In today’s world, it’s no longer about the perfect resume. Yes, skills and experience matter, but what’s more important is the culture of the company. Staffing the way we know it has changed and keeps evolving. So we’re left with two choices: adapt with the times, or become obsolete and irrelevant.
We know how the old system works — a company develops a need for a specific individual who possess certain skills and experience. The company turns to a vendor to help significantly expedite the process. The vendor produces a candidate who matches the specifications, the interview goes well (hopefully) and a placement is ultimately made.
That’s routine. But the times of only searching for the best résumé are nearly more obsolete than the Blackberry smart phone. At my firm, recruiting teams are taught not only to look for the best résumé, but the right personality that will adapt to the company’s disposition, because a poor fit can damage the client staff’s morale and productivity and become more costly if a replacement is required. Therefore, we use the candidate-centric approach. That means we initially take the time to learn about the atmosphere of our clients and we make sure we’re only sending someone along who will thrive in that kind of atmosphere. It might seem basic to some but you would be surprised how many staffing agencies are there that fall into the resume trap, especially with the need to work through vendor management systems.
Our goal isn’t to just find temporary solutions for our clients. Even if all they are looking for is a temporary solution, we want to provide them with an industry professional who fits in. Otherwise, we’re looking at the overwhelming possibility of dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction leads to distrust. Distrust leads to low retention rates, and even worse, leaves a nasty stain on the reputation of your business. Maybe they consider someone else for their next temporary fix.
Go the extra mile. Instead of just looking for the résumé that matches, do your due diligence beforehand and learn about the culture of that company. Then find the résumé, but only submit that résumé if it belongs to someone who will fit in with the culture of that client.
It requires a bit more work on our end. But at the end of the day, our placements remain employed and our clients satisfied. Isn’t that the name of the game?
