RCEuro Member Blogs

I was really interested to read a piece courtesy of Recruitment Dad this week on the results of his study into recruiters. It created a lot of buzz on Twitter so I'm sure some of you have already seen it but in case you haven't, have a read here - it is definitely some food for thought.

The study basically illustrated what may have come as a shock to some, but was to be expected for others: recruiters weren't very good at their jobs. Here are a few particularly shocking statistics:

• Only 7 out of 20 asked Recruitment Dad (the fake candidate) his name
• Only 3 took a phone number
• Only 1 made him feel confident that they could help
• 0 asked about personal circumstances
• 0 asked if he had applied for any other jobs

And that is just a small selection!

Unfortunately this study just reinforces what many people already think about our industry - that recruiters don't really care about candidates. And that is very frustrating. Not only are these individual companies creating a bad name for themselves, they're stopping the rest of the sector getting the respect it deserves. Knowing the right questions to ask really is in the basics of recruitment that every consultant should have perfected.

These results really highlight the importance of investing in your staff. We don't only say this because it's our business - it's because it's true! Yes, giving your recruiters a ‘recruiters for dummies' guidebook is one way of doing it but the chances are that what they read won't stay with them for long, and they'll be repeating all the mistakes that those surveyed above did. Only by learning interactively, providing feedback / analysis and putting new skills into action at desk level is that learning going to work.

By the sound of things this is something that recruiters need to address. And as the market picks up and the war for talent kicks in again, it seems that they need to address it sooner rather than later.

By Fiona Lander - Lander Associates