In our office, we have employees who love cake, and those who would rather eat a carrot than a piece of cake. Additionally, when we order pizza, there are people who would be fine with an order from a national chain, and those who would skip lunch if we didn’t order from a local pizzeria. We all have our preferences when it comes to food, and we may not admit it, but there are certain people we’d like to work with, and those we avoid whenever possible. All recruiters, like your favorite restaurant, are not created equal. So when it comes to selecting a recruiter to help you find talent for your team, how do you know which recruiter you should work with? Here are five questions you can ask to determine if they’ll be someone who will become your go-to person when you need to grow your team.
What kind of candidate or candidate background do you specialize in?
Most recruiters will specialize in a particular industry or experience level. If you’re talking with a recruiter and they can’t give you insight as to what kind of candidates they regularly work with, their pipeline of candidates that they’re working with to find the next step in their career is likely all over the board. As a client, this is not what you want, because a recruiter that specializes in an industry or experience level of a candidate will have a critical mass of a certain kind of candidate. Great recruiters will meet candidates and work to stay in touch with them so that when they’re ready to make a move, the candidate reaches out to the recruiter, and it’s a win/win for both the client the recruiter is working with, and the candidate who wants a new role. Without a specialty, the recruiter will have to start from scratch, which can be a lengthy process, and won’t produce the immediate results that you might get from a more specialized recruiter.
I was disappointed in my last recruiter because (tell your story). How do you avoid your clients having an unpleasant experience like the one I had?
When you’ve had a bad experience with a recruiter, it might feel like the best course of action is to avoid all recruiters. However, did you stop going on vacation in tropical locations because you got sunburned that one time in Hawaii? You might have switched sunscreen or haven’t left the house without it since the epic sunburn, but you probably went back to the beach. Don’t let one undesirable experience paint all recruiters with the same brush. If you’re open with a potential recruiter about what went wrong the last time, and ask what sort of safeguards or processes they have put in place to avoid the outcome you experienced, you’ll be able to gauge their level of empathy for how you feel, and will directly address your concerns.
Can you tell me what sets you apart from other recruiters?
There should be something a recruiter can give you to address this question. It’s an easy question for our team at Ambrion because we guarantee that we meet every candidate that we represent. It seems like that should be a basic step in the recruitment process, but our clients have told us that it’s not the norm, and a big reason why they continue to work with Ambrion over and over again.
How does your process work?
This gives your recruiter a chance to dive deeper into what they go through to make sure they’re finding you the right kind of candidates. The process that each recruiter goes through is likely a little different, but the end goal is the same; delivering you the best talent the market has to offer. This should also give you an idea of what you might expect should you work with this recruiter. If you’re talking to a recruiter who can’t lay out a step by step plan, or give you a detailed overview of their process, it’s likely time to talk to another recruiter.
Can I talk to other clients you’ve worked with in the past?
A lot of established firms will have testimonials on their web site, or videos of their clients talking about their experience working with a recruiter from their organization. If the recruiter you’re talking to doesn’t offer either of those options, hopefully they’ll be able to say that they have one or more clients that would be happy to talk to you and be able to give you their phone numbers and/or email addresses. If they don’t seem to be able to provide you with either option, they may not have asked their clients for this kind of acknowledgment, or they might not have any clients that are able to publicly give credit to outside vendors. This doesn’t need to be a dealbreaker, but a question that can give you some insight.
Let us just say if you’ve had an unpleasant experience working with a recruiter in the past, we know that it happens, and want to do whatever we can to regain your trust in our craft and the service a great recruiter can provide. We are hoping these five questions can help you interview any recruiter that would like to earn your business, and allow you to find the right relationship to help you grow your team!