Disclaimer:
Some may see this small blog as a cynical attempt to promote our company and what we stand for and criticise the competition. Others may see it as a proud MD happily talking about things that are important to growing a recruitment business! Either way, it shouldn’t take too much of your time to read and won’t be too controversial!
I often say to people I want us to run a good business first and foremost; a profitable business with great people, processes, governance, HR and values – and it just so happens that we do recruitment. Therefore, unlike some companies we hire people for the long term as opposed to those who hire and fire because some desperate soul didn’t get enough CVs out, even though they provide excellent customer service, have a great attitude and genuinely want to learn.
Over the many years of being in recruitment, I have seen, heard and experienced some very dodgy hiring practices which at the time may have amused me, but now on reflection I truly despair. I’m sure it’s not just recruitment companies that act like this, but some of the stories I’ve heard from people that I’ve interviewed truly make me wince.
To me, recruitment company bosses who hire people purely based on who they think will make a target over and above everything else are missing the point. The purpose of a good company is not to hit one financial target at the detriment of their values, culture, governance, processes and people – it’s surely to do all the valuable things on that list, with the financial target at the fore so that there is longevity and scalability. Otherwise you may as well fire everyone else other than your top billers – boy you’ll surely be lean and profitable then!
We’ve all heard stories of young recruiters or potential recruiters being offered a job in the first interview, sometimes even being told to sign up there and then. To me this epitomises the desperation of some recruitment bosses who see prospective candidates as fodder; some will work, some won’t, but the money will keep rolling in. This is everything that is wrong with the recruitment industry.
Take some accountability, people!
Hire people with the same skills and dedication that we offer our clients and find the right people who will learn and grow with us as organisations – not just the who will make the most calls!
Ever wonder why attrition in recruitment is really bad? I guarantee it’s not because all the recruiters are terrible as is proven every time one ‘underperforming’ person leaves a bad company and joins a good one. Oh, the transformation is amazing! No, perhaps the environment wasn’t in any way encouraging, the attitude of bosses driven purely by stats meant that behaviours change and any pretense of company values went out the window.
Now I’m not suggesting we live in some commune, sing songs and do our recruitment jobs for free – no, I’m really not suggesting that – and neither am I suggesting that life in a busy recruitment company should be laid back and easy as we do have goals, targets and clients and candidates to look after. What I mean is that if only people spent a bit more due diligence on who they hire, how they hire, and then how they manage people, we’d not give off the impression that we’re all cowboys and not professional companies. I’d beg to differ as I’m sure a fair number of quality recruitment companies out there would too.
Soapbox firmly put back in the cupboard… until next time!
.png)