From the author: The article was published in the magazine “Personnel Business”, No. 3/2007. Recruitment agency. It is clear to everyone what such a phrase means. But the attitude towards recruitment agencies is very different - from respect and recognition of serious practical assistance in business to statements about the emptiness of this work and even open irritation. And most importantly, many say that recruitment agencies are multiplying and multiplying solely because it is a very simple business, the entry bar for which is extremely low. And really, what is needed to organize a recruitment agency: an office with a table and two chairs (for the recruiter and the applicant), a computer, a telephone and a little money for advertising. The new company is ready. The main task of any recruitment agency is to find and provide the Customer with the right people in a timely manner (at the same time, upon request, diagnosing, checking and, possibly, training them in certain skills). However, until now, such an issue as searching and selecting personnel for a company is considered not worth the additional costs and employment of individual specialists (not counting, of course, huge holdings that physically cannot do without internal recruiters). It would seem, what could be simpler? They put an ad in the newspaper, and you immediately received a flood of calls from applicants (who, naturally, are queuing outside your gate, right?..). Choose the best and hire them. Accordingly, a serious question arises - why pay a recruitment agency big (relatively large / average / still a shame?!) money for such nonsense? Yes? Yes, but not quite. Let's go through the process of searching for a candidate for a vacant position step by step. Step 1. Choosing ways to search for personnel. In order for there to be a flood of calls (which in itself does not always seem to be true, especially when searching for a person for a specific position), it is not enough to advertise once in one newspaper. Yes, and in several too. The work must be planned (a simple truth, which for some reason is often forgotten in this particular situation). It is necessary to use various levers: educational institutions, employment services, the Internet, employment agencies, and even sometimes hang advertisements on poles and entrances (for example, loaders or cleaners are found the fastest in this way). And even if you choose newspapers, you must also choose them wisely: the fact that the newspaper is the most read in the area does not guarantee that people are looking for work through it. Perhaps it is read mainly for entertainment by retirees and schoolchildren. So, analyzing the sources of advertisements for employees is one of the important tasks of a recruitment agency, which must, of course, have information about the effectiveness of various media and the intricacies of submitting advertisements for different vacancies. And we are not yet talking about such methods as the recently sensational head hunting... Step 2. Advertisements. The quality of the ads themselves is another issue that is important to touch upon. An advertisement (it is not so important whether it is given in a newspaper, posted on a website on the Internet, or read orally to graduates at an institute) is a lever that can both attract good specialists (and really ensure a flood of calls) and scare away for a long time (and at the same time and tarnish the reputation of your company...). In general, we will not touch on the details (by the way, they can be seen in the article “Myths about personnel selection”), let’s just say a secret - there are a lot of subtleties in this matter, and good specialists from recruitment agencies should not only know in theory, but also use in practice. Step 3. Informing applicants. Let's assume the ads were written correctly. And they were indeed placed at the right time and in the right place. And they worked. And there was a flood of calls. This is where the fun begins. Are you ready to spend time and effort (of course, we hope, not your own, but the time of your employees is also valuable?!) answering applicants by phone and endlessly (and often unsuccessfully) repeating the same things. What area do you work in? What about the salary? Aschedule? And what about the team?.. And will your company’s employees have the peace of mind to politely listen on the phone to a thoughtful, “this probably doesn’t suit me, why am I going... far away... money is short... schedule is tight...” Therefore, the initial intake of applicants is through phone calls or meetings , informing them in detail about the conditions and features of the work, as well as resolving minor issues such as the applicant’s reluctance to send a resume until he is told the salary amount is also the direct responsibility of the recruitment agency. Step 4. Selection. Finally, a happy moment! From the entire mass of applicants (and often their mothers, grandmothers, wives and husbands), you need to immediately weed out those who, even if they fall into the desired subgroup based on formal criteria (height, weight and marital status), are in no way suitable for your company and this work. And these are specific professional skills in conducting interviews, analyzing questionnaires and resumes, and collecting recommendations. And if specialists from recruitment agencies are required to possess them, then your secretary, office manager (and sometimes, unfortunately, even a personnel officer) can only intuitively imagine how this is done. Thus, in just a few minutes you can understand how not “primitive” ” and not “there’s nothing to do there”, actually work with specialists from recruitment agencies. Although, naturally, we are still talking about professionals. And in order to look at the situation from both sides (including through the eyes of the Customer), we can voice a few more of the most common accusations against recruitment agencies. But before you voice them and try to evaluate them, it is important to mention that any interaction necessarily involves two sides (after all, a recruitment agency does not work quietly with itself, but with a specific Customer). Therefore, when considering claims from clients to agency specialists (which, of course, do not arise out of nowhere, but are based on specific mistakes), it is worth taking into account the fact that, unfortunately, there are so few ideal Customers in the world who comply with all the conditions for successful cooperation... So , the most common difficulties in the interaction of the Customer with the recruitment agency: - they accept the application and disappear, but there are no people. A typical uninvented case: What a disgrace?! They tried to persuade me, I submitted an application almost a month ago, so what? No answer, no hello! I’m waiting and waiting, the vacancy is open, there are no people, but business doesn’t stand still! I call myself - they politely explain that it’s not the season, there are no people, as soon as they arrive - they’ll immediately come to you. No, why then do we need recruitment agencies at all, if they are in season or out of season? During the season, I can find whoever I want, but I needed it yesterday! Of course, the client’s indignation is understandable. He is right, that’s why recruitment agencies are needed to look for workers in winter and summer, and to suit any requirements of the Customer (including leg size and eye color), however, such a concept as seasonality, alas, does not bypass the personnel business either. Where to go if even the applicants who have posted their resumes in all imaginable media are currently vacationing in the south (or, in extreme cases, in the village with their grandfather), and are not eager to appear before the bright eyes of a respected employer?.. Possible mistakes agency: Takes on an impossible task in advance (for example, he readily promises to find a specialist not in his field, knowing that he does not have one in his database). Does not stipulate deadlines and difficulties in advance (agrees with a client who says “yesterday,” although even they themselves specialists of this agency are on vacation). Without candidates, they take a long pause in communication with the client, do not contact him at all, which gives the first the impression of being forgotten and useless. Possible mistakes of the client: Inadequately assesses the agency’s capabilities, expects a miracle from him. Not stipulates the terms of the application (more often than not, he even openly says, “You just look, if anyone is there, call, if they don’t, oh well...”). Doesn’t specify (and often simply doesn’t hear, because, frankly, does not want to hear such things) information about the deadlines for submitting nominations. - they sendit is unclear who, people who do not meet the requirements at all. A typical unimagined case: Imagine who the recruitment agency sent me! I asked the seller, preferably a man, after all, building materials, with work experience, education, and, well, to look decent. They send a girl - okay, I agreed myself, let it be a girl, we have trouble with men today. So she is only 19, she entered the second year of the institute, in absentia. I worked for six months as a PC operator, can’t talk at all, and looks like a shame to put in a store. They also say that I conducted the interview incorrectly and scared her too much. So if I scared her, how will she talk to clients?! It’s a nightmare, why are we paying them money?.. Of course, a girl instead of a man, and even without education, without work experience, and with an appearance that does not have the appearance (apparently not masculine, as originally intended) for building materials - this is serious. Possible mistakes agency: Does not comply with the requirements set by the client, either due to the lack of people meeting the requirements, or considering them too exaggerated. Negotiates with the client verbally (for example, obtains consent to expand the requirements for the candidate - not only men, but also women), nowhere consolidating these agreements. Tries to take quantity rather than quality, actually sending the client specialists of low quality, in the hope that in the general stream of applicants the candidate will not be closely scrutinized, but will get the impression that this agency has a large database and a short search time. Possible errors client: Does not specify requirements (what does it mean to look good?..), or changes them very often, “forgetting” to warn the recruiter. Sets extremely stringent requirements that make it really difficult to select someone, but at the same time tearfully asks to see them every day “at least someone.” When conducting an interview (and at any stage of selection), he acts very rigidly and in a stereotyped manner (for example, he talks the same way to both movers and candidates for top manager positions, or constructs a conversation with a girl the way he intended build it with a man). - they charge a lot of money just for showing people. A typical unimagined case: I agreed with the agency that I would pay them not for hiring a person, but for showing people. Well, yes, I understand, they don’t want to work for free either, I agreed that for every 5 people accepted for an interview, I pay them N amount. Everything is fine, I accept resumes by mail - they meet the requirements, people’s requests also seem to be adequate. And they come for an interview - one is going on maternity leave within the next year, the other, it turns out, won’t be able to quit before six months later - he has a contract, the