by Robert Kenward | Jun 12, 2017 | Communication

#noagenciesplease

You’ve probably seen this alongside job adverts or posts on this platform when people have a new vacancy opening.

Whenever I see it, I always ask myself…

Why?

Why no recruitment agencies?

Why bother with saying please when really you want to put… “look recruiters, we don’t need you, this recruitment lark is easy, I’ve got loads of contacts so finding someone will be a doddle”

I recently got into a very healthy debate on this platform when a connection posted a senior role and stated they didn’t want agencies to get in touch. I shared the role (as I like to do if I think my connections would be interested) and also commented I thought it was a bit ‘close minded’ to mention no recruitment agencies.

Now in hindsight, close minded might have been a bit harsh so early, however the response was along the vein of

“I have lots of connections and we’re a great brand so we will have loads of interest in this role”

So actually ‘close minded’ seems to have been correct as that’s what people think recruitment is; finding people for a role, lots of CVs, easy peasy and therefore recruiters are a cost they can do without.

In my experience, there’s usually 2 reasons people use #noagenciesplease;

They’ve had their fingers burnt with one of the bad ones (unfortunately there are loads)
They don’t appreciate, care or understand how recruitment done properly can be a value add not a cost

Number 1 is obvious, poor service, poor calibre candidates, large fee and worst of all, someone who leaves soon after starting are all very good reasons why you’d be wary of using a recruitment agency again, however ask yourself:

“Why did I choose this agency in the first place”

If was down to cost, speed of delivery, promise of free replacements or because you found them online and they had a nice website, then I’m afraid you’re part of the problem as to why they didn’t deliver.

Evaluating an agency to work with is about assessing whether they’re the right fit for your brand just as much as a candidate. A future blog will focus more on this, however the keys to assessing an agency are a bit like the dating game

Do you like the person you’ll be dealing with?
Do you feel you can trust them with confidential information and your personal thoughts?
Will they leave you in the lurch if someone else comes by with a better/bigger/shinier offer?

Number 2 also links with number 1, what did you expect differently from all the other CV shifters and application administrators that masquerade as recruitment professionals’? What access did you give them to decision makers to take a full brief (assuming they even came to the office)? What do you think a recruitment agency should do, because if you think it’s finding candidates that match your job description and passing you CVs, then I’m afraid you’re part of the problem too as this sets a low bar as precedent and trust me there’s a lot of recruiters happy to work that low.

As I’ve written before;

“Finding candidates is easy, finding candidates who want to be in interviewed is easier as they think they’re great (nothing wrong with that), the hard part is the assessment, analysis, interviews (for the role, not name, address and salary expectations) profiling and evaluation as to whether the role is the best match for all parties”

A professional recruiter should care as much about how their candidate will enhance your business for the long term as they do about being paid for their work. This is where a recruitment consultant becomes a partner and a transactional service becomes a value add to your business.

So, next time you’re posting a role and you’re about to type #noagenciesplease, why not ask yourself, how a recruiter could help you and add value, rather than you don’t need any help because recruitment is easy. If, however all you think a recruiter should do is find candidates then I’ll leave you with the words of someone you’ll recognise.