Bad Apples in a Dog Eat Dog World
Laura Walkinshaw investigates how to tell the rotten from the ripe...The recruitment business can be risky – for both the consultant and the client. With so many recruitment firms operating in London alone, it’s needless to say that competition is fierce, and ‘selling’ candidates as the right people for jobs is essential for any recruitment consultant to survive the industry.
With recruitment companies also under pressure to ‘sell’ their services to candidates, it can be difficult for jobseekers to make informed decisions about who to approach first, and distinguish between the good, the bad and the damn right ugly of recruitment consultants – who may be willing to shove them into any job at the thought of earning some commission.
Badenoch and Clarke, a recruitment firm established since the 1980’s, strive to give candidates ‘the basics that help you to make up your mind as to which career would suit you’ – or so they say. In fact, many recruitment consultants openly complain that people coming to them with no idea what they want to do is certainly not a great starting point for finding a job – and surely even the consultants at Badenoch and Clarke are no exemption, considering the company’s claims to provide a ‘fast and reliable service’.
However, some consultants may agree to disagree. Kay, 38, has worked within the recruitment industry for nine years, and is now a consultant for one of London’s leading firms. She feels that, in order to be a successful consultant, ‘you have to be patient and focused’, to adhere to your client’s and candidates needs, and whether this means helping them to discover their chosen field, so be it. She also adds that it is essential to ‘be aware of who’s who’ in the recruitment business, otherwise without such vital knowledge, not only will consultants find themselves struggling to fulfil their client’s needs, but they are also likely to be beaten to filling certain jobs by others.
The competitiveness of the recruitment business is likely to be a reason why some consultants tend to turn away from ensuring customer satisfaction and more towards meeting targets and earning commission as easily as they possibly can. Recruitment consultants are employed under a target-focused scheme, which as well as earning a basic salary, they also earn commission if they meet certain targets. As with all sales-type jobs, it’s a dog-eat-dog world, and if consultants have a bad string of missing targets, they are likely to be dropped and replaced with somebody who is very willing to take on the several rewards that the job offers.
As a result, consultants are likely to feel pressured into placing staff in roles at such a rapid rate to ensure rival companies do not get in there first. Consequently, the needs of the clients are neglected due to the lack of time consultants have, which affects the quality ethic of their services. As well as this, the unsuspecting candidate may end up in a less-than satisfying job, whilst the ‘wonderful’ recruitment consultant who pitched it as ‘the best job for you’ is sitting back and lapping up all of that commission.
It is becoming more and more difficult to tell the ‘bad apples’ in recruitment from those whose intentions in the job are sincere. Due to the financial rewards of recruitment consultancy, it can attract people who are more driven by these incentives, rather than by the actual dealing with clients, and meeting targets in a more professional way. Despite recruitment consultancy being very much the kind of work people tend to “fall” into, many in the industry do have a flair for identifying the needs of their clients, negotiating, ensuring a high level of customer care, and demonstrating in-depth knowledge about the field they specialise in. It is this that determines the good from the bad – those consultants who are keen to offer support to their clients, rather than those who are just target driven and out to make money.
Emily, 26, admits that although the initial idea of working to targets and earning commission appealed to her, after working in the industry for four years, she comments:
“I love to place people in a new role. I get to spend a lot of time with candidates and clients, and build rapport with them. When you secure a role for a candidate who has perhaps been unhappy in their role, and when they're screaming with excitement down the phone because they're so happy about their job offer, it is instantly rewarding.”
For the employers and jobseekers themselves, word-of-mouth between colleagues, friends and family is probably one of the few ways to know which recruitment agencies to steer clear from, along with common sense. Don’t ever be pushed or talked into anything by a firm – make clear what your needs are and what you expect from them. If you are not satisfied, go elsewhere. It is also useful to keep in mind that if a recruitment consultant is keen to bad-mouth other firms, it is a well sure sign that as well as being highly unprofessional, they are likely to be the bad guys after all.
As said by a recruitment consultant: ‘Recruitment is an excellent way of building commercial awareness and gaining good financial reward, but you'll only do really well if you are genuinely interested in the people you are recruiting and if you take the time to build the understanding of their job, and of the market.’
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