about Good Talent Attraction Is Crucial
I was tempted to just put a picture of a question mark with the words…."Well, would you?" for this post, to see what people's interpretation of the question would be. (And if I had done that, what would you have said - feel free to tell me below in the comments.)
This may sound like a strange question from a recruitment orientated person, who has historically always been paid by clients. But is it reaching a time, where job seekers would be happy to pay a recruitment specialist to help them find work?
There are many outplacement companies that already provide the service to companies making redundancies, but it is the companies that make the payments. Would an individual happily use some of their redundancy pay to hire a recruitment specialist to help them find a new job?
I have to say, I think the answer would now be yes.
There are companies out there already, providing CV writing services, social media profile writing skills, life coaching and interviewing courses etc - all for money. So wouldn't providing a fuller job finding service, just be an extension of that?
So, could it be that there will be a time soon where recruiters are paid by job seekers, not by the clients they are working for?
If you lost your job, would you pay a recruitment specialist, to help you find another job?
Comments 16
Comments 16
Jo
Migrant workers routinely pay their agents!
I would be interested in the terms of your contract! If I were to pay someone to find me a job, how would I assess the quality of the employment agreement.
A touch of moral hazard here. I pay you 500 pounds - you split it with the HRM manager - and you churn? Or do I pay you 500 pounds in 2 years time? Or as an agent, you get a % of my pay for x months?
The ‘coaches’ are using the business models of the professions. As with a doctor or lawyer - results are not guaranteed. All that is offered is time in which the professional follows a process learned during expensive training. Of course, these coaches cannot be struck off by their peers if they do a bad job.
Let’s hear more! Always interested in something innovative.
Jacob Share from JobMob
Yes and no.
Some services can save job seekers time, multiply their reach, and improve their chances. These are worth spending money on if the provider is reputable.
Other services are a waste, such as paid resume blasting or job leads, because there’s not only no guarantee of results, but there’s sometimes no way of even confirming that you what you paid for.
Andy Headworth
Jo,
That is exactly what I was hoping for - someone to actually think about
my post in that way. Why shouldn’t professional ‘career advisers’ be
viewed the same way as other professional coaches?
In terms of the contract, I agree that it would need to be carefully
written, but you are right, pricing would need some careful thought.
Personally, I view it as a service where people would be given all the
tools and coached through the process for a fixed fee (whatever that
is). Alternatively, you could adopt the approach many coaches do, and
engage on a monthly retainer with a certain amount of guaranteed “one 2
one” time.
Whichever route is best, I am convinced that there could well be a move
out there for this kind of service, as more and more job seekers get
(very) disillusioned and fed up with current offerings out there in the
market, such as Job Centres and recruitment agencies.
Watch this space for some further ideas around this!
Andy
Andy Headworth
Jacob,
You are absolutely right - some services are worth it while others are
not. I agree that some of the CV mailshot companies that charge for
blitzing out your cv to xx number of companies is of no use to man or
beast!
However, you would pay for expert advice on how to construct your job
seeking strategy, with the right tools and approach wouldn’t you?
With many people simply not knowing where to start in the job searching
space, then maybe there is a call for this kind of service.
Alex Hens
I wonder whether the Recruitment Agency industry has actually done itself too much harm in regards to the public perception of its integrity over the years to actually generate enough interest in this kind of model from the wider public? Let’s face it - most people have Rec Consultants ranked somewhere alongside Car Sales & Estate Agents (and I know people in both those industries who are the exception that prove the rule - but still a national stereotype is a stereotype for a reason).
Any such service would certainly have to be on a “no result no fee” basis you’d think - but that test of true pay per performance, especially where the Consultant would really need to believe in the candidate’s ability both on paper and in interview, may be a step too far.
All that said - maybe as the recession bites there may be a market for such services as those middle class professionals made redundant become increasingly desperate, but the problem will be that you can’t polish a metaphorical turd of a CV, but if you’re charging cash up front then who’s going to be honest enough to give the truth back.
This recruitment practice already exists - agents for actors (possible because they move from short term contract to short term contract) and also for sports personalities (where the contract value is so high a modest %age of the sign up fee is enough to keep anyone in Armani suits for quite some time), headhunters to a degree as well migrant workers (as pointed out by Jo). But as far as I can foresee I think it will probably remain the practice of the both extremes of the market with mass offer advice rather than personal service the best you can hope for in the middle ground is broad brush tips and advice services - particularly now sites like TheLadders.co.uk are about with it very much part of their revenue model.
Interesting muse though
Andy Headworth
Alex,
As always your attention to cold hard reality comes through!
I do think you probably hit the nail on the head with the anticipated
marketplace, but for a different reason. I actually think that many in
that bracket
don’t actually know how to go out and find a job anyway, because they
have never had to before. I know this from many conversations I have had
with job seekers in this space.
They go from university to their first job easily and they have
typically stayed there. They are also likely to have redundancy cheques
that would be a way of funding some expert advice.
But with regards to fees, it couln’t be done a success only basis, as
people would be paying for professional advice and would have to pay for
it accordingly. It is up to the person offering the service to be able
to justify their fees, and if people then want to pay them, then should
be exactly aware of what they are doing - maybe a good set of T&C’s
would be needed?
Lisa Scales
Sitting here as a business owner but previous recruiter I get alot of requests from family and friends to have a “chat” with certain individuals who have found themselves in redundancy situations and my natural instinct has been a “chat” doesnt satisfy me and I tend to go over the top and go all out to help these people find new employment - I spent a couple of hours the other evening in my living room with a newly redundant individual who has over 20 years in senior learning and development roles - I turned into life coach / recruitment consultant / truth giver in the space of 5 minutes and actually realised that this person although attached to a HR department most of their working career had not one idea about how to go about being proactive in a flat market. I think there may well be some traction in this space but alas I dont think it will reap the rewards as the price point is sensitive - when someone is redundant with a mortgage to pay their hard earned payout isnt going to be released easily - what about a pay per hour model like other professions? Some lawyers bill out at 6 minute intervals - what if the recruiter/life coach/job coach will actually have to show their activity and maybe a bonus on success?
