A recruitment tip from Ubidy

Paul O’Loughlin

Are you aware that the single greatest complaint in recruitment other than “I never heard back from the recruiter after I was interviewed”, is the lack of communication or feedback from clients when they have engaged an agency!

The lifeblood of any well-managed recruitment assignment is the ongoing communication flow between a hiring lead and a recruiter. Quality engagement begins at the outset when the brief is communicated. This results in a shortlist that matches the brief. If however, the candidates are not an appropriate match, a discussion fleshing out the pros and cons of the CV’s suitability allows the recruiter to “recalibrate” their search for the right fit! If this does not happen however the exercise can become a bit like throwing pizza doe at the wall. If you throw enough, some might stick!

Recruiters are often blamed for getting it wrong, and occasionally they are. I have seen however many cases where the client has invested little upfront time in developing position descriptions, not briefing the agency, and then expecting the agency to nail it with a credible shortlist of candidates.

It really is all about the investment in time and energy to secure the best available human capital. Seasoned recruitment professionals will often walk away from an assignment if they cannot arouse the client enough to have on-going meaningful dialogue. They see their time best served dealing with clients who take the process seriously, invest time communicating with their agency partner, and working conjointly to bring about the best result.

Making time, being available, offering constructive cogent advice to agencies during the lifecycle of a recruitment assignment is key to achieving the best possible outcome. It is also imperative to encouraging candidate engagement during the recruitment process. If a candidate does not receive positive client reinforcement through the recruitment agency, they are likely to “wonder off” and consider an alternative job vacancy or simply lose interest. There is nothing quite as demotivating then getting to the penultimate stage of a recruitment assignment and feeling “that was a total waste of time and effort”.

So, my tip, make time and communicate directly with your agency partner throughout the engagement!

Ubidy | Global Talent on Demand