What clients get wrong about working with a recruiter

The pool has already been tapped

Clients come to a recruiter for a lot of reasons, but a common one is that they’ve already tried to do it themselves and had no luck. The role has been live on the job boards, people know about it, and they haven’t been happy with what’s come through.

What that means for me as a recruiter is that, to an extent, the pool has already been tapped. The buffet has been picked over. Will I still advertise the role? Yes. Will I expect to get my candidate from that response? No, I won’t - because in most cases, the same candidates who applied directly will apply for mine too.

So I rely on the rest of the toolkit: my network, my association connections, talent search, sourcing from the passive market. Does that make the process harder? No. But it does mean I’m adding value. I understand why employers want to try and source their own candidates - but here’s the thing: I’m in this market every day. I know who’s finishing a contract and can start immediately, who isn’t the right fit for you but is genuinely great, just not for this role. That’s what clients are paying for. They’re paying for the safety of using a recruiter, and mitigating the risk of a bad hire.

“It’s not rocket science”

I’ve had clients say to me, “It’s not rocket science, Erika - how hard can it be?” Well, Brad, it can be very hard when you get it wrong. It can also be very expensive. And if you upset the team because you didn’t take into account that you’re hiring into a self-contained ecosystem, well - no, it’s not rocket science, or brain surgery. But you will feel it if you get it wrong.

“The brief is not optional”

I’ve had clients give me a brief while looking out the window. I’ve had others send an email that says, “How much for this?” with nothing else. Where a lot of recruiters are fine working with that, I am not.

“What you’re actually paying for”

Here’s the thing: I’m good at what I do, and on some days I’d even say I’m great. I prepare my candidates. I take the time to give them all the information they need. If they’re not a good fit, I won’t put them forward - I’m saving you time. I make judgement calls all day long: will they fit, won’t they fit, will they get along with the team, are they technically strong enough or could they be with some training.

That’s why my clients work with me - and that’s the key word: work with. We’re a team, or we should be. And if we aren’t, to be honest, we won’t be working together for long.