While doing a little networking the other day on LinkedIn, I saw yet another post decrying the ‘sleazy recruiter’. The writer went to some lengths to paint ALL recruiters as being lying, thieving sharks that weren’t to be trusted with last week’s leftovers, let alone something as important as a person’s career. This wasn’t the first post I’ve seen of that nature out there and it won’t be the last. But each and every time I see a comment like that, I’m a little more annoyed: just as not all realtors are trash and not all used car salesmen are pond scum, not all recruiters are sleazy.
“But Aiman, where there’s smoke, there’s fire!” Okay, okay… I’ll buy that some of the bashing is deserved. Like all professions, there are a few members who do their level best to make the rest of us look bad. But the level of smear that I see on social media is just not warranted.
It’s important to remember that recruiters, work in a commission driven industry. This kind of transactional sales setup can easily lead to individuals within these professions looking for the quickest way to make a buck, with little regard to the clients post sale or with no regard for the candidates that didn’t get hired. This industry also leads to experienced and qualified recruiters doing their best to match candidates and roles as cleanly and quickly as they can, to everyone’s satisfaction.
We’ve all experienced bad service: like the kid behind the counter at the mini-mart who was rude to you the other day (I’m just spitballing here!) The impact of his behaviour is nothing compared to what happens to a person when they have a run in with a bad recruiter. After all, it’s the candidate’s livelihood at stake, not a pack of gummy bears. So it’s not surprising that people are far more invested in complaining about a bad recruiter than they are the kid at the mini-mart. In the past, the online complaints department didn’t exist, but now, social media, blogs, even Google, are open forums for people to vent their frustration.
And where there is smoke, there might be fire. But not necessarily. A person shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand because of what they do. You don’t dismiss all doctors even though some aren’t great, others have the personality of a dead fish and still others have even been caught in malpractice suits. So why is it okay to smear all recruiters with the same tainted brush created by a few bad seeds? Well, not to put too fine a point on it: it’s not okay. But it is up to you, as the hiring manager or searching candidate, to do your research. Caveat Emptor! Buyer Beware! Find out something about the company that is going to be helping you find the perfect candidate or locate the job of your dreams before you leap in!
We, at AGENTC, work to create the best possible environment for both clients and candidates. Most of the candidates are handheld throughout the entire process. In fact, even when a candidate is hired and, for some reason, they don’t pass their probationary period, we will go to great lengths to smoothly transition them out of one place and into another.
We aren’t recruiters in a large corporation. We are business owners. We are relationship builders. We take each hire personally because it isn’t making a sale, it is about impacting lives, creating new opportunities for individuals, and building teams.
