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A 'recruiter' is someone engaging in recruitment, which is the solicitation of individuals to fill jobs or positions within any group, such as a corporation or sports team. Recruiters can be divided into 2 groups: those working internally for one organization, and those working for multiple clients in a 3rd-party broker relationship, sometimes called headhunters.

Contents

Internal recruiters

Third party recruiters or headhunters

Retained search

Delimited search

Relative advantages

Specialization

Ethics

Recruitment in Ireland

Overview

Client / Candidate Focus

See also

External links

Internal recruiters

An internal recruiter is member of a company or organization and typically works in human resources (HR), which in the past was known as the Personnel Office, or just Personnel. Internal recruiters may be multi-functional, serving in an HR generalist role (hiring, firing, exit interviews, employee disputes, contracts, benefits, recruiting, etc.) or in a specific role focusing all their time on the activity of recruiting. They can be permanent employees or hired as contractors for this purpose. Contract recruiters tend to move around between multiple companies working at each one for a short stint as needed for specific hiring purposes.

Third party recruiters or headhunters

A third party recruiter can work on his/her own or through an agency and acts as an independent contact between their client companies and the candidates they recruit for a position. They can specialise in client relationships only (sales or business development), in finding candidates (recruiting or sourcing), or in both areas. Most recruiters tend to specialize in permanent or full-time, direct hire positions or contract positions, but occasionally in both. They will often utilize Internet recruiting to help in their recruiting efforts.
Those recruiters who specialise in contract placements (where the candidate is typically paid hourly for temporary work) may divide their labours into two functional groups, with one group working to sell to clients and open job orders, and the other group focusing on recruiting candidates. Both staffing and consulting firms employ recruiters specialising in contractor placement. Most recruiters today working in this area are compensated with a base salary, but receive a commission or bonus that is somehow tied to the number of placements they make.
Third party recruiters who specialise in placing job seekers in full-time positions with their client companies are more often referred to as headhunters. It should be noted, however, that many recruiters resent being called headhunters, and vice-versa. Typically Headhunting is associated with a higher degree of industry knowledge and a more specialised, less 'blanket' approach. Whereas a recruiter may place an advert or place calls with no prior knowledge of the individual they are contacting, a headhunter will attempt to know about the subject's previous employment history, education, etc. He will make contact on the premise that 'on paper' the candidate is suitable for the role, whatever their current situation. Poaching employees away from their current employment in this manner gives headhunters their name.
Additionally, Headhunters vary from Executive Search Agents/Professionals who typically have a wide range of personal contacts within the area in question, a detailed specific knowledge of said area, and typically operate at the most senior level. Executive Search professionals are also involved throughout more of the hiring process, conducting detailed reports and interviews as well as only presenting candidates to clients where they feel the candidate in question will fit into the employment culture of the client. Executive Search Agencies typically have long-lasting relationships with clients spanning many years, and in such cases the suitability of candidates is paramount. It is also important that such agencies operate with a high level of professionalism.
Executive Search agencies often also provide clients with (legal) inside rumours gleaned from contacts within their clients' competitors.
Compensation methods for recruiters specialising in direct hire placements fall into 2 broad categories: contingent and retained, both of which are explained below. Retained recruiters present opportunities and oversee the interview and placement process for their clients.
Third party recruiters make their income through sales commissions generated from the fees that they collect from their clients. Some recruiters also receive a base salary or a draw against future commissions.
Due to the differing nature of Executive Search, in the interests of maintaining long lasting relationships with Client companies, compensation may have further layers. An example of this is the promise to perform an additional search with no charge if the originally placed candidate resigns or is fired within the first 12 months of employment.

Retained search

High-end executive search firms get a retainer (up-front fee) to perform a specific search for a company officer or other senior executive position. Typically, retained searches tend to be for positions that pay upwards of $100K(US) and often far more.
Search fees are usually 33% of the annual compensation of the recruited executive. Fee payments are made in thirds, 1/3 of fee paid on initiation of the search, 1/3 paid thirty days later, and the final 1/3 paid thirty days later or upon placement of the candidate. It is important to note that in a retained search you are paying for the time and expertise of the search firm. You have employed the firm to conduct the entire recruitment effort from startup until the candidate has started working.
Retained recruiters work for the organizations who are their clients, not for job candidates seeking employment.
Search firms generally commit to off-limits agreements. These agreements prevent a firm from approaching employees of their current clients as candidates for other clients (for instance, if a top headhunter recruits the new CEO into Boeing, they will agree not to recommend Boeing executives to other companies). Since they act as management consultants working in the best interests of the clients for whom they conduct searches, it would be counterproductive to simultaneously remove talented executives from those client companies. Search firms may decline assignments from certain companies, in order to preserve their ability to poach candidates from those companies. Some large search firms may insist on guarantees of a certain number or dollar value of searches before they will put an entire company "off-limits".
The trade association of the retained search industry is known as the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) and is based in New York.

