Serial Monogamy Makes Good Business Sense:  Why Exclusivity Attracts the Best Talent in the Market

Using multiple agencies to fill a vacancy surely gives a client access to more candidates, right? But… why are your competitors working with recruitment agencies on an exclusive basis?

Let’s delve into the four key advantages of partnering exclusively with a recruitment agency:

Finding the best “in the market” rather than “what is on the market”

According to David Harrington, CEO of HorizonOne Recruitment, a common misconception amongst clients is that they will gain greater exposure and depth of candidates by listing their job vacancies with numerous agents.

This may sometimes be the case in the short-term, he says, but this approach often yields access to ‘surface level’ candidates only – those actively looking and known to the recruiter at that particular time. The unique benefits of ‘exclusivity’ means the recruiter has both the time and the commitment to do genuinely thorough work.

“The recruiter will have time to comb networks, online resources, social media networks and tap into the passive talent market,” explains David.  “The focus shifts away from speed and back onto quality, with the client getting the best, not merely the best seen that week.”

Craig Brennan, CEO of CHC Affordable Housing says they only use HorizonOne and have done so for the past three years, filling a wide spectrum of roles from Senior Executives through to Administration.

“The team at HorizonOne take the time to carefully research each role, and the individual applications. Each time they supply us with a very high level of candidates, along with their recommendations of the best fit,” he says. “They actually have a very good strike rate and most hires have integrated into our business very well.”

Partnering for your business success

Building a long-term relationship with one exclusive agency provides the opportunity for that agency to get to know your company’s culture and hiring preferences. And the better the agency understands your business, the higher quality the candidates will be.

“The more intimately we know our client’s company, the easier it becomes to predict what type of candidate the company will hire,” says David. “An exclusive arrangement provides us the time for greater analysis of the recruitment requirements and ensures a well-informed consultant represents your organisation,” he says.

Craig Brennan agrees, adding that the key benefit to their exclusive arrangement is open communication.

“We appreciate that recruitment is a complex task, and to add to that, we have a unique nature to our business in the sense that we are a non-for-profit organisation with a commercial element.

“HorizonOne has taken the time to really understand our culture, exactly what we do, and where we are headed. It’s this level of service and dedication that sets them apart.”

Other business advantages include:

• Preserving brand reputation – the job is not devalued by being represented by multiple recruiters sending potentially conflicting messages; and
• Maintaining client confidentiality – by listing the role with one dedicated recruiter they can take responsibility for protecting confidentiality.

Saving time and delivering value for money

In this type of arrangement, clients will save time by dealing with just one competent recruiter – eliminating the need for multiple agency briefings and the preparation of multiple contacts.

“When you sign an exclusive agency agreement, you are assigned a specific recruiter who becomes your main point of contact. This reduces the amount of time you must spend answering questions about your job vacancies,” David points out.

An engaged recruiter will also allocate sufficient time to fully source and qualify suitable talent– saving the client time and resources, as well as the frustration that comes with being inundated with unsuitable CVs.

Craig identifies with this, saying he places significant value on how much time it takes to find the right candidates.

“We outsource this to HorizonOne because they have the systems, processes and networks in place. Without a doubt that provides cost and time savings to our organisation. I am well aware of the costs involved in making the wrong hire.”

David highlights that an exclusive engagement method also yields a lower risk of a failed placement – with an impressive 95 – 100% success rate.

“The value of the right placement to the client’s organisation is significantly greater over time, whilst the high cost of replacing a poor hire is significantly reduced,” says David.

The contingent model, on the other hand, consistently creates wasted effort. Even the very best consultants need to spread their attention across more recruitment processes to earn their fees, and inevitably they will not be able to give the same attention to detail as they would with the exclusive model.

Commitment

Most agencies prioritise clients with an exclusive agreement that they know will result in a hire over positions in which they will have competition from other firms. Just think about that for a moment…would you pour equal efforts into a piece of business that guaranteed you got paid, versus the one that offered you just a 20 – 25% chance?

With an exclusive arrangement, the client is guaranteed of getting the recruiter’s full commitment to filling their vacant role.

“To be frank, a client may think they get more effort from a recruiter when the role is in competition, but in reality, we put more focus into clients who will work with us as partners,” says David. “Sending hastily screened CV’s to a client in a competitive race to put a ‘bum on a seat’, is a low value method of recruitment.”

Mutual commitment, or ‘serial monogamy’, is undoubtedly the best ongoing recruitment strategy as it gives us the opportunity to add the most value to the organisation we are partnering with. This streamlined approach is key to attracting the highest calibre candidates, and consistently delivering on business objectives.