May 18, 2016
When a new recruiter enters the market doing a full 360 recruitment role, they are hired to gain and pass on market knowledge, establish relationships with the top quality resource, improve the market by offering advice and strategies and ultimately generate new business for their employers. The last point invites hurdles to overcome on the telephone. Precision Sourcing has some fantastic working relationships in the market, and we specialise within building workforce in our niche vertical markets.
As with anything these relationships were not built in a day. It ‘s nice to sometimes look back at the records of the initial phone conversations to see what hiring managers initially said. Ask any new recruiter and the common objections they will get when generating business will be; ‘we have a full team’ or ‘we currently have a freeze on recruitment’ or ‘speak to HR’ to name a few. However, the most common objection new recruiters will get when generating new business is ‘we have a preferred list of panel suppliers’. I started to think about what value is in being a preferred provider and what it means to the company? Does being a preferred provider say that you are the best in that area? Does it mean more business? Being a preferred supplier brings on board some exciting challenges in itself and this blog with discussing the pros and cons of being a preferred provider.
Insight
It amazes me sometimes companies say they cannot find the ideal candidate through the panel. In fact, I recently read an article in the recruitment times which discussed a similar point. There was a new study on how efficient a Preferred Supplier is on a panel. It certainly made an interesting read. The study found that nearly half of HR and resourcing professionals said that they were unable to fill their specialist roles via their Preferred Supplier List. Close to half! That is a massive figure, and it got me thinking about how to build on existing relationships, so we don’t become a stat in the negative column. Furthermore, the survey also reported that 64% of HR personnel had rejected a suitable candidate from a non-preferred agency because of internal policies.
“The irony of employers not letting good candidates in through the front door, so line managers bring them in through the back door provides compelling evidence that organisations should not be overly reliant on their Preferred Supplier List”. (The recruitment times)
- Contact with hiring managers
From my experience working on panel enables you to build a relationship with a hiring manager. Once the connection is established, you can get a full understanding of the project and more importantly to see if we can assist moving forward. Having an intricate knowledge of the project is crucial when both consulting and speaking to your network. At the end of the day as an agency, we represent clients in the market and the more detail we get, the more credible the company will sound
- New business targets
Some recruiters in the market have goals to achieve the new business with new clients. With some recruiters, this will inevitably shift their time, effort and focus towards picking up the phone and meeting new people in the market. The draw back from this, however, is some will forget to protect what they already have and leave the door open for the new supplier.
- Conflicting procedures
This topic is along the same lines as a previous point around knowledge gathering with managers. When on the panel certain procedures restrict contact with hiring managers. Although I totally agree with the procedure and it is something we need in all walks of life, the figures would suggest that no contact with hiring managers to a certain degree would put a halt to being proactive on the requirement. For example, if a relationship was established with a hiring manager off panel (because there is no procedure to follow) you may get a heads up on a role, reach out to your network and present the top 3 options. All this is done even before the panel are advised leaving the panel suppliers with the rest of the market. On the other hand, while a free for all would be unmanageable, there needs to be a common ground.
- The 1st candidate, not the best
Most recruiters will tell you that when you are on a panel, the primary focus is on speed to market. The panel would race against each other to find the best candidates. Due to the consciousness of competing, an agency may send the 1st available, not necessarily the best available. When working exclusively, I would go against this concept.
- Hiring Managers will seek their solutions
Put it this way; you are going to make sure you do everything you can to achieve. This is no different when it comes to hiring managers. These people are under an enormous amount of pressure and from time to time they will seek their solutions whether compliant or not!
Possible Suggestions
- Work exclusively with an excellent agency. This will enable the best available candidate in the market and not necessarily the first available.
- Allow regular structured contact with hiring managers. Having detailed knowledge of company visions, projects and roles make representing a company credible.
- Always find ways to work better as a business and don’t rely on old ways. The term “we have always done it like that” will hurt your company.
- Policies are great and are needed, however, review them regularly and evolve accordingly.
- Work with not against HR
The companies we work the best with and get the most value out of each other, are built on excellent relationships with HR. They allow all of the above and the processes are well aligned.
