Julia Weeks
When you have a new position available within your company, it can sometimes feel like the best solution in order to fill it quickly is to throw more irons in the fire by having many different recruiters looking for you. This especially feels like the right choice when you have a hard to fill opening. However, it’s important to understand that by having many different recruiters looking for the same type of candidate for you can give your company a bad name.
1. Candidates question the position
When top notch candidates begin to receive phone calls and emails from several different recruiters or recruitment agencies, they will begin to question the problem with the position. This is especially the case if the position has been opened for quite some time.
Why is the position open?
Why has the position been open for so long?
Why do you need so many different people looking for the one position?
When I have recruited for hard to fill positions, I have run into the case many times when my client has had several other recruiters working on the same position. I have heard the candidate concerns, after being contacted by the second or third different person about the same position.
I have had candidates tell me that there is no way they would consider the position due to the fact that it has been open for so long, with so many people searching for someone and there are no hires. They truly believe something is wrong with the position. Regardless of what the recruiter explains to the candidate, they have made up their mind and the company looses out on top notch talent.
2. Candidates question the company
Quite often, if a candidate has been contacted by multiple recruiters over a period of time for the same position, they will begin to question things about the company.
What is wrong with the company?
Is there something wrong with the manager or culture?
How serious is the company regarding this hire?
If a position is open for some time, with many different recruiters working on it, candidates will start to question the company and wonder if there is something wrong due to the fact that it is so difficult to fill the position for them. This will also lead to the candidate questioning what the culture is like as well as the manager.
Top talent does not want to waste their valuable time interviewing for a position that appears to be a problem for the company. Whether the company may or may not have cultural or management issues, the candidate will sometimes assume based on initial perception.
In addition, if the position has been open for some time, the candidate will question the seriousness of the company regarding the hire. In my 8 years of recruiting, I have worked on many positions that my client decided they are not interested in hiring someone for until 6 months or a year down the road. They were not serious about making an immediate hire, but wanted to stay ahead of the game. There is nothing wrong with this, as long as the recruiter understands the situation and can explain this to candidates.
3. Candidates question communication
When you have many different people contacting talent and explaining the same position, you will be sure to have some miscommunication. Think of the game where one child whispers to another that Johnny bought a red apple, and that child whispers the same thing to the third, etc. By the time the tenth child has been whispered to, they think that Tommy caught a dead rabbit.
You will not have two recruiters explain your position and company the same way to candidates. There will be misunderstandings and differences in explanation. When a candidate has been contacted by two or three different recruiters for the same position, this makes a huge difference. The candidate has heard several different explanations for why the position is open and the job description differs slightly.
As stated before, top talent does not like to waste their time when considering opportunities. Miscommunication screams time waster to them and they will likely end up blowing off the opportunity before getting past the first phone screen with the recruiter.
Have you experienced any of these obstacles when using multiple recruiters to fill one position? Please share your experiences in the comments below.
Image: Jakub Jirsak/BigStock.com
Spark Hire
