Busting the myths about recruitment consultants

If this comes over as a bit of self-justification, it's because even though recruitment is a hard game, recruitment consultants seem to come in for a lot of stick.

So let's try to set the record straight...

Myth: Recruiters are lazy

Anyone saying this has clearly never worked in recruitment! Recruiters have to deal with a huge workload, tight deadlines and a ton of stress - and we get paid almost entirely on results, and may well have to give all or part of that payment back if our successful candidate does not stay with the organisation.

REALITY...

It is not in our interest to do anything other than our very best to find the most suitable people we can.

Myth: Recruiters only post on job boards

If job boards are providing most of your placements then you're missing a trick. Yes, we use them here - because we're thorough. But generally, job boards provide lots of applicants that are not well-matched to the vacancy. Of course, huge numbers of responses make for good statistics for those same job boards when trying to attract new advertisers, so it's hardly in their interest to focus on relevance over volume. Instead, recruiters have to compensate for that by weeding out often large numbers of almost completely unsuitable candidates.

REALITY...

If job boards were really that good then they would have put recruiters out of work.

Myth: Direct sourcing can replace outsourced recruitment

When job boards came out many people predicted that recruiters' days were numbered, but we're still here. The numbers of businesses that rely solely on internal sourcers for all their employees is still fairly small because even a great internal sourcer will still see only the number of candidates and employees that ONE organisation comes into contact with.

REALITY...

Most organisations that have an internal sourcer (or a team of sourcers) will still use them alongside an external recruiter.

And while we're on this subject, here's two important facts about recruiters... 

Fact: Recruiters are consultants

Recruiters are on or near the cutting edge of a range of different fields and disciplines including things like interview methods and technique, trends in CV design and layout, HR practice, staff assessment and management. We speak to employers, employees and candidates every day and get unique insights into how these three groups of people feel about each other, as well as different personality types and office environments.

Fact: Companies NEED recruitment consultants

There are many reasons this is true but here's our favourite: many candidates (and especially the savvy ones) go to a recruitment consultant first. Think about it: where else can they get advice (and impartial, confidential advice) on

  • salaries,
  • the best (and worst) organisations to work for,
  • how to tweak their CV for maximum impact

- and a feel for the job market as a whole?

Who else spends all day every day up to their eyeballs in everything they need to know?

So the next time you hear that (job boards, LinkedIn, whatever the next big thing in recruitment will be) is going to put recruiters out of work, think again. There will always be a need for good recruitment consultants.