How a good recruitment consultant can make a big difference

Sometimes I think I am too hard on recruitment consultants on this blog.

I don mean to be. I just want to see an industry that charges an enormous fee work in a better way that serves both candidate and client at what is a high pressure time in most people’s lives.

I have written a few posts on why you may get bad service from consultants. But here’s an example of how a good recruitment consultant can make a difference in everyone’s lives.

When I was an internal Hiring Manager I interviewed a receptionist, who appeared on the surface to be a gem.

However, when the recruitment consultant who referred her, reference checked her, she found that she had been sacked for shoplifting as a junior.

I didn’t want to take it any further.

But the consultant didn’t leave it at that. She said I really believe that this girl is from a good family and fundamentally has a good character. I will investigate further.

The consultant contacted the candidate and said she had found out about the shop lifting and could she explain. She said she wanted to find out exactly what had gone on and asked if she could talk further to the referee.

When the consultant talked to the referee she found out that the stealing was a one off and that the candidate was distraught when she was fired.

The consultant went back to the candidate and told her that she would stake her reputation on getting her employment again with me and that she was very lucky to be given another chance.

However if she messed up she would have two people to deal with and it would not be pretty.

It seems like emotional blackmail and threats as a recruiting tactic worked well in this case.

I ended up employing this girl and she was fine.

But it was because the consultant had gone out of her way to investigate and supported me too. I knew that the consultant would help me if I had problems and also that the candidate would feel that she was letting down two people if she messed up.

That’s what people want to pay good money for.

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Tagged as: Recruitment consultants