Is a Recruiter That You Deal With Often Really a Good Recruiter?

Many of us work in very demanding, high-stress work environments, where members of our team do not remain with us as long as we might like for them to. Where there is high turnover, it is no accident that you will likely also find an eager recruiter routinely servicing that organization. This next observation is a true one that I have personally observed over the last twenty years. Recruiters have changed their models in a 180 degree way. Back in the late 1990’s, recruiters chased candidates, and lobbied for their consideration by the organizations in search of talent. Fast-forward 20 years, and now candidates are chasing recruiters, who in turn, exclusively now focus on their company clients. To make this even more difficult, these recruiters discourage many good candidates, simply because they don’t have all of the 5 buzzwords that their clients listed on some initial job description checklist that they filled out. I explain all of that to simply say this…recruiters are not doing as good of a job as they used to do, both in locating the talent…and in placing that talent into organizations. They could even be a materially-contributing cause of your turnover…and all by intentional design. As long as the candidate makes it beyond 90 days, they have generally fulfilled their contractual obligation. Should they have to fill that position again 6-9 months down the road, that would be another 25-35% of that salary to them as a fee. So rhetorically, is a recruiter you hear from often really a good recruiter? They may always have good candidates on paper for you, but if these potentials leave you in a year or less, you may want to consider what you’re being fed…or who’s feeding you for that matter? With modern software and screening and interviewing techniques, it is not that hard to get beyond the resume and test the individual both in aptitude, as well as personality and natural work style preferences. It is even possible to compare these tendencies back against a company’s preferred model for the job or role. Doing such will predict how well the individual’s natural skills and personalities will gel with the role requirements and culture of the organization. By identifying where these characteristics may differ greatly, you have a really good indication of where the individual might not fit…or where or how great the stress may be for them trying to fill this role with skills or personality traits contrary to that role’s requirement. All of this is directly correlated to retention versus turnover…something that few recruiters seem to want to address these days. Afterall, why should they…solving that riddle would be detrimental to their business model?