{"id":2252,"date":"2016-10-18T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2016-10-18T14:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bullseyerecruiting.net\/?p=2252"},"modified":"2023-10-05T11:51:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T17:51:27","slug":"the-4-reasons-agency-recruiting-trumps-corporate-recruiting-every-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bullseyerecruiting.net\/the-4-reasons-agency-recruiting-trumps-corporate-recruiting-every-time\/","title":{"rendered":"The 4 Reasons Agency Recruiting Trumps Corporate Recruiting EVERY TIME"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tFor seven years I enjoyed the comfortable, predictable and somewhat steady\u00a0life of an in-house recruiter, which, let\u2019s face it, had its advantages.\u00a0 Candidates came to me, positions just landed in my lap, and I actually got to interact with the hiring manager and internal stakeholders to inform and influence decisions.\u00a0 Don’t forget I had a steady salary, benefits and great perks like “taco Tuesdays” that came along with being a part of the corporate world.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good job,\u00a0and while recruiting in-house can be challenging,\u00a0 there are worse things to have to try to sell than jobs (if you\u2019ve ever tried to develop business as an agency recruiter, you know exactly what I\u2019m talking about).<\/p>\n

Partnering with an agency is seen by most corporate recruiters as waiving the white flag<\/a>. \u00a0 Corporate recruiters see agency recruiters as evil, and even when they feel like they absolutely can’t do it alone, most in-house talent organizations\u00a0still tend to view contingency counterparts\u00a0with\u00a0disdain and distrust. When I was a corporate recruiter, choosing a contingency recruiting firm admitted defeat.<\/p>\n

While, to the rest of the world, we\u2019re all recruiters, but to those of us on the talent front lines, both sides\u00a0cling to an \u2018us vs. them\u2019 mentality, a seemingly impenetrable wall between two very different (yet strangely similar) worlds of work. Which is why I never thought I\u2019d see the day when I decided to switch teams and go back to the proverbial dark side of agency recruiting, trading in a pretty cushy job for a life of cold calling and commissions.<\/p>\n

Thing is, almost two years in agency recruiting,\u00a0 I\u2019m confident that I will never go back to a corporate recruiting job.\u00a0 Ever. I get to work for the world\u2019s best boss: me.\u00a0Added bonus: no more having to dress up and drive into an office to sit behind a closed door sourcing and screening all day.<\/p>\n

Most people wonder why the hell I did it, and frankly, some days I do a little bit, too. Let\u2019s just say I have a lengthy list of rationales and reasons that I made the move. I\u2019d like to tell you a story I think every recruiter needs to hear \u2013 and hopefully illustrate why I did what I did \u2013 and why it\u2019s not as crazy as it might sound on the surface.<\/p>\n

Corporate Recruiting Can Suck Sometimes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"AJT6JK<\/a><\/p>\n

As I stated before, there are plenty of perks associated with working directly for an organization; besides knowing exactly what you\u2019re going to make every month and having the piece of mind that you\u2019ll be able to provide a decent lifestyle for your family, not to mention having benefits taken care of and taxes withheld by your employer.<\/p>\n

You also have colleagues who inevitably become friends, and a brand that you\u2019re not only representing, but that affiliation somehow seems to form some small part of your professional identity. I\u2019ve been lucky enough to work for some of the world\u2019s best organizations, and having a big name backing you makes your job a whole hell of a lot easier.<\/p>\n

Even with all those factors working in favor of working in-house, I also found that there were a whole hell of a lot of downsides, too. First off, it didn\u2019t matter if I was working on one open job or 40, I made the exact same amount of money, no matter what. Some weeks I could get away with clocking in for my 40 hours; others, though, it seemed like I slept in the office I was so busy, and there still weren\u2019t enough hours in the day to get everything done.<\/p>\n

Since every company I recruited for was publicly held, my professional existence was determined by quarterly\u00a0financials more than my individual performance.\u00a0That my job depended completely on my employer\u2019s quarterly performance, with a loss potentially portending my losing my job, consistently kept me and most of my colleagues on edge. But that\u2019s one of the professional hazards in this business \u2013 you can be the world\u2019s best recruiter, but no company needs you if they\u2019re not hiring or have headcounts frozen.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s nerve racking, really, like living on a recurring three month contract in perpetuity with no guarantee of renewal, even for the most exceptional performers. People might be employers\u2019 biggest asset, but the people responsible for finding those people are too often treated like a dispensable liability instead.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also tilting at windmills to try to keep every one of your many hiring managers happy; if you\u2019re a recruiter who thinks that every hiring manager you\u2019ve ever worked with loved you, think again \u2013 you\u2019re either delusional or haven\u2019t been doing this for long, but I\u2019m going to call bullshit.<\/p>\n

