specialist head hunt) and wait, once I have been ignored a week I send a pre-legal letter detailing all the the recorded correspondence detailing my work and the way they had broken terms.

They argued that as they had people who knew the person they did not feel like paying the full fee and offered me initially a token gesture of 5% of annual salary, then after that was rejected they offered me the fee they pay the people on the PSL (15%) again rejected as I have done my job as asked and to a great standard. I have everything I need to go legal and win, just currently doing the dance where they try and undercut me. It does not happen often but when it does it does become difficult not being taken advantage of and still trying to maintain a relationship with the client.

In terms of secret meetings and what not, I tend to trust people (Its so hard to build relationships with people without trust) but make sure I have all my paperwork in order so I can pursue if needed, if we are suspicious we have a number of ways of checking if they are employed we do often use the candidates name in the email format the company used to send an email, hoping for a bounce-back but ready to act if we don't.

In terms of the brown envelope job I view it like so, yes it could be a quick way to make a few bob but not only is it illegal (not declaring and stealing from your employer) it also makes future business with that client very difficult, they know you have taken a dodgy payment and have you over a barrel, it will mean that relationship will likely never progress past a shady one and more than likely the client will look to take advantage of this and offer far less next time knowing the recruiter cannot kick up too much of a stink as they risk revealing they did the dirty. Not for me at all but I can see why some would if they were thinking short term.

Great Questions by the way, sorry for the essay on them.

Astar1809

Frighteningly similar response to be fair, I agree with all your points and we both lean toward bad short term thinking by the recruiter.

Also welcome aboard the convo, I tend to find the people who stick it out this long tend to be the more conscientious ones so happy for the help in proving there are some good ones out there.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for answering mine and all other questions Astar, and Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

sazaccount

Thank you Astar,

I'm in the situation at the moment where I'm though an agency doing a "body in a seat" role where they need someone to be at the door and answer the phones, kind of mind numbing but I can be on any website as long as I don't put a virus on the computer :rotfl:

But my boss has suggested moving me to a permanent operations position but wage negotiations and benefits (I'm in Canada so healthcare, dental etc) all kind of swing on what the agency will charge for their "fee" I know I'm not meant to worry too much about this, but the business has one pot of money and the more the agency asked the less initial salary I maybe offered to kind of offset that.

Not sure I like being a grown up with a proper office job! :rotfl::D

Time_to_Change_2

Hi
How did you get into recruiting and would you recommend it as a career? Im looking at a career change and always liked the idea of recruitment but not sure if its a young persons game?

Ja7188

With the increasing use of ATS systems, increasing use of LinkedIn allowing companies to contact candidates easily and tough economic conditions ahead, do you think there's a long-term future in recruitment consultancy and how do you think the profession needs to adapt to this changing landscape?

Astar1809

For me, the world of recruitment is the only career that allows me the life style me and my family have become accustomed to. The harder I work the more I earn and I personally cannot command a fixed salary that would come close to the salary + Comms I currently take home. So in this sense I would recommend it, but it is not "easy" and the industry is fairly saturated so bare that in mind.

How I got into recruitment.... I was working in a tele sales role when I was 23 and while I was doing well I was surprised when I compared commission with an old school friend who was in recruitment, so I made the switch and never looked back.

From what I have seen there is no correlation to age and success in the recruitment industry, it does take tenacity, long periods of focus and not being afraid to get on the phone and talk to people, in older people joining the industry life experience can be a massive help and also some clients do prefer to deal with a (what they perceive to be) more mature person.