Top 10 mistakes when recruiting recruiters | by Ripper On Recruitment

Recruitment companies are recruiting again. The ‘war for talent’ has started once more (did it ever stop?) and thousands of recruitment consultant jobs are being advertised on the job boards and recruitment-to-recruitment specialist agencies are getting steadily busier.

It’s a sad and ironic indictment of our recruiting industry that the one universal role that we struggle to recruit for is the one of recruitment consultants for ourselves. Even recruitment-to-recruitment companies find it easier to locate and place recruiters at their client companies than to fill their own internal gaps – you work it out??!!

For a start, let’s tell people realistically how hard they need to work in their first year including what hours they need to work to be considered doing the job. If the culture in your business is that no-one leaves before 8pm at night it seems only fair to point that out during the interview and not reveal it to them in week 3 of their probation period. Likewise if there is an office bitch (most often a bloke) that makes rookies life hell for the first three months Warn them! If you as the boss only come in after 10am and frequently leave before 5pm (why??) tell them that’s the way it is. If you’re embarrassed to, then maybe you need shut up and change your hours to reflect how hard your team work. If their first three weeks are going to be spent cold calling to build up your client vacancy list then tell them to expect the worst, i.e., lots of rejection, low morale, wanting to give up, etc.

The way I see it is if you paint the job as the worst they could ever imagine but talk about the rewards once you get past the initial boot camp feel then you are getting someone whose job expectation is based in reality which ultimately will lead to job satisfaction. If you bullshit the job up, their expectation is artificially high and unreal and will definitely lead to job dissatisfaction and the churn and burn we have come to expect in our recruitment industry just keeps on rolling on. Tell it how it is and remember to keep it real!

It is imperative that we don’t make the same mistakes we made previously when re-staffing our teams. Forget about ‘double dip’ if you want to send your recruitment company or team down the swanee, then follow the ten most common mistakes we make when recruiting recruiters:

1. Hiring ‘experienced’ recruiters

They are on the market for a GOOD reason. Proceed with caution – you may just end up with someone else’s problem recruitment consultant.

2. Recruiting low energy people because we like them

If they’re low energy in the interview process how do you think they’ll be after 6-12 months with you? Do you really want to have to light a fire under people?

3. Not checking references

You may as well give them the keys to your house and car whilst you’re at it.

4. Making compromises when we take someone on (settling)

If you settle for second best, they will always be second best. Don’t you deserve ‘FIRST BEST’?

5. Hiring to ‘fill a desk’

Cont. >>>