If you’ve never worked with a recruiter, or already have a relationship with a trusted talent advisor, it might not have occurred to you that there is such a thing as working with the “right” recruiter. Just like you have a favorite doctor, professor or stylist, if you don’t have a “favorite” recruiter, there’s no time like the present to find one. Why? There are actual pitfalls to going through your career without a trusted recruiter by your side. Whether it’s through a job search or finding your next new hire, having the right talent acquisition partner makes a real difference. Without one, here are a few things you might encounter.
Wasting Time
Of course it takes time to develop a relationship w/ anyone, especially a busy recruiter. It might even feel like it’s too much effort to try to develop a relationship with someone you don’t know when you need to hire someone quickly, or get hired quickly. However, have you thought about how much time you’re wasting when you have to explain your role, your team, your culture with each new open position? The Society for Human Resource Management reports a position takes 36 days to fill, on average.¹
Wasting Money
Your potential to make a bad hire increases when you’re feeling stressed about hiring on a timeline, or aren’t seeing the right talent. A study by Northwestern University estimates the cost of a bad hire at 30 percent of their first year’s salary.² Not only is that a pretty tough number to handle, you get to start your hiring process all over again. The optics on this, and the commotion the change can cause for your team are two other undesirable side effects of hiring the wrong person. Ultimately, it can have the unfortunate effect of causing additional turnover because current employees are unhappy with the situation.
Missing out on the “right” talent
When you have a seasoned relationship with a seasoned recruiter, you’re presented with ideal talent as soon as your recruiter starts finding candidates. It takes a “new” recruiter working with you some time to understand you and your needs. In the meantime, the candidate you’re likely to hire might be interviewing somewhere else. Workable.com³ writes that great talent is likely on the market for ten days. Meaning, speed to getting a candidate in to interview with you is of the essence. Not only does your seasoned recruiter likely know candidates that are looking for your role who never would visit a job board, but he or she can also talk to candidates who are interested in hearing about new opportunities but are not actively looking. How else would these candidates hear about your opening?
The Process Isn’t Enjoyable
Hiring and job searching are hard. But when you’re working with the “right” recruiter for you, both are easier, and can even be fun. Even if you do end up with the right person in the role, if it was painful to get there, the excitement of being able to add new talent to your team might feel like just “something else on your plate.” If you don’t enjoy working with your recruiter, you likely feel like he or she isn’t doing their best to support you. If you’ve got doubts about trusting this person to find you the best candidate, that should be a red flag, and you should be interviewing potential talent partners, right now.
We know recruiting and job searching have major consequences attached to them. Finding a new role or finding the right person for your role are substantially easier when you’re working with a recruiter you trust. When you think about how much time, money, and aggravation you don’t have to experience when the hiring process is going smoothly, we hope you’re inspired to find a recruiter you can trust this quarter.