Most of the time, this comes down to nothing more than a lack of chemistry or collaboration between both parties and has little to do with performance \u2013 certain hiring managers just work better with certain recruiters.<\/p>\n

Contingency Planning<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s little you can do to fix this other than learn to live with it and do your job. While recruiters generally want other people to like and respect them, the truth is that sometimes, you\u2019re going to run into someone who hates you no matter what you do, and that\u2019s OK. If you don\u2019t have thick skin, you\u2019re in the wrong business.\u00a0 If you are getting in this business because you “like people”, run like hell because this is the wrong industry!<\/p>\n

While working in-house, sometimes, escalations are inevitable \u2013 the bigger the company and the bigger your workload, the more difficult meeting\u00a0even the most basic expectations can be. It\u2019s hard to get ahead when you\u2019re treading water trying not to drown in the deluge of paperwork, processes and procedures that so often preempt a busy recruiter\u2019s ability to do anything but the bare minimum.<\/p>\n

I know corporate recruiters want to be all things to all people \u2013 I certainly did, but realized that being everything to everybody gets you nowhere. It\u2019s impossible.<\/p>\n

Expectations are often unrealistic. \u00a0 Hey, how hard is recruiting, really? It leaves us constantly overworked, overwhelmed and underappreciated. Every hiring manager and every candidate thinks that they\u2019re the top priority, but the truth is, everything in recruiting is urgent, and it\u2019s easy to lose focus when everyone demands your attention. This no-win\u00a0recruiting reality pretty much sucks when it\u2019s\u00a0your reality. Really.<\/p>\n

Man, that feels good to finally get off my chest.<\/p>\n

4 Reasons to Choose Agency Recruiting Over Corporate<\/strong> <\/span><\/h3>\n

Ever since I\u2019ve set up my own shop, I feel like I\u2019ve given my career\u00a0a second chance. When I close a candidate for a client, it gives me the kind of energy and enthusiasm for recruiting I hadn’t felt in all of the years as a corporate recruiter. I\u2019ve had thousands of offers accepted since I started out in 1995, but frankly, those felt like a professional responsibility\u00a0rather than a personal accomplishment.<\/p>\n

When I made the change, I felt like being reborn as a recruiter, and at that moment, I knew I had made the right choice.\u00a0Here are four reasons why I left corporate and decided to go to the \u201cdark side\u201d of\u00a0contingency recruiting.<\/p>\n

1. I can focus on delivering real help to clients who really need it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s infinitely rewarding to work with people who actually WANT and NEED your services. Sure, there are people who think that third party recruiters are a pain in the ass (hell, I was one of them not too long ago), but there\u2019s a ton of value in partnering with external recruiters. We serve as intermediaries in the process, partnering with both sides to ensure constant communication and timely feedback, and are able to approach roles without bias to client or candidate, allowing us to focus on finding the best fit for both sides without having to sell or sugarcoat the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Sure, there are a few corporate recruiters who do this, but they have so much on their plate quality often takes a back seat to speed, and have so much on their plates that they often don\u2019t have the time to give every candidate the attention they want and deserve. Bad candidate experience is a necessity largely borne from expediency and external expectations, not hubris or malice.<\/p>\n

But as a third party recruiter, candidates aren\u2019t commodities \u2013 they\u2019re my clients as much as employers, and it\u2019s my job to make sure they\u2019re happy, because they don\u2019t HAVE to work with me. Nor do my hiring managers, who use me because they respect my recruiting efficacy and chose to trust their open opportunities to me.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like in corporate recruiting, where you\u2019re automatically assigned a recruiter \u2013 in this case, you have to actually actively seek one out. This is a much healthier foundation for a working relationship \u2013 and successful recruiting outcomes.<\/p>\n

2. Gambling\u00a0Is Fun.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For seven years I enjoyed the comfortable, predictable and somewhat steady\u00a0life of an in-house recruiter, which, let\u2019s face it, had its advantages.\u00a0 Candidates came to me, positions just landed in my lap, and I actually got to interact with the hiring manager and internal stakeholders to inform and influence decisions.\u00a0 Don’t forget I had a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe 4 Reasons Agency Recruiting Trumps Corporate Recruiting EVERY TIME - Bulls Eye Recruiting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bullseyerecruiting.net\/the-4-reasons-agency-recruiting-trumps-corporate-recruiting-every-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 4 Reasons Agency Recruiting Trumps Corporate Recruiting EVERY TIME - 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