In their first article in a series of blogs for us introPROTECT, working on assisting you in PREVENTING, DETECTING and RECOVERING disputed recruitment fees, they’ve got something “groundbreaking” to share – explaining how “doing your job” could just be the best line of defence in avoiding backdoor hires!
Ok, so you may be forgiven for thinking that the advice “do your job” is somewhat simplifying the process of preventing backdoor hires in recruitment, but if you start to look at your processes you may just see where mistakes are made… be slapdash with work and you may leave yourself wide open to a future dispute.
Processes! A dirty word to the disorganised? An eye-roll for those who have their “own ways” of managing work, but what if following protocol and always sticking to the rules saved you a lot of trouble and money further down the line?
Think about everything that you as a recruiter should do in order to make sure that candidate introduction is clearly your introduction, no question:
- Terms already agreed with the client? Great, now be sure to comply with the terms when introducing candidates.
- CV has to go on a portal? Then use the portal!
- Introduction has to go through HR? Then make sure the introduction is going to the right inbox. Even if you sell in directly to the hiring manager in parallel (assuming direct contact is allowed), just don’t give them an excuse.
- No terms in place (tut, tut)? Then do yourself a favour and send them out with every CV.
Yes, you may be very busy, it’s tempting to cut corners and skip the odd process, but keep in mind that missing a small step can lead to that small hole in your claim… If you want to ensure all your candidates are protected as your candidates, you’ll want to run a tight ship.
If a back door hire takes place despite all your hard work (and you can never prevent them all), then the good news is you’ll be ready with a watertight case to show that the candidate was your introduction, they agreed to the terms of business and you were the effective cause! You’ll also have a thorough record of communications so there should be no need for things to escalate to court, but… If you do find yourself heading towards a fully contested claim, then all that hard work will definitely have paid off – the evidence will be clear and on your side!
Cases are fought and won without terms of business, without a perfect record of the client introduction, but let’s ensure the fight is a knock-out and have that unquestionable trail of a job well done please!
Victoria Baynton-Williams, introPROTECT
