If an agency recruiter or search consultant wants to work with a company or organization, then that recruiter or search consultant must provide recruitment value. If they don’t, then the hiring manager is not likely to want to work with them.
But what recruitment value is considered to be . . . the most valuable?
Sure, search consultants want to be viewed by their clients in the same way that attorneys are viewed by their clients. However, in order for that to be case, they must provide a tremendous amount of value. So what is it, exactly, that clients want?
They want high-quality talent, of course!
There is a direct correlation between the amount of recruitment value that a search consultant provides to their clients and how many placements that search consultant makes. And by extension, the number of placements they make dictates the amount of their overall billings. More value = more placements = higher billings.
The key to recruiting high-quality talent
To help address this issue further, we’re going to draw upon the wisdom of recruiting industry trainer Jon Bartos. According to Bartos, search consultants should definitely provide a lot of recruitment value to their clients if they truly want to reach new heights in profits. This is especially the case in a candidate-driven market like the one that we’re currently experiencing.
“Heading into the future, it’s still all about high-quality talent,” said Bartos, “and recruiters have to bring that high-quality talent to the marketplace. That’s the difference maker.”
So how can you, as a search consultant, attract high-quality talent to fill your clients’ job orders? That’s easy. Well, perhaps more accurately, the first step is easy. That step is working on high-quality job orders.
It makes sense, does it not? Why would a high-quality candidate be attracted to and/or interested in a job that wasn’t high quality? And if the job order isn’t high quality, then how can the job itself be of high quality? (See how quickly things can spiral out of control?)
But what exactly constitutes a high-quality job order?
“You should only work a job order if you’re 100% sure that if you send the company a high-quality A-player, they’ll hire that person and you’ll make the placement,” said Bartos. “If you’re sure of that, then you should be working that job order.”
In addition to recruiting high-quality talent, search consultants can also provide recruitment value to their clients by forming and then continuing to foster a close relationship with them. (Pro tip: utilize a recruiting CRM that allows you to organize your clients and identify when you should touch base with them.)
“You have to keep giving them reasons to use you over the other recruiters who keep calling them,” said Bartos.
That leads us to yet another question: how can you make THAT happen? According to Bartos, there are three steps involved in the process:
#1—Communicate with your clients.
This could be as simple as calling them and talking on the telephone. Or it could be an email newsletter that you send to them. What’s important is that you communicate with them on a consistent basis. What’s also important is that you don’t only contact them when you’re looking for job orders. Because while recruiting high-quality talent represents the apex of recruitment value, you should still strive to provide other forms of value, as well.
#2—Share important information with your clients.
Do you have market intelligence to share with them? Then share it! Chances are good that hiring managers don’t have quite the grasp of market conditions that you have. They would appreciate you sharing with them the trends that are currently shaping those conditions and directly affecting their ability to hire the job candidates they want to hire. As the old saying goes, “Information is power.”
#3—Develop a close, value-add relationship with your clients.
This denotes an ongoing relationship, during which you continue to provide hopefully ever-increasing amounts of recruitment value. This value, of course, primarily includes your ability to consistently recruit high-quality talent to meet your clients’ most urgent hiring needs. However, it also includes other forms of recruitment value, all of which is designed to help your clients solve their personnel problems, both small and large. The best way to brand yourself to clients is to brand yourself as somebody who solves problems.
How do YOU add recruitment value to the relationships that you have with your client companies? What makes them choose you over other recruiters?
Check out these recruiting scripts for cold calling clients that showcase the value that you can provide.
Adding recruitment value through ongoing training
Jon Bartos is a premier writer, speaker, and consultant on all aspects of personal performance, human capital, and the analytics behind them. Bartos has served as a keynote speaker at Top Echelon recruiter networking events and is also a regular contributor to the Top Echelon Expert Recruiter Coaching Series of webinars.
Speaking of which, if you’re looking to add recruitment value as an agency recruiter or search consultant, engaging in continuous training and education is an excellent way to do so. And it just so happens that Top Echelon has an extensive training library of free recruitment and selection training courses. These courses are recorded versions of Top Echelon’s Expert Recruiter Coaching Series of webinars.
These webinars touch upon a variety of recruiter-related topics dealing with both candidates and clients. As always, our goal with these webinars (and corresponding videos) is to help agency recruiters and search consultants make more placements.
In addition to training and webinars, Top Echelon offers other recruitment solutions. These solutions include the following:
- Big Biller recruitment software
- Top Echelon recruiter network
Find out more about the recruiting solutions that Top Echelon offers to agency recruiters and search consultants!