Extirpate Exclusive Engagements
The recruitment profession has a continual need to have clients sign exclusive engagements or PSAs in an attempt to capture clients and therefore guarantee business for themselves. In my travels over the years speaking for the RCSA at conferences and congresses, nearly all participants and delegates agree that this is good business.
Here are the generally accepted reasons for engaging the client in a PSA or exclusive engagement:
- Working as a strategic alliance partner allows the recruitment professional a thorough understanding of the client's business, industry and roles.
- Assignments of valued clients take top priority, the dedication and commitment will increase with increased responsibility to perform.
- Saves the client time.
- Better quality process, therefore better result.
- Ability to reduce fees or extend the guarantee period for exclusive work.
- Client's interests are not compromised.
- There is an implicit guarantee not to poach staff.
- Guarantee that candidates presented will be exclusive to the client (i.e. not put forward to other roles via the same recruitment agency).
- Benefit of the recruitment companies intellectual capital into client's business.
- Value-added services available to clients.
Other than the last item, which I added myself, all nine points were taken from the websites and marketing collateral of leading recruitment firms in Australia.
My challenge to you all is:
- Go through each of those items and explain why the client should NOT receive those benefits from engaging a recruitment professional at any point, in any manner. Do they necessarily have to have an exclusive engagement signed with the recruitment professional to be entitled to that offering?
- Check your own marketing collateral and clients promises; haven't you made these promises in your marketing already? It's not just for PSAs really is it?
- So, where is the genuine value-add of a PSA for your client? Honestly!
- Think back; hasn't there been a time when you obtained job orders from a client who had an exclusive engagement or PSA with another recruitment agency? Of course, there is.
Nearly all the delegates and participants at the congresses and conferences I have spoken at, agree that the PSA doesn't hold water in the face of savvy competition with a value proposition from another recruitment agency.
What do you do?
Be a recruitment professional! Lawyers have no need to seek an exclusive engagement with clients; accountants don't ask you for a PSA; psychologists don't ask patients to sign an "appointment agreement".
Recruitment professionals are valued and important business partners to their clients. You are a peer of your client. Not a sycophant. You are not subservient. You are a professional providing valuable knowledge, skills and expertise that the client does not own themselves, internally.
Rather than working on a contingency basis competing on percentage fee levels; work on a consultancy basis with your clients delivering guaranteed ROI (Return on Investment) across all measure of input, not just "bodies" in roles. Who better than the recruitment/hr professional to help the client design an appropriate induction process, training schedule, cultural diagnostic and employee evaluations?
Focus your efforts on the staffing and hr objectives of your client; establish metrics around what you do so that you are able to prove your significant ROI to the client, and measure the value to the client in both tangible and intangible results.
Become a trusted adviser of your client and you will never need to seek an exclusive engagement from your client; you will automatically by dint of the relationship you have developed, captured a client who will become your advocate. Best of all, you won't be negotiating your fees down because of competition.
Extirpate Exclusive Engagements and Build Professional Relationships!
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