3 Secrets Every Agency Recruiter Ought to Know

3 Secrets Every Agency Recruiter Ought to Know In 2013, after 8 great years of working in agency recruiting, I decided to change career paths slightly and switched to the Dark Side  (or Light Side depending on which side youre on!) I became an in-house recruiter at an international corporation with their global HQ in downtown Vancouver. Being on the Dark Side felt new and strange at first, but it didnt take me long to adjust to my new environment. Ive enjoyed the experience so much that I doubt Ill ever go back to the agency world (or what I now refer to as the Dark Side). Working in-house has allowed me to work with businesses at both the tactical and strategic level to design and execute successful recruitment campaigns for immediate and future need, which is a nice change from the transactional, ad-hoc based recruitment style of the agency world. It also didnt take long before the flood of cold calls from recruitment agencies wanting business from me started to fill up my voice mail, email and LinkedIn account. After 8 years of hammering the phones for new business at agencies, it was an interesting and enlightening experience to be on the other side of a cold call, and I immediately realised how repetitive and annoying they are to listen to. Almost every day Id have messages in my inbox or voice mail that sounded something along the lines of this: Hi Brian, Im calling from XYZ recruitment agency and I see that youre advertising for a ABC position. I specialise in the recruitment of ABCs and have a great candidate for your role. Please call me back at Sound familiar? It sure sounded familiar to me as I was guilty of leaving the same message on voicemails all over Vancouver for the past 5 years! Sure, it worked sometimes, but not very often, which is no surprise seeing as all of my competitors were probably leaving the same message. Now, the moment youve all been waiting for (Drum roll please!) What is the secret to building a solid client base for recruiters? After reflecting on this for a while, Ive concluded that if I were ever to return to agency recruiting, Id go about business development with an entirely different approach! Heres how: 1) The goal of the cold call should be to form a relationship with the HR representative or hiring manager as a CANDIDATE and not a CLIENT: Sound simple? Well it is! Youll find that people are a lot more willing to take time and talk to you if you are offering them something. Instead of asking for business from a hiring manager or HR representative, offer to help them with their own career. In fact, make it clear that you dont want their business and instead that you want to form a relationship so that you can confidentially notify them of career opportunities in the market. Dont ask for something, instead give them something. RELATED:  How the Hiring Manager Recruiter Relationship Can Impact the Recruitment Process 2) Dont expect to get business for at least 6 12 months: Go in with the expectation that youre not going to get the business for at least 6 12 months and be ok with this. Take this time to build a deep relationship with them as a candidate and dont be tempted to cross the line by offering to help them with their hiring. 3) Be genuine, keep it organic and dont force it: If youve done a good job of building a genuine candidate-based relationship with them, then you can be almost certain theyll ask for your help eventually: Hey, by the way, if youve got a great developer on your books then Id be interested in seeing a resume Also, if youve managed to place them in a new position during this time, the chances are that theyll be picking up the phone to call you next time they look to expand their new team. Conclusion: Separate yourself from your competitors by trying this approach. Even if they dont become a client in the end, at least youve gained a good candidate (and maybe even a friend!). If they do become a client, then theyll probably be one of the best and most loyal clients youll ever have. Author: Brian Thompson is a Talent Acquisition Expert at  www.talentandrecruitment.com.