Truth to be told, we are not a contingency recruiting firm so this will be one of the more difficult blogs for me to write. However prior to joining People First I spent over 15 years as Branch Manager of a few national contingency recruiting firms and I was once a big believer of the model.
With contingency recruitment you are not required to pay a recruiter a placement fee until you have selected your ideal candidate – “payment is contingent upon hire of candidate”. The other key differentiator with contingency verses retained (which I will discuss in a later blog) is that you are not working with the recruitment firm exclusively. You can continue to search on your own and work with multiple firms if you so choose.
Here are my views of the pros and cons:
Pros
Earlier I wrote that I was a big believer in the contingency fee model. Why? Because once upon a time I felt that a Recruiter does not add value until the right candidate is found. I don’t believe that any longer. My belief now is that finding the right candidate is the end result of a strong, mutually rewarding partnership and, the value we provide the client and candidate leading up to the hire.
With contingency recruitment you are not required to pay a recruiter a placement fee until you have selected your ideal candidate – “payment is contingent upon hire of candidate”. The other key differentiator with contingency verses retained (which I will discuss in a later blog) is that you are not working with the recruitment firm exclusively. You can continue to search on your own and work with multiple firms if you so choose.
Here are my views of the pros and cons:
Pros
Cons
- You don't pay fees unless the recruiter refers you a hireable candidate
- You can still recruit for the position on your own
- The recruitment can be cancelled at anytime with no fees charged
- You can work with as many recruiting firms as you choose
- You could receive a lot of resumes - fast
- You should have a lot of candidates to interview
- You may be able to negotiate fees
- You will generally hire a candidate that is available to you quickly but they may not necessarily be the right 'fit', resulting in turnover
- The chance for disputes is higher since the placement will be awarded to the recruiting firm that presents the resume first – determining “who got there first” can be very awkward
- Because of the "who got there first" point, a thorough and targeted search specific to your company and the role is rarely, if ever, performed
- You could face some potentially embarrassing candidate situations if the candidates are working with multiple recruiting firms
- Managing the communication and referral processes of one, two or even more recruiting firms can be challenging
- It takes much longer to bring the recruitment to a successful conclusion
Earlier I wrote that I was a big believer in the contingency fee model. Why? Because once upon a time I felt that a Recruiter does not add value until the right candidate is found. I don’t believe that any longer. My belief now is that finding the right candidate is the end result of a strong, mutually rewarding partnership and, the value we provide the client and candidate leading up to the hire.