third has a husband in the hospital, she has to leave at 17.00 every day, etc. So why do I need such candidates?! I tell the recruiter, and he tells me: “Have you seen the resume?” We saw it. Did five people get it? Got. Are we fulfilling our conditions? We are doing it. Probably, in this particular case, the interaction really began to move from a partnership almost into an enemy, ultimatum, which is wrong for any business (just remember the effect of internal advertising, or, more simply, “word of mouth”!). However, the prerequisites for this did not appear all at once, but, most likely, accumulated gradually. Possible mistakes of the agency: Tries to earn money with minimal effort (although is it worth calling this a mistake if any business is built precisely on this principle?..) Approaches the analysis too formally candidates, without mentioning points not specified in the resume or application form. Again, he takes quantity, not quality. Possible client mistakes: Sets too vague requirements (or makes them so broad that every second resident of the city could qualify for them). Stops exclusively on formal requirements (education, work experience, age, gender), does not even verbally clarify more subtle points. He tries to save money in the hope that out of the 5/25/125 candidates sent “on the cheap” hewill take at least one, and will obviously pay less money than the salary of this specialist. - they don’t collect complete information about applicants, they don’t give them a sufficiently detailed description. A typical unimagined case: They somehow offer me a candidacy for a manager, girl, 27 years old, married, child, work experience, everything is great. I ask: exactly how old is the child? They don’t know, they didn’t specify, somewhere around three. Are they going to get a second one? They can't answer again. Okay, I say, what do colleagues from her previous place of work say about her? And we, they say, only took recommendations from the management, we have already sent them. I understand that management has already expelled me, so my colleagues will tell more of the truth! They also don’t know what skills to work with accounts receivable, how to react to provocations - they also don’t know... Well, how can I schedule an interview with a person?! Without defending either the client or the agency, I really want to state that, of course, the recruiter’s task is to know that , whom you are selling (sorry for such words, gentlemen, applicants!). However, knowing him as a native is a task of a completely different nature, and being ready to answer in detail any question about hundreds, or even thousands of candidates is simply physically unrealistic. And besides everything else, psychological diagnostics of a candidate for a position (which reveals both personal qualities, such as conflict, and professional skills, such as processing accounts receivable) is a separate service that is now not so cheap on the market (and, by the way, really gives very valuable results if done professionally). Possible mistakes of the agency: Does not ask the candidate for additional information about him, except for what is indicated in the resume (or the questionnaire of the recruitment agency itself, the length of which often leaves much to be desired). Does not conduct a preliminary interview or the minimum contact diagnostics with the applicant, and, accordingly, cannot describe even the minimum general characteristics of the candidate (appearance, speech, neatness). Possible client mistakes: Does not pre-specify his wishes for collecting recommendations and details of information about the candidate, or tries to save on psychological diagnostics .Requires excessively detailed information on candidates from the recruiter (down to their favorite foods or pet names). - do not ensure that applicants appear at the appointed place and time. A typical unimagined case: I agreed with a recruitment agency about a person, assigned them a time and place. The first time the person simply didn’t show up, for some reason he and the agency didn’t understand each other, and they apologized for a very long time. Well, okay, anything can happen. I made an appointment a second time - 15 minutes have already passed since the interview time was set, and the person is not there. The phone rings - excuse me, excuse me, the person can’t find you, he’ll be there in about 10 minutes... Well, I’m not made of steel either, I can’t wait for candidates for days on end, what kind of work is this on the agency’s part - they can’t, perhaps, come to an agreement with the person, Is it okay to dictate the address to him, give him the secretary’s phone number?! In general, I refused him then, and therefore stopped working with the recruitment agency, and, to be honest, I still don’t regret it. Lack of punctuality in business is generally a very terrible thing, there is nothing worse for a manager than sitting and waiting for something. Or endlessly reschedule the same meeting, wasting time and wasting precious nerves. And even more so if the result of this meeting cannot be accurately predicted or generally seems meaningless to the manager. Therefore, wasting time on staff (and even more so on people who have not yet joined the friendly ranks of staff with songs and flags) is, in principle, considered offensive. Possible mistakes of the agency: Does not find out from the client such little things as, for example, the exact address of the office, the way to external landmarks (since, unfortunately, in the conditions of modern Russia, an exact address does not promise a clear location). Does not explain to candidates the seriousness of such an action as an interview at a company, does not remind them of deadlines and time, thereby allowing them to be late or without warning.