Why Agency Recruiters Win the Day

Over the course of my career, I have had the opportunity to work on both the corporate and agency side of recruitment. Having seen the differences between the two, I firmly believe the two roles are different in key ways, and the agency recruiter will always be needed. Of course, my opinion may appear biased as I currently work on the agency side, but these are my observations regarding the two roles.

Corporate.  Internal recruiting teams have higher budgets and brand recognition on their side, making it substantially easier for them to attract talent.  However, that talent is typically active candidates — the low-hanging fruit.

I filled countless positions by merely logging candidates into the applicant tracking system and screening resumes for the candidates that fit the needs of our company.  The overall goal for any company is to attract top talent who will make a positive impact on the organization. While these candidates have the possibility of being great, chances are there is a reason why they are unemployed.  Perhaps they are unemployed through no fault of their own — locations are closing, jobs are being outsourced — or they may be job hoppers who are continuously looking for a new opportunity. Or they are just not as good as their resume states. As an internal recruiter, you become much more adept at reviewing requirements and matching them with the constant flow of candidates.

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Agency. The job function of an agency recruiter is drastically different. Our primary job is to fill these roles for our clients, and if we’re sending the same level of candidate its internal talent recruiters are, we won’t be able to compete.

We must go out and find those candidates who fit the exact requirements and often sell the candidate on the job and client — assure them the opportunity will provide them with a far better quality of life, increased pay, growth opportunities, and better corporate culture.

While we use some of the same tools internal recruiters use — I will not sit here and say that as an agency recruiter I do not utilize job boards to my advantage — we use them in different ways.  The jobs that we “post” online are meant to increase not only our brand awareness but also to ensure a candidate that we’re an experienced, well-known source in the recruiting industry.

Have I found and ultimately placed highly-successful candidates through job boards? Absolutely. But if my team and I relied solely on job boards, we would be out of business tomorrow. To be successful, we must be open to trying new things and to look at every candidate as an opportunity — and above all, keep the needs, likes and wants of our clients first, not ours.

There is psychology around recruitment, like any sales position, you must identify opportunities, work with candidates to ensure your goals are met and ensure you are upholding the integrity of the business and your candidate.

There is nothing wrong with utilizing internal recruiters to fill open positions, and they may even find the occasional great passive candidates through their sourcing tactics; however, agency recruiters are the experts and will always win toe to toe. So, if your open req is not terribly complicated, an internal recruiter might be sufficient. But if your role calls for a more thorough search, you might want to send it to an agency recruiter.

MORE: Recruiting on social media

Chris Wunder

Chris Wunder
Chris Wunder is senior director of executive recruitment for Leap Hospitality.

Chris Wunder

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