I ate at a bad restaurant once, but it didn’t keep me from eating again! Just because you had a bad experience with a recruiter once, doesn’t mean you would have the same bad experience again.
However, that is a fair question, and candidly, not all recruiting firms operate the same way.
When I hear companies say they have used recruiters before and weren’t satisfied, it’s usually because one of three things happened: they received too many unqualified candidates, the recruiter didn’t really understand the industry, or the process became very transactional instead of consultative.
I would recommend looking at why it didn’t work. Was it a sourcing issue, a screening issue, a communication issue, or simply the wrong recruiter for that particular search?
Our approach is different because we specialize in animal health and veterinary recruiting. We have built relationships in the industry over close to 30 years, and we focus on presenting a small number of highly qualified candidates rather than flooding clients with resumes.
Our oldest client has worked with us since 1997. Some of our best clients had previously worked with other recruiters and were skeptical at first. The difference wasn’t necessarily using a recruiter versus not using one—it was having a recruiter with the right network, process, and expertise for that specific search.