In Defense of Generalist Recruiters
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Why you may not need to hire a specialist recruiter — even for highly specialized roles.
hen you have niche or highly skilled positions in your organization that need filling, you might think it's common sense to seek out a specialist recruiter. After all, if you're placing candidates in specialized roles, shouldn't you work with a recruiter who specializes in filling those kinds of roles?
in the field are, they may not be able to send any of those candidates your way because of preexisting commitments. Now, maybe there are some shady specialist outfits out there willing to poach candidates from their clients. You can bet that if they'd poach from your competition, they'll do the same thing to your organization when the time comes.
Maybe not. We'll get into the specifics in just a minute, but for now let's focus Jeffrey Audette on a relatively basic question: What's the point of hiring a recruiter in the first place? While it might sound counterintuitive, the best way to solve this problem might be to bring in You might say it's to fill your vacant positions a nonspecialist. An all-around recruiter may not with the right candidates. If that's what hiring a have the same kind of preexisting network in your recruiter is really all about, then there are times industry, but that also means they don't have burwhen a more broadly focused recruiter might be densome preexisting commitments. When you better at fulfilling that function than an industry go with the all-around recruiter, you have a better specialist. Specialist recruiters seem like a great shot at attracting the best talent, no matter where deal — and sometimes they are — but the special- they happen to work. ist recruiting model also has some problems you might not expect. A Good Recruiter Is a Good Recruiter Specialists May Be Bound by Prior Commitments
You might think the reason you need a specialist is because only a specialist will be able to recognize the right candidates. Maybe your industry is One of the biggest challenges when working with so specialized that you feel a recruiter needs exa specialist recruiter can sound like a major ad- tensive industry experience to be able to evaluate vantage at first: A specialist recruiter already has candidates with reasonable accuracy. a network of connections in your industry. On the surface, this thinking makes sense, but A wider pool of qualified talent right off the bat let's consider the matter from another angle. Isn't sounds great, right? Not always. See, the special- recruiting itself a specialized industry? Wouldn't ist recruiter's vast network means they are likely an excellent recruiter specialize in finding the to have client relationships with many (compet- right candidates, no matter their industry specialing) businesses in your industry. If you're working ty? with an ethical recruiter — and you should be — that means the recruiter won't be able to go after Recruiting is recruiting. The most important skills candidates who work for those clients. While a in the field — like interviewing skills, communicaspecialist may know who all the best candidates tion skills, critical thinking, and the ability to find 8
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