Clients who try to avoid paying the introduction fees are sadly all too common. But there are ways you can protect yourself from them getting away with it.
Have Robust Terms
Never be tempted to take on work without a contract in place. Even if it’s with a long-time client for a quick hire, or a friend of a friend, or someone you promised a favour to when you were in the pub! You must make the work official and part of an agreement.
Always Follow Your Procedures
Your own procedures can save you from someone going behind your back. If you have an official route for sending a cv, use it! Don’t just phone the client and hand over the candidate’s phone number or tell the candidate to send it directly by email just because you’re busy! A paper trail is essential, so build this into your procedures.
Ensure that you include resources in your budget to cover hours spent by staff monitoring/ tracking candidates. Build the action of following up with your candidates into your process and make it an action on your ATS. A post-interview de-brief will mean that anything suspicious is highlighted sooner rather than later and a phone call 6 months later as a matter of routine would reveal any underhand offers made later.
Always make sure you are connected to your candidates on LinkedIn and, if possible, make it a part of the process when the candidate starts working with you. This way you can monitor changes in their employment.
Treat Your Candidates Well
If you treat your candidates well, they will be loyal to you and will be much more likely to tell you if they have been approached by the client outside of the process. Keep in touch with them, keep them informed, keep your job suggestions relevant to their search, make that personal connection.
Look Out for Red Flags
If you’ve done all the above but still suspect something is going on, look out for these red flags so that you can catch the backdoor hire early on:
- You know you’ve sent candidates with great qualifications who fit the job description, but the client is saying there’s no one suitable in the pile, at this point stay in close touch with the candidates.
- The client ghosts you.
- The candidate ghosts you or says they’ve got a job elsewhere.
- Either the client, candidate or both suddenly block you on LinkedIn.
- The client withdraws the job despite saying there were no suitable candidates or some other excuse.
Any of these red flags could be entirely innocent but if you see any of them and certainly if more than one occurs, start investigating and evidence gathering as soon as possible!
How Can We Help
Our partners at recLAW can draw you up new terms of business, or turn your existing terms into a legal safehouse that secures your future engagements from the start.
They offer consultation on improving your recruitment processes to build a robust and secure practice.
Get in touch with them to find out more.
