This is a great article from David Jenkins, MD of Vertical Advantage sharing his 5 steps for in-house recruiting teams in how to inspire recruiters when you need to cut their fees
It happens to the best of us.
The finance team have given you a minimal budget to hire and on top of that the line manager has given you a super challenging brief!
You already have a million different things going on, directly sourcing is going to be incredibly challenging…so what do you do?
Send it out the PSL?
This might work and you might get lucky but in your heart of hearts you know it’s unlikely they’ll find the right person. You will be questioning if it will be a priority for those agencies and on top of that the budget given may not cover the PSL rates agreed.
So, what now?
In this article I’m going to share 5 innovative steps that will allow you to reasonably offer a lower fee whilst still managing to inspire the recruitment consultants you are working with. It’s not easy, you’ve got to be transparent and creative but if done properly you can not only save money but also build a trusted partnership for the future.
1) Identify the right recruiter
Often, it’s the individual and not the agency that you need to engage with. Using both referrals from your own network (e.g. current line managers / staff) and LinkedIn searches is a good way to start. For example, if you’re looking for a recruiter that specialises in London based developers with experience of finding people with Python you can run a Boolean search to find a long list of potential agencies / individuals and then by looking at the numbers of candidates in their networks and recommendation they have on their profiles you can shortlist suitable individuals. Once you have 3 or 4 people in mind the ideal next step is to reach out to them, set up a call and discuss the process in more detail but also get a feel for them, how you’d work together etc. Then plan to meet 2 or 3 of them to discuss their credentials and their approach to the search.
2) Build the partnership
It starts with building trust – you need to be upfront with them about managing your budget and the best way this can be managed is by explaining the rigorous process to find them and have a really robust engaging process in place to ensure they’re highly incentivised from the get-go. Little things make a difference such as providing your mobile number, letting the recruiter know that you’re happy to take a call out of working hours if they need to engage candidates who are not 100% sure about the role.
3) Promote the longer-term relationship value over the short-term fee
Being honest the fee could still be an issue, but you now need to work to get past this ASAP as your line manager is expecting CVs. Paying up front / retaining is probably out of the question, but most good recruiters will ask for this… Treat it as a good sign!
If you can’t agree on the budget, you already have then you need to offer some alternatives. What is essential is getting the recruiter to understand the financial pressure you’re under but you also need to let them know that you equally understand the situation they are in with less money. Transparency is always key so you need to make clear that you’re trying to force them into a lower fee so need to great creative when asking yourself what else can you offer a recruiter that could be valuable outside the fee
My top 5 alternatives are:
1) Instead of a percentage of base salary you could offer a fixed placement fee (i.e. your budget) with an additional bonus fee if probation / the first 6- or 12-months of employment passes, and the candidate is still in the role.
2) Explain the opportunity for more exclusive business in this function or other functions if the recruiter is able to work with you on this search. Higher fees could be pre agreed for future searches.
3) You could offer referrals to other contacts in your network to other businesses that are recruiting.
4) Offer to write a recommendation for them (should they provide a good service) on Linkedin, google or doing a video referral / testimonial as that brand advocacy will be invaluable for their company.
5) Offering to speak to other potential clients who may have questions about their service – sometimes, the offer of this kind of thing means so much more than actually seeing them through but referrals for recruiters are incredibly powerful. Also if you do receive a great service at a fee level, you recognize it’s lower than the market rate meaning there is no reputational harm in providing that independent recommendation!
4) Set out a robust process
With the fee negotiation out of the way, the next step is defining the interview process.
Ideally this will be 2 stages or at the most 3 (sometimes the 2nd and 3rd can be done one after another). This is important because the recruiter can plan their own pipeline and know when they’re likely to make their placement fee.
Also, what is important is to align a plan internally. Recruiters that have a good relationship with a line manager make the hiring process a lot easier.
Why?
This might sound obvious but sometimes we forget that getting your recruiter to genuinely like & respect the person they are hiring for can go a long way!
It’s important that the line managers understand the tricky spot you find yourselves in financially. It’s also vital that they make sure they can be available from the brief through to completion so you’re working together as a partnership and shows that they buy into the approach you’re taking.
Therefore, getting the recruiter and line manager to build a good relationship is key – this doesn’t mean relinquishing control, but all 3 stakeholders should be clear on communication lines as part of the hiring plan from the start.
5) Leverage speed and availability
Speak to the recruiter and see if they think it’s better to send a shortlist of say 3 – 5 people in one go and interview them. Alternatively, if the market is so tight for candidates it makes more sense to review the CVs one at a time.
Why is this important?
A recruiter wants a process to move fast meaning they will be most engaged by speed. It’s like a game of tennis. They have spent time building a short list (that’s them serving the ball over the net) so the quicker the line manager responds (there’s your return of serve!), the quicker you can get the interviews into the diary meaning the closer the recruiter gets to making the placement.
Following these 5 steps will hopefully make the process easier for the recruiter by keeping them engaged whilst helping you balance your internal pressures from finance / line management. Ultimately, I’m looking at this from the angle of a recruiter but would love to hear from my in-house colleagues regarding any methods that they have used in a similar situation that I haven’t covered here. Either comment below or drop me an email to David@vertical-advantage.com
