TOP 10 reasons why paying a full fee will pay off in spades!

Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish when choosing the best search firm.

1. Representation.  Do you realize the agency you choose will use your name, speak as your agent, and that the market’s perception of your company depends on the competence of your recruiter?
2. Complete job description development.  Ask to see their search assignment form.  Ask yourself how long did the recruiter with the lower fee take to assess your needs?  (Jobs, like the people that do them, are complex.) Are you already being short changed?
3. Role-playing.  Pretend you are the candidate the recruiter is going to speak to on your behalf and ask the recruiter to “role-play” the call.  How do they sound?  Are you impressed?
4. Qualification of candidate interest.  Ask your recruiter about his or her process regarding measuring candidate interest.  (Remember: agencies that charge less can sometimes find the people, but getting them is the real test of a search firm’s excellence.)
5. Comprehensive interviewing.  Ask your recruiter about his interviewing technique and process.  What does he really know about the candidate?
6. Reference Check.  Agencies that charge well below the industry standard conduct reference checks which usually over-emphasize positives because they need to generate volume to overcome their low margins.  Real reference checks are designed to find the negatives as well as the positives.
7. Verbal Presentations.  Does your recruiter inundate you with resumes of people you don’t know?  Good firms verbally presents all candidates, and you decide what resumes, if any, you wish to see.  Agencies which charge lower fees are often “mass emailing” the resumes of candidates without their knowledge.  (Candidates often tell us they never even contacted these agencies and had no idea their resume was being circulated.)
8. Client Development.  Lower fees equal lower margins and demand high volume of placements to stay in business.  Ask yourself how much business you have for recruiters.  Unless you have a high volume of business, agencies that charge lower fees simply cannot spend the time necessary to learn enough about a client to really serve them properly. Increased margins enable good firms to offer complete client development.
9. Follow up Skills.  Ask your recruiter about their follow up process.  What feedback are you getting about the interviews you conduct?  Do you have a thorough knowledge of what the candidate’s concerns are?  How are you and your company being perceived?  Is there any depth to the questions your recruiter asks you about the candidates they present?
10. Strength of Guarantee.  In an industry where 15,900 firms have failed nationally, you must ask yourself about the ability of a firm that compromises it’s fees to survive long enough to back up their guarantee.