In truth, recruitment agencies will do anything you ask them to. If you want them to find people to tickle a horse’s chin while riding a unicycle, then they will find people to do just that. Many recruitment firms offer temporary staff on very short notice. There are situations in construction, farming and manual work where workers are needed very quickly to complete rush jobs, and recruitment agencies are great at filling those gaps. Executive recruitment agencies are a little different. They have to find more highly skilled workers, and where there may still be an incentive to find them quickly, it is often about finding the right talent rather than quickly plugging a gap in a workforce.
Different Roles and Different Industries
Executive recruiting isn’t about pulling people into the building by their ears and signing them up, nor is it driving up to people and offering them jobs on the street. It takes a fair amount of expertise to be able to recruit people in the many different industries.
For example, hiring somebody to become an insurance adjuster, and hiring somebody to become a hotel accounts executive is very different. The recruiter needs to know what makes a good adjuster and what makes a good accounts exec.
It isn’t just about qualifications, or even about experience, because a good recruiter needs to put its name behind the people it promotes. Just like a car sales company puts its name behind the cars it sells, the recruiters don’t want to promote employees who have problems accelerating to full speed.
Following The Employer’s Structure
As hinted at in the introduction, recruiters work within the realms of what the employer demands. If they are asking for drug screening, then recruiters will provide tests. If employers are asking for proof of due diligence checks, then recruiters will provide it.
Some people confuse the difficulty of a task with the recruiter’s ability to perform, and this can become a problem for smaller recruiters who still have a lot to prove. For example, if you want an employee who can fly a Boeing 737, speak six languages and looks like Angelina Jolie, then a larger and more confident company will have no problem making you wait while they find that person. A smaller company may start offering up people who are “Just as good” in their opinion because they fear that offering no employees is a sign of failure.
If an employer has very specific demands, then it is up to the recruiter to meet those demands. This often means there is an uncomfortable waiting period as the recruiter finds the correct candidates. Making the employer wait can be frustrating, but it isn’t a sign of weakness or inexperience.
In conclusion, a recruiter helps fill gaps in an employer’s workforce, and executive recruiters have the slightly more difficult task of finding and vetting more experienced and qualified people. Still, if there are jobs to be done, then there will always be recruiters willing to go the extra mile to find the right person for the right job.
