How to get your clients working in your office. By Cale Donovan

That one role. That one role that just isn’t closing. Over the course of the last month, you’ve interviewed twenty candidates, spoke with well over fifty and screened three times that in resumes. Finally, you’ve found the perfect candidate, they’ve interviewed well, passed all of the testing with flying colors, the management team loves them, they’re ready to accept the role… And then it doesn’t happen. Budget, timing, strategy change etc. whatever the reason - It’s not happening.

As a recruiter - you’ll know this pain.

There are times when this can be rectified by better process/structure/communication up-front, but if you’ve been in the industry long enough - it still happens.

The next month, you register a new role. You do a quick search of your candidates, get on the phone and chat to them about the role, send resume, interview goes well, they are hired within the week.

Now the invoice gets sent across to the client. This is where it gets interesting. If it isn’t the hiring manager direct, it’s someone else thinking (or worse disputing), “I’m paying this much money for one resume?” 

The disconnect is that the client likely doesn’t know how much work goes into attracting, connecting, building a relationship with, understanding the needs of, and effectively getting the candidate to sign on the dotted line. This is exaggerated by the fact that generally only a small percentage of candidates that recruiters work with will result in a placement.

So is there a way to show them the work that has been done? In the instance above - nothing with real impact. You can discuss how many people you speak to daily, how many resumes you’ve sent to previous jobs - but it will quite often fall on unsympathetic ears.

But there are a small few who understand your pain. Even better - they know you well! Do you know who they are?...

Your former employees.

Hopefully they don’t make up a large amount of your client base (for obvious reasons), however they really should be some of your best potential clients. They understand how you operate, the work you put in, and the results you get. Most importantly, they’ll respect how hard agency recruitment can be, hopefully resulting in paid fees and a greater level of transparency. 

Many recruiters are starting to realise the value of their network. It’s time for agencies to do the same and ensure any former great employees become clients wherever possible. It could be a whole new book of business ready for the taking.