How to Know When Your Recruiter is Undermining Your Efficiency
Quality or Quantity: To measure your recruiter, one simple metric tells the entire story.
Admit it—you personally settled the “Quantity vs. Quality” argument long ago, and it was easily decided in favor of Quality. Hands down, game over, wasn’t even close—who doesn’t want to have the best candidates? And if that’s your position, and you’re a hiring manager, it’s important that you and your recruiter answer this question the same way.
There’s one simple metric to deciphering whether you’re working with a “Quantity” or “Quality” recruiter, without asking the question—just observe the number of candidates they’re sending over for consideration each time you have an open position. A quantity-focused recruiter takes a “shotgun” approach, lightly vetting a large number of candidates and often sending their clients a portfolio of more than 20 candidates. A quality-focused recruiter spends extra time getting to know their clientele first, better understanding the culture and goals of the firm and its leadership, then putting that knowledge into action during a more thorough vetting process with each potential employee, enabling the quality-focused recruiter to deliver a much more concise group of highly screened and qualified applicants.
Today’s job market works against both businesses and candidates…but a quality-focused recruiter is a game changer.
According to the US Department of Labor, job openings are at a record high today vs. a generational low unemployment rate. Simply put, the data suggests that every job applicant today faces an unprecedented challenge to get from one end of the recruiting funnel to the other and land that great job. And the battle is just as fierce on the other side of the table—employers are struggling more than ever to find that perfect candidate.
However, Jobvite’s 2019 Recruiting Benchmark Report suggests that the perceived “talent war” may be misunderstood. There are more than enough capable candidates—it just takes more work to find them than it used to. There’s more data to sift, more research available, more places to look. And according to Talentnow’s 2018 Recruitment Statistics, while AI and machine learning continue to be the buzzwords, the hiring decisions are still being made by humans.
That’s right, if you’re reading this because you’re a hiring manager frustrated by the challenge of finding and landing the best employees, odds are you’re human. And you like working with other humans. But choosing the right recruiting partner is crucial, because you don’t have any more hours in your day than you used to. If anything, you’re trying to get more done in less time than ever. So why in today’s challenging business environment would any of us settle for a recruiter that favors quantity over quality?
Quality takes extra work. And if your recruiter isn’t putting in the hours, guess who is?
Statistics suggest that many recruiters still—inexplicably—lean towards quantity over quality, often sending more than 25 candidates to a hiring manager per open position. Working with a candidate portfolio this large makes it virtually impossible for a recruiter to accurately screen, interpret, and strategically select the best candidates. A quantity-focused recruiter will speak to a candidate one time, and if they make the cut, their resume is delivered to the hiring manager for review along with many others, leaving the bulk of the vetting process to the hiring manager. Simply put, if your recruiter isn’t putting in their time, you have to.
A quality-focused recruiter will actually save time for the hiring manager by using a highly-targeted sourcing and screening approach. They spend extra time vetting applicants, only presenting those worthy of the position, thus allowing the hiring manager to quickly narrow the pool and efficiently hire the right person, period. Job done, let’s move on to the real work.
CLT is all about Quality.
At CLT Recruiters, we say it right upfront: our objective is to put quality firms and quality candidates together. We stake our reputation on every candidate we put forward and we put in the extra work to make sure they’re the right fit. We aren’t generalists and this isn’t a Hollywood casting call; we’ve invested our careers and expertise in the NYC-area high-end and luxury residential construction industry and we believe that in order to produce a top flight candidate for an exceptional employer, we have to put in the time.
We first commit to deeply knowing and understanding both parties—starting with the hiring company’s goals and challenges, then going deep into our network, conducting an in-depth search to find the right people. But they aren’t “in” right away just because they seem good on paper or ace a phone call—our process is much more comprehensive.
Before any candidate’s bio and resume land in front of a hiring manager, our vetting process begins with an in-depth phone interview followed by background research and references provided by our network of industry contacts. Candidates that make it through that cut will be invited for a video interview where we’ll observe cues that tell us a lot about the type of employee that individual will become. Our process produces, on average, less than 7 outstanding candidates perfectly suited to each open position. And our job still isn’t over—if they’re offered a position, we run a full background check as a final safeguard for our clients. Bottom line: we do the extra work so that our clients don’t have to. You win.
If that no-nonsense approach makes sense to you, we invite you to find out how we can help your business succeed by making your hiring process simpler and more effective. We’re always ready to start a conversation—contact us today!