Talented recruitment consultants are hard to come by. The good ones rarely leave because they are heavily incentivised to stay where they are. If they do, then often it is because they want to get out of recruitment and do something totally different.
So how do you find them and how can you make your company an attractive proposition?
Never stop looking
Years ago, I was taught a valuable lesson – that good recruitment consultants are like buses. When you don’t need to hire, there are plenty of good consultants on the market and when you do need to hire, there are none. Therefore, don’t stop looking and even change your hiring strategy so you hire talented consultants when they become available and not when you need them. If this isn’t an option, then keep your tentacles in the market and engage with good consultants, meet them and add them to your notebook. If you have enough of these options when you next recruit, then hopefully one or two will still be available.
Offer a generous package
A good consultant may be driven by a number of motivators and money is definitely going to be near the top. If a good consultant wants to leave their current company, it can often be because they are not taking home a big enough “slice of the pie” in their own eyes. Every recruitment manager has an opinion on what percentage of salary including commission a consultant should earn versus their billings. The problem many make though is to be too greedy and not implement a fair scheme that rewards a good recruitment consultant. Without going into too much detail, a good recruitment consultant should be taking home a much higher percentage of their billings than an average recruitment consultant.
Be the best in class
A company that is clearly going places and being talked about in the market is going to have the edge over a company that is lethargic in their approach and not cutting-edge. People talk and if you and your team are doing a great job, then good consultants will sit up and notice. It may even be the case that you have successfully recruited over the top of their business a couple of times.
Have a great marketing strategy
In any case, the way you present yourself to the market through your branding, advertising and marketing is critical. Think about how you can be different and set yourselves apart from the competition. Recruitment consultancies are becoming far more “marketing savvy” but there is still lots of scope for originality and creativity. Don’t be afraid to be different and when you hit upon a winning formula, continue to develop it.
Create a referral scheme
Finally, incentivise your consultants to engage with fellow recruiters through their contacts. This will be a far cheaper and usually a far more successful way of hiring than using rec to rec firms. Rec to recs also have a place, although I personally have never successfully hired through them. The key is to build up a relationship over time with your chosen firm and the more hires you make, the more you will have first “dibs” on the top consultants they meet.
Good luck!
About the author: David Morel is the CEO/Founder of Tiger Recruitment, one of London’s leading secretarial/administrative recruitment agencies. David founded Tiger in 2001 and has written extensively in the press and wider media advising both Employers and Job seekers on best recruitment practice.
