I recently got this question from someone in my network:
I am part of a small boutique Retail Recruitment Consultancy. Much of the work I pick up is through referrals and I sometimes find that some of the roles I am asked to support my clients with are either too junior for me to spend my time on or are HO based roles that quite frankly I can’t respond to fast enough as I am at the early stages of building up my network in many HO functions. What I want to do is be able to foster honest relationships with a couple of other like minded recruiters who could support me by supplying some candidates on those occasions when I am struggling to deliver for my clients particularly on Exclusive Assignments ( 50/50 split fee’s). Also likewise, that my contacts can use me to support them on the odd assignments they may struggle with too.
So what’s the answer? Build relationships from scratch or use a “split fee” service to facilitate these types of arrangments.
To build relationships from scratch she’d have to do a Google search or check out www.agencycentral.co.uk and find a shortlist of agencies in her area (“the North” is quite a large area) and get in touch with each of them to start building a relationship. This is obviously hugely time-consuming. She could attend some local recruitment orientated events and see who she meets up with. Or she could contact the “association bodies” (REC, APSCO, TEAM, etc) and see if they can suggest any members who match her profile.
OR she could very easily log onto sites such as http://www.splitfeejobs.com/ and http://www.permsconnect.com/ (and even the LinkedIN group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=919397) to post and respond to postings of vacancies.
So, as a fellow recruiter what would you suggest?
PS, my (obvious) suggestion to her was that I’d post the question here and see what came of it!
I have been trying to do this well for 25 years…. Having spent 2 years with a recruitment franchise, then 5 years as a franchise, (the supposed ideal environment and fertile ground for such split arrangements) I found that it is very hard work and rarely successful unless you are working with a partner whose sector is totally separate from the one you focus on.
In this case, if you are a retail specialist and a client asks you for help on an IT project or to hire them an FD, then it should work BUT… You cannot ask for a significant split of the fee because a SUCCESSFUL recruiter or firm will not need to share a fee on a 50/50 basis as they are halving their revenue. So, unless they have “spare” candidates sitting around on their database and nowhere to place them (we all know that if they are any good this will be a rare event) they will want the lions share of the fee, or they may as well place the person themselves…
I could expand at length and am happy to discuss the pros and cons further but I think this summarises my thoughts.
I have some sympathy with Pauls view and I think the UK market needs to change it’s mindset a bit; replacing suspicion and inter-agency rivalry with a bit more cooperation. We’re probably going to need it in the next 5 years!
50/50 should be the standard arrangement and if the other agency wants to negotiate, you’ve got the wrong partner.
I think Recruiters would be wise to join all the new business development initiatives starting up: try ours at http://www.vacancy-clearing.com
There’s also a list of similar sites on our homepage if you’d like an overview of how they work compared to ours give me a call 07880 736263
I agree with David… and we personally have found that there is a very real change happening in the minds of recruiters and recruitment agency owners.
A split of a fee, when it can be achieved in a fast turnaround time, is certainly a lot better than trying to fill a role with your own limited resources… taking a longer time, with the risk of not making any placement at all! But split fees are just one aspect… we feel that there are MANY more benefits to come from bringing recruiters together…
We have created an organisation specifically focused on making the role of the Independent Recruiter a lot easier… from making the move across to working for yourself, to facilitating split fee arrangements, cross selling into other industries, accessing additional resources, and simply just working together under a common banner to achieve bigger and better results. It’s aimed at recruiters that want a better and more lucrative way of working (without the risks involved in setting up their own business from scratch), as well as helping existing independent recruitment agencies on their road to success.
To find out more, please visit http://www.independent-recruiter-uk.com
Our contact details are on the site should anyone wish to find out more. We look forward to hearing from you!
If you’ll make a guy delighted, tend not to add to his possessions but subtract from his needs. Did you concur with me?