Delimited search

Another form of high-end executive search, delimited search, is often improperly categorized as retained search, although there are distinct differences.
Similar to retained search firms, delimited search firms require an up-front fee before engaging the search. Unlike a conventional retainer, however, the delimited search commitment fee is refundable if the recruiter fails to achieve a hire or other deliverable specified in the contract. Moreover, the delimited search commitment fee does not follow the typical 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 model of retainers, but rather is a relatively small up-front fee which is discounted from the final placement fee of 30-35% of the successful candidate’s first year compensation.
Both retained and delimited searches involve partial payment prior to filling the job, and the contracted recruiter has the search exclusively. Therefore, the search can be customized to the client organization’s needs, with the search professional providing a consultative service throughout the process.
While both retained and delimited searches serve client employers rather than job-seeking executives, delimited search contracts always (as opposed to sometimes) state a future date when the project must be completed or the downpayment refunded.

Relative advantages

Clients (Companies seeking to hire) often tend to work with contingent search firms when filling non-business-critical low and mid-level positions. As contingent search firms generally rely heavily on their databases, and seldom work on an exclusive basis, it is not rare for a client to work with a large number of contingent recruiters on the same search at the same time, in order to maximize the volume of candidate (job seeker) resumes they receive. Beyond the increased volume of candidates that such an approach allows, contingent firms do not get paid until the placement is made (a candidate is successfully hired), and thus the search risk is shifted almost entirely to the search firms. Moreover, contingent search firms often work with clients on a lower percentage fee basis, relative to retained and delimited search firms.
For senior level roles, clients often prefer to work with retained and delimited search firms. Both of these search styles focus on providing a tailored service to clients, relying more on relationships and recruiting ability rather than database information and resume volume. By working exclusively with one firm on such searches, the client generally develops a much deeper relationship with the recruiter, and receives a much higher level of service. With both retained and delimited searches, clients rely on search professionals to provide not just resumes, but also insightful, consultative information about the market in general.
Clients tend to work with retained firms on open-ended searches where it is very difficult to establish a reasonable time frame for completing the search. With up to two-thirds of the total fee being collected before completion of the search, retained search firms are often seen as being the best positioned resources-wise to continue working on a potentially drawn-out search where it is difficult to find and/or recruit the best candidate for the role. In other words, retained search is generally preferred when the position is business critical, but the candidate pool is not easily definable. Although delimited search is gaining popularity, retained search is still the dominant model for executive level search.
Delimited search is often preferred by clients who are seeking a retainer-style service level, while not willing to accept the level of risk that retained search entails. While delimited search does entail up-front fees, they tend to be much smaller than total pre-placement fees that retained search entails. Moreover, delimited search professionals shoulder the risk of their own failure to execute the search within a specified time-frame, offering to refund the up-front fees in such an event. While delimited search is not as desirable for searches that are open-ended in nature, the “ticking clock” is often seen by clients as an incentive that motivates delimited search recruiters to stay more active and involved throughout the hiring process.

Specialization

Headhunters tend to either be generalists or specialists in a particular niche, with some recruiting firms also specializing in a geographical region as small as a city, and others recruiting worldwide. Niche headhunters may specialize in a specific industry or type of employee, such as medical specialists, information-technology professionals, senior-level executives, or sales professionals.

Ethics

The retained search industry has a widely accepted body of ethical principles that most professionals know and most firms uphold.
A primary tenet is that, being paid on retainer as a consultant regardless of whether hiring occurs, the recruiter has a duty not to weaken the client organization he or she has been paid to strengthen. Therefore, a retained search firm considers its client's employees off-limits and does not solicit them for other clients. Details vary and arrangements are often specified in writing rather than merely assumed as standard industry practice. Traditionally, client employees are considered off-limits for one or two years after a retained search is completed. Retained Recruiting Ethics Example
Candidates, too, deserve ethical treatment. They should not be misled through advertising or otherwise, and their resumes should not be distributed without their permission. Ethical Treatment of Candidates

Recruitment in Ireland

Overview

The recruitment service industry in Ireland is a flourishing commercial environment built on the strong and constant economic growth Ireland has experienced the last 10-15 years due to the Celtic Tiger, most prominently in Dublin. Specialized recruitment agencies (sometimes known as employment agencies or simply recruiters) across the country (such as Osborne Recruitment, Hays Recruitment, and Thornshaw Scientific Recruitment) offer personnel consulting, specialist corporate recruiting, CV databasing, job-finding and headhunting, and temporary worker management services. These agencies usually work with larger business clients who are seeking qualified employees. There are approximately 600 recruitment agencies in Ireland, with an estimated 300 of those based in Dublin alone. Oftentimes large, growing businesses in Ireland prefer to outsource their recruitment and job advertising needs to an outside firm, and recruitment agencies offer these key services to these clients, usually in exchange for a percentage-based compensation matched from the new employee’s earned salary. In this way, the client pays the recruitment agency for services rendered – the candidate (new employee) usually does not pay anything for being recruited.

Client / Candidate Focus

The past several years have shown somewhat of a turnaround for recruitment market dynamics. While it used to be more difficult to obtain business clients and large numbers of available job openings, the growing prevalence of recruitment agