Recruiters get terrible press.

And it feels worse now than ever before.

Last week, some guy jumped on my LinkedIn post with a gratuitous “Recruiters are hopeless and will soon be extinct” comment. He is a junior engineer in a remote location. He is entitled to his views, sure, but really?

Everyone has a ‘terrible recruiter‘ story. They are ‘lazy, sleazy, pushy and incompetent‘.

And those are just the nicer things said. Every day brings more abuse and, increasingly, gleeful predictions of the demise of the recruiter.

I am more resilient than many and have less to fear on this topic than most, but still, it unsettles me when I read and hear this. I want to ‘take up arms’ because I know how great so many recruiters are. The brilliant work they do. How hard it is. How unfair much of the criticism is

So, enough!

Today is the day we pay homage to the good in our profession.

It’s about time the world offered respect to the thousands of honourable, ethical and hardworking career professionals that make up our ranks. People like Graham Whelan, who represents an army of people worldwide, always put the person before the dollar and have positively affected thousands of lives. I know scores of such recruiters myself. Let’s talk about these recruiters for a change, and let’s make sure we don’t tar every recruiter with the broad brush of disdain that often gets heaped on our industry. (Sometimes by our own people!)

And while we are about it, let’s shine a light on some of the reasons recruiters deserve respect instead of disdain. Here are four big ones.

To start with, it’s a tough job!

One of the toughest around. It’s brutally competitive. Hugely stressful. It comes with long hours. Salaries are usually low, with an upswing pegged to great results, and so often recruiters work long and hard for a tiny return. It’s scary, too. Cold calling is not fun. Nor is telling a desperate candidate they missed out. And as much as clients complain about unreliable recruiters, try working the other side of the fence! Clients who tell you it’s urgent, make you jump through hoops, then don’t return your calls. Clients who invite you for a meeting and then don’t have the manners to show up! Job requirements changed in mid-search or cancelled when weeks of work have been done. Clients who lie about their commitment to the brief. Candidates who play one recruiter off against another and leverage job offers for salary increases. Clients who hire candidates on the sly to avoid the fee they have legally agreed to. Candidates who beg for a chance and then don’t turn up for the hard-won interview secured at the client, leaving the recruiter to cop the flak for ‘flakiness’.

I know some recruiters do a poor job. But tell me about a profession without ‘no-hopers?

If every client or candidate who heaps abuse on recruiters for ‘wasting my time‘, did an honest little balance sheet of who wasted whose time the most through the process, I know where the deficit would be!

What recruiters do is intrinsically good.

We find people work! And that’s a good thing, right? Something to be proud of. It makes an impact. We change people’s lives. We solve companies’ staffing issues. We help people further their career ambitions. We assist companies to compete and grow

How about a little nod of appreciation from clients who may make a living selling cigarettes, alcohol, junk bonds, life-saving medicine at obscene profits, or defend criminals? How is it that these people call our profession ‘bottom-feeders’? Pot. Kettle. Black? Much? I am not saying what they do is ‘bad’ (even though it often bloody well is!), but what we do is honourable, it’s positive, and there is no collateral damage in our work. Yep, we find people work. Last year, America’s staffing companies hired over 14.5 million temporary and contract employees. Around 3,000,000 temporary and contract employees work for America’s staffing firms during a typical week. In the U.K., recruitment companies found permanent work for 550,000 people. U.K. recruitment agencies also made a lazy 22.4 million temp/contract placements in 2021. In a year, that’s 430,000 people placed in temp jobs by agencies every week, or 86,000 a day. (Assuming a 12-hour workday, that is 7,166 people placed every hour into a Temp or Contract job. I am labouring the point, but I love it!). Details on all this here

We create jobs.

Yes, we do. The often-quoted criticism of our industry, that there are ‘no barriers to entry‘, has an upside too. Our industry breeds entrepreneurs who have the courage to start their own businesses and hire people. I remember doing that myself, at 28 years old (and several times since), and having endless sleepless nights, paying myself a pittance while employing many people to get the business going. I have no complaints. I reaped the rewards. But I took the risk, as do thousands of other recruiters, many of whom are women, who leave the restraints and discrimination of bigger corporates, to create their own businesses and secure their futures. That is something to be proud of! Does it happen much in banking, for example? Or law? Oh, and if you think I am making this stuff up, then reflect on the fact there are 150,000 private recruitment agencies globally, with many more branches than that. There are 30,000 recruitment agencies in the U.K. and 12,000 in Australia. And 201,154 people work in U.K. recruitment agencies. (Here it all is)

The service we provide candidates.

Our industry gets hammered for poor ‘candidate care‘, and often it’s deserved. But let’s have a reality check. Recruiters invest millions of hours advising, counselling and supporting candidates in their job search. Some of that is very tangible assistance, like resume preparation, salary information, or interview training. Often, it’s a morale boost, good career advice, or just a sane sounding board. We act as an advocate for the candidate who does not shine through the resume but can in the interview.

That’s us that make that happen.

Here is an even better list of what recruiters do for free

And candidates don’t even get charged!

So, my recruiting brethren, as we face another tough week and read another article on our ‘appalling service‘ and our ‘impending demise‘ (LOL on that one!), I encourage you to stand proud!

Don’t let the bastards grind you down!

We do a good thing. Honourable, hardworking colleagues surround us; we impact lives every day, and we create work across the world

Stand proud!

Recruiters rule!

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Train your recruiters now!

Not when it is too late

The Savage Recruitment Academy

The Savage Recruitment Academy

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