Promiscuous Recruitment

Tales from the recruitment industry...

Whenever I speak with a new candidate I will always find that they have spoken to other recruiters. Candidates have numerous recruitment partners. Finding someone who has not already spoken with a recruiter is like finding an articulate footballer.  I actually think candidates should speak/work with more than one recruiter; nobody has comprehensive coverage of the UK market. However a growing number of candidates are working with 5, 6, 7 or more recruiters. Each recruiter will be giving a different level of service, i.e. a candidate maybe working very closely with one recruiter and another may have been a chance encounter, but ultimately even the “chance encounter” recruiter, if they have the candidate’s cv, can ‘work’ that candidate by sending their cv to clients without the candidate’s knowledge. This is one of the most difficult parts of my job. I will spend a lot of time identifying and approaching clients for a candidate only to find someone they had a 2-minute chat with a recruiter 6 months earlier has already sent their CV.
My view is that every candidate needs to take the relationship they have with recruiters very seriously – after all, it’s your career in the balance! The relationship between candidate and recruiter can be mutually rewarding and develop into a career long partnership. I have some candidates who have become friends because we have worked with each other over a long period of time and, because they are not using 5 other recruiters, we can take our time in finding a new role without having to worry that some other recruiter has sent the candidate’s CV to 50 companies without permission. The best candidate/recruiter partnerships are the ones that go beyond just finding them a job.
So in my opinion, if you want to maximise your chances of getting a great new job either now or in the future, you should initially speak with 6 or 7 recruiters and then narrow them down to 2 and use those companies to help you find a new role.
And one of the best ways to find out if you are speaking with a good recruiter is to tell them you are absolutely not looking for a new job but just wanted a chat about the digital market. The reaction you get will be a great way of determining which recruiters are genuinely in it for the long game and which ones are just interested in a earning a quick fee. It’s your career at stake, make sure you are 100% sure who you want to help you develop it.
At Digital Minds we only work in Digital. I work in the London Digital market and specifically within PPC, SEO, Digital Planning & Buying  & Social Media. If you are interested in a PPC job in London, SEO job in London, Digital Planner Buyer job in London or a Social Media job in London please give me a shout anytime.Simon@digital-minds.co.uk
Simon Halkyard