GUEST COMMENT: Recruitment is a service, not a sales industry
A friend and I are regularly at loggerheads over which category recruitment falls into: sales or service.
She argues that the recruitment industry is all about selling. Recruiters sell themselves to their clients in order to win an assignment and - once mandated, they sell the job to their candidate in order to fill the vacancy.
I, on the other hand, argue that a recruiter builds a relationship with a client. This undeniably involves selling oneself to get a foot in the door, but once the relationship is formed it's all about providing a quality service to keep that client. It's also about providing a service to candidates - rather than 'selling' them a role that's inappropriate.
Selling undeniably happens in the recruitment industry. There are cowboys out there that put the 'hard sell' on their clients and candidates alike. These consultants are pressurized by their employers to be pushy through rigid KPI's and other such targets. But more often than not this aggressive, salesman like attitude ends in tears for everyone concerned. A candidate turns up for day one in their new job to find the role is nothing like what they were sold by their recruiter in the first place. Shock horror!
One of the very few benefits of the credit crunch has been the consolidation of the recruitment industry. Firms that didn't offer a quality service to their clients went bust. They simply did not have in-depth relationships based on trust to fall back on because they were too focused on the quick sell. They were in it for the short term and they paid the price.
My friend and I have since agreed to disagree.
We both concur that winning a recruitment mandate requires selling yourself to win an assignment. The introduction of candidates to a client is the point at which we don't see eye to eye. She thinks it's all about presenting the candidate in the best light possible. I think it's about listening to what the candidate and the client want and presenting a realistic picture to both.
This is the only way recruiters can survive. Recruiters who truly listen, offer advice and consult with the long term in mind are a rare breed.
