Recruiters I hate them, but I love them
In my daily HR routine I do what Charlie Judy likes to call Trench HR. Between me and another person we take care of all of the HR matters for our organization and a lot of other things too, I might add. So this 2 person HR shop has to do all of the recruiting and hiring for the place as well. Over the years on some really tough finds we have engaged a (now I am going to use the “H” word) Headhunter to help us fill a position.
After having used the H person, I feel dirty and I feel like a failure. In addition to the failure aspect as a HR Generalist, my employer is usually out a sizable amount of money. The best rate I have ever negotiated was 20% of first year salary. You can do the math…
Let me say that not all HR folks share this opinion. By way of example my Project Social partner Laura Schroeder has a healthier and more balanced look at recruiters. You can see what she has to say on her blog post on recruiters and filling positions.
Meanwhile, I want to talk more about my own insecuirities and how it is that recruiters have often made me feel like a failure. Well as the HR Superhero for our organization I am supposed to be able to do it all: Labor Law,
The HR Superhero
Compensation and Benefits, Organizational Development, Health and Safety stuff – oh and recruiting too. Alas, try as I may I drop the ball now and then and seem to have trouble getting her done, the recruiting that is. Then we engage one of these hot shop perky recruiters and they find this person that I have been seeking for three months in a day and one half, damn. So see you guys make us generalist look bad. We are generalist not HR Superheroes.
I have joked with a recruiter, telling him this is what I need… “A seven foot tall Korean guy, who is left handed, speaks Portuguese and has a B.A. in the Studies of Western Civilizations.” Then the recruiter calls me back in an hour and one half and says, “Hey I got your guy.” That’s how I feel. Then to add insult to injury the boss says we paid how much to find this guy, and asks me what do I pay you for? That is a bad day. This is what I hate about recruiters.
The love part is this. I have met very few Recruiters, Placement Counselors, Talent-Acquisition Specialist what ever they may call themseves who are not genuinely nice, good decent people. So I want to dislike you all, but I can’t because you are all nice people. Add to that, you are so damn good; you source these candidates in the time it takes me to fill out a new requisition, which makes me look bad. For these two things I have to love you folks in the recruiting business.
February 21st, 2011 at 1:08 am
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February 21st, 2011 at 12:04 pm
It sounds as if you’ve had incredibly good luck with external search support Dave. Over the years, I’ve use Recruiters for very specific searches, and now rely on a select few to assist. Most of the run-of-the-mill recruiters say exactly what I want to hear (I have the perfect candidate who wants to relocate to your area!); but rarely is this true, particularly with a contingency firm.
It’s unfortunate that your boss isn’t able to recognize that without you, that strategic move to utilize a recruiter to fill the position would have resulted in a much lengthier vacancy.
Jay Kuhns recently posted..Power Post – Sprinting Is GoodI Think
February 21st, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Chin up, Dave. You should only feel bad if the 7 foot Korean he finds for you already works at your company (and you didn’t know about him).
Laura Schroeder recently posted..Project Social- Finding the Right Person