Most normal people don't know what recruiters do. Sadly, I have also encountered a disturbing number of recruiters that don't know what they themselves are doing, which is not helpful. However, it does provide grist for the storytelling mill.
Most hiring managers seem to think that we have lists of people with a variety of characteristics at our fingertips, ready to be packaged and shipped at a moments notice. Some candidates have a tendency to ring us up after an extended absence and say "What do you have for me today?" as if we have hot fresh positions baking in the oven. "Hi Frank, just let me grab my mitt, and I'll serve you up a plate of tasty jobs with a nice cold glass of milk."
This is not how our business works.
Sure, folks who have been in the business for a long time are extensively networked and have a lot of contacts. It can look easy from the outside, almost like magic. You, as my client, need only tell me what you need, and I will deliver a selection of people who are right on the money. You simply have to select the one you want.
What you won't see (if you are working with a good recruiter) are the people who aren't a match, or who look like they might be but who fall flat for any number of reasons. You won't see (unless you ask) the list of people I interview and reject - those who lie, who are rude, who have no discernible personality, or who seem to have a chip on their shoulder. You won't see the number of phone calls or emails that are dead ends, my efforts to get a real live person on the phone, or the folks who haven't learned that it isn't nice (or particularly smart) to be rude to recruiters. Miss Manners gently weeps. She will soon be publishing guidelines, I suspect.
This might be the most important thing: You, as client, are given targeted presentations showcasing the qualifications of each potential employee. My presentations rarely bear any resemblance to the first draft of the resume as furnished to me by the candidate, even when I ask them to target it toward the specific position. It takes surprising work to help even the best of candidates build that bridge. I suspect you might look right at many of those resumes and not see the perfect candidate hidden inside. My job is to help you see.
It isn't magic, and it isn't rocket science. It takes effort, skillful presentation, persistence, time, patience and a lot of luck. The fact that one can't just push a button to make a perfect candidate pop out of the Recruit-O-Matic 4000 is why we, as an industry, are valuable. We matter, we help create solutions to business challenges, we do the difficult. I am proud of helping my clients while working as a trusted partner. Nothing makes me more proud than to be a part of the team. Of course there are days when people who do not understand my business, and who do not value my contributions, rain on my parade. That is why I have taken to carrying an umbrella.
Once in a while, usually after I have presented a promising candidate, and often after an interview or two (or five), the hiring authority will say, "I am not going to pay a fee for a candidate that I already knew about." This is unfortunate for a myriad of reasons. It is insulting, it is unethical, and it demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of business and its legal underpinnings. It used to make me very angry, now it is more wearying but still a drag.
Please understand this, Ms. Client: It doesn't matter that you knew the person if you didn't know of them as a potential candidate for your position. If it took me, as recruiter, to bring the two of you together in this very special capacity, and you hire this person, then I am owed a fee. In this world of "social networking" and Linkedin-o-Rama many people might think that because they know a name they have a candidate. That just isn't the case.
I don't care if you are brother and sister, if the candidate is in your database from 5 years ago, or if the two of you had coffee six weeks ago. There is legal precedent for my stance. Please research "efficient procuring cause". If the person became a candidate for your position because of my efforts and you hired him or her, then I am owed a fee.
Of course there is no need to quote case law in situations where manners will suffice. It is bad form to go through several interviews with me as the agent and then at the eleventh hour make an announcement of this nature. I am open to hearing other perspectives, but am confident Miss Manners would frown on the way this was handled.
I do think most situations like this come from people not understanding the fundamentals of our business.Thus I think it is important to respectfully educate our both our clients and our candidates (and ourselves) about what we do, how it should be done, and expectations held by all parties. To that end, I recommend we develop a television series: "HEADHUNTER: Bounty Hunters for Talent!"
I'll bring my umbrella.
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