I’ve interviewed a number of recruiters when hiring for ourselves over the years, and it’s interesting to hear what people say when you ask them what sectors they recruit for. How often do you hear, “I do a bit of this and a bit of that, in the past I’ve done this and I’ve done that” (read between the lines - an expert in nothing).
Pop quiz. If you were on trial for murder, and you were looking for representation, would you go for the guy who dabbles a bit in murder cases, or would you go for the specialist murder expert who has had years experience and successful track record who might charge a little more, but guarantees to know his stuff better and give you the best chance of winning? It’s a no brainer.
So if you are a client looking to recruit staff – who should you use to help fill your role? At the end of the day we are only as good as the candidates we have (best and available talent) at any particular point in time – so while on the odd occasion a ‘newbie’ or a ‘dabbler’ might get lucky every now and then - over time they simply won’t be able to consistently outperform a proven stayer and specialist. Which network would you rather tap into when you need?
Even better example - How about recruiters using R2R’s? Ever called another sales or HR recruiter and asked them ‘got any good recruiters on your books?’ or would you prefer to go to a R2R?
So out of 3000 recruitment companies in Australia, gees - there are a lot of competitors that I love coming up against.
What market are you fully obsessed with? There’s no prize for 2nd place in our business.
The only exception I can see are recruiters in regional areas, or small metropolitan areas, where it may make sense to split desks and work with candidates across multiple sectors simply because their may not be sufficient work within a sector. This still opens the door for someone to come in and pick a niche within a niche and become the #1 ‘go to guy’ in that niche who will always end up winning out.
So to clarify - if you want to work for us, please save me the hassle and don’t bother if you’re a generalist and claim to cover multiple sectors. We have enough ‘light weights’ in the industry. If howver you are a specialist and "murder expert equivalent" (haha), with a 'following' within your niche or sector, we would love to hear from you.
- Jonathan Weinstock
