Episode #81 – The Correct Mindset Employers Should Have When Hiring a Recruiter
Samantha: Welcome to “The Animal Health Employment Insider,” brought to you by The VET Recruiter. In this podcast, search consultant and executive recruiter, Stacy Pursell, founder and CEO of The VET Recruiter, provides insight and practical advice for both companies and job seekers in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. The VET Recruiter’s mission is to help Animal Health and Veterinary organizations hire top talent, while helping animal health and veterinary professionals attain career-enhancing opportunities that increase their quality of life.
In today’s podcast, we’ll be talking about the correct mindset that employers should have when hiring a recruiter. Stacy, thank you for joining us.
Stacy: Hello, Samantha. I’m glad to be here again with you today.
Samantha: Stacy, when you say the correct mindset, what do you mean by that, exactly?
Stacy: I means what hiring managers and company officials are thinking and expecting when they hire a recruiter or engage the services of a search consultant. If an organization wants to maximize the value that it receives from a recruiter, then the people within that organization who interact with the recruiter should have the right mindset. If they do, then that will help the hiring process, and as we know, without a great hiring process, an organization has difficulty hiring the top candidates in the marketplace.
Actually, I have a quote that I would like to present. I came across it recently, and I think it will be perfect for our discussion today.
Samantha: Great! What is that quote?
Stacy: The quote is, “We don’t hire a recruiter so we can tell them what to do. We hire a recruiter so they can tell us what to do.”
Samantha: So when an organization hires a recruiter, it should be looking to the recruiter to tell its hiring officials what they should do and how they should be doing it?
Stacy: That’s right. A recruiter is also a search consultant, and you can see the word “consultant” is in there. A recruiter acts as a consultant to the companies and organizations that it works for. Or at the very least, a recruiter should act as a consultant and fill that role as much as possible.
Samantha: Stacy, are you saying that company officials and hiring managers have difficulty doing that, allowing recruiters to serve as a consultant to them?
Stacy: Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Now, it’s true that hiring managers and company officials typically know more about their own organization when they initially hire a recruiter. However, a recruiter or search consultant usually knows far more about the marketplace and the candidates that exist within that marketplace, not to mention the competition.
Samantha: So when an organization hires a recruiter, then it has all of that knowledge at its disposal.
Stacy: That’s right. And if a recruiter is able to act as a search consultant for an Animal Health or Veterinary organization, the recruiter can save that organization both time and money.
Samantha: How does a recruiter accomplish that, specifically?
Stacy: First of all, keeping a position open is costly. The longer it’s open, the more costly it becomes, and a recruiter can reduce the amount of time it takes to fill a position.
Second, as we’ve discussed before, recruiters can locate candidates that employers can’t find on their own, namely “passive candidates” who aren’t even looking for a job. These are the type of top candidates who aren’t reading job boards or website postings.
Third, recruiters streamline the hiring process. They keep everyone involved in the process on the same page. They also help to make sure that candidates are engaged throughout the process, so that a company’s best prospect isn’t lost to a competitor’s offer.
Fourth, because of their experience and exposure to so many employers and candidates, recruiters are “marketplace experts.” They have their finger on the pulse of the industry, so the advice they give to clients is timely. They know what’s happening when it’s happening.
Fifth, after the candidate is hired, less time, money, and energy are typically required to train the candidate as a new employee. That’s because the recruiter located a candidate who possessed all of the skills and experience outlined in the job description.
Sixth, recruiters can help to increase the retention levels involved with the candidates they place. They accomplish this through their onboarding techniques and also through their follow-up with the candidate after the placement is complete.
Samantha: Wow, those are a lot of ways to help organizations save time and money. But do company officials know about all of these ways when they hire a recruiter?
Stacy: Many times, they do not. And that’s another reason why it’s important to have the proper mindset when hiring a recruiter. If you enter the situation with the incorrect mindset, then you might try to tell the recruiter what to do and try to do more than you really should. The idea is to take advantage of the knowledge and skills of the recruiter so that you don’t have to do as much.
Once again, the recruiter or search consultant tells the organization what to do and what it should be doing. That leads directly to more success hiring top candidates on a consistent basis in a shorter amount of time.
Samantha: What should employers be looking for when it comes to hiring a recruiter or search consultant?
Stacy: That’s a great question. There are a LOT of recruiters out there, and not all of them are stellar. I guess that goes without saying, since there is good and bad in every profession, but it’s important for hiring managers and employers to keep it in mind.
Samantha: I guess hiring a bad recruiter is even worse than hiring a bad candidate.
Stacy: That’s absolutely right, because it can have a negative impact on your organization. With that being said, there are four things that employers should look for when trying to hire a recruiter or search consultant.
The first thing is something that we’ve already discussed, and that’s knowledge. A great recruiter is extremely knowledgeable about the market in which they work. This includes the best companies, the top candidates, and the emerging trends. They’ll put this information to work for their clients to help them find the top candidates they want and need.
The second thing is that they genuinely care about their clients. They care about the organizations and the people in them. This might seem a little bit hokey, but it isn’t. A great recruiter cares whether or not their clients succeed and excel. They have everyone’s best interests in mind, and that includes the hiring manager and the candidate. They want to reach a win-win situation and for everyone to be happy with the final outcome.
Third, a great recruiter or search consultant is passionate. People who are passionate about what they’re doing are almost always better at what they do than others. A passionate recruiter will bring energy and enthusiasm to any search, and they’ll meet obstacles and challenges head-on.
And last but not least, a great recruiter has a great attitude. Recruiting is very much an up-and-down profession. I can tell you that without a doubt from personal experience. Almost anything can happen, and it usually does. A great recruiter doesn’t let external circumstances negatively affect them, the search, their clients, or their candidates. Instead, they remain positive in the face of adversity and continue moving forward.
Samantha: Stacy, if you could sum up the proper mindset for hiring a recruiter, what would it be?
Stacy: Organizations do a lot of things to protect themselves. They hire the best lawyers they can find to handle their legal affairs. They hire the best accountants they can find to handle their financial affairs. And when they hire these people or these firms, do they attempt to tell them how to do their job? They absolutely do not. They let them do the job that they were hired to do and the job they’re getting paid for.
Hiring a recruiting firm should be no different.
An organization’s ability to recruit, hire, and retain top talent is crucial to its long-term success. That’s why the advice and expertise of a search consultant is just as important as that of an attorney or an accountant.
Samantha: So an organization does everything it can to protect itself legally and financially. It makes sense that it would everything it can protect itself in terms of hiring and talent.
Stacy: It does make sense. It could be argued that an organization’s talent represents its single-biggest asset. That’s why making one bad hire can be costly in terms of energy, resources, and manpower. This is where the specialized services of a recruiter or search consultant enter the picture. A recruiter has the skills necessary to help an organization find and hire the right candidates.
Samantha: So that’s why employers should hire recruiters, so that those recruiters can tell them what to do?
Stacy: That’s right. And what they’ll tell them to do will help those employers protect their most valuable asset—their talent.
Sharita: Stacy, once again, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks so much for all of this great information today.
Stacy: Thank you, Samantha. I look forward to our next podcast!