Alex mentioned the car sales and estate agent types in recruitment and I am afraid I will have to suggest that there are a few people out there that would take advantage of a poor sorry soul in the depths of gloom and redundancy.
Andy Headworth
Lisa,
You obviously end up doing (by default) alot similar to myself. People asking advice of you, and out of a desire to help, you end up giving quality advice. I guess that is where I am going with this post, asking if we should be charging for the time and (more importantly)the advice we give. To be honest it doesn’t matter how we charge, either hourly or by a package price, but it does need to reflect the value of service offered doesn’t it?
Life coaches that do ‘career planning’ seem to be in that space, but are life coaches what people to see when they have been made redundant?
Having found out that outsourcing companies charge between £500 - 10,000 per head (yes thats true!), you sort of think the money might be there to charge for the service.
There will always be the people that reside in the ‘Wild West’ of our industry, but there is also real quality as well.
Andy
Ballbag
This model is actually in place now, and not just in niche areas like sports. ‘Monetising the candidate’ (Horrible title, forgive me!) - a taboo for many years - is now making significant headway in the general market. Solutions like the ladders prove the candidate is prepared to pay for services they previously didn’t have access to or have previously got for free. Now you are seeing a general increase in other flavours that move on a bit from the traditional ‘Interexec’ type approaches. Career concierges etc, they are all out there right now so I don’t think its a case of if or even when.
Re the recruitment sector, I think that model is broken and has been for many years. Its only the low barriers to entry and the years of boom that have protected the model. And the fact that a large chunk of the businesses reflect the skanky nature of the industry perpetuates it. There is no innovation in the recruitment sector generally, let alone in the world of the agencies. And before you think I’m knocking the whole sector I’m not - like Alex I know many in the sector and have direct experience myself, but it is what it is. I think the ability for established brands to change their modus and start a candidate revenue model is very limited for a whole host of reasons. It was the same for those that thought they could move into RPO - they just didn’t have the right mindset to make a great business out of it, hence most that went into it developed really crappy solutions.
The world is changing, like it always does but the innovations that have presented themselves to us in our private lives as consumers are now spreading into our working lives as candidates and consequently things are moving much faster than they did before. As candidates, we will be paying more, to a much wider range of services, both directly through straight payments for services (whatever they turn out to be) and indirectly for memberships to networks, information and, perhaps the most interesting one for me - facilities to help us build our personal brands - ‘Brand You’.
Having been in both HR, recruitment and consultancy amongst other things for longer than I care to remember, I will be VERY careful who I hand over any of my hard earned cash to should I lose my job. Especially when I consider the tools available to me already.
Andy Headworth
Thanks for your insight. I like your comments re RPO, and that a number of recruiters moved into that sector.And you are right, they are still getting it wrong!!
Yes there are many tools for candidates out there in the market, endless networking sites - some brilliant liked LinkedIn, many less effective, and alike. But for me, the problem sits with the candidates themselves. Yes the tools might be available to them, but would they know how to use them effectively or even have the inclination to do so?
Many people I speak to ‘acknowledge’ the tools available, but readily admit they wouldn’t know where to start. So although you might not be someone who would pay for help & advice in finding a job, I feel that many others would - depending on the deal obviously!
Tim Schieffelin
found this thread interesting and have done a lot of thinking about this - a source of revenue for agency recruiters not employed directly by a hiring company are markets that are hot (ie healthcare in the US) or candidates. however, these hot markets are becoming crowded with recruiters, driving fees down. i am thinking that a mid to high end sales candidate will have the money to pay for a ‘search agent’. this is NOT life coaching as you wouldn’t be working with someone to help them find out what they want to do; in essence you would be teaching them how to recruit using agency techniques and with a target market in mind because they already know what they want. in turn that means that you might stand to get better results with people who are involved in sales (or whose personality lends itself to aggressive marketing). THAT defines your market: mid to high end sales individuals, because agency recruiting (what you teach them) is a sales campaign - i am running free pilots with a few people right now. my best guess is that you offer both a package (soup to nuts) or an hourly rate (either targeting an aspect of the package, such as branding on social networks, phone techniques, etc.). however, i welcome other thoughts
Andy Headworth
Tim,
Thank you for your very interesting comments.I totally agree with your
concept here - it is not about life coaching, this is much more
specialised and therefore requires different skills.
I would be very interested to hear how your pilots are working.
Andy
Ballbag
Interesting comments. But i would point out the only mistake you make which is to say that recruiting is a sales campaign. Recruitment has nothing to do with selling really, despite the fact that many in the business are sales people. The reason the industry has such a skanky reputation is because it has a low barrier to entry and is populated with a lot of pretty poor sales people looking to make a good buck.
The only time selling comes into it is when you may be pitching to win an account. Beyond that there is no place for it. Anyone who thinks selling a job to a candidate or a candidate to a client is a good idea is retarded. And is probably a sales person.
Shirley
As a recruiter I have been getting a lot of request from people who wanted to pay me to help them find a job. Thinking the average person could not afford this—especially if they are not working I often said no—but the request keep coming AND the same people continue to ask me even when I say no…. I am now considering adding this service.
Uk Employment Guide
I extremely enjoyed this! I would have to say this is an awfully informative post that needs mentioning elsewhere.
Basic Bookkeeping Courses
I have worked with a similar company before that creates tailored CV for people and I think this industry will continue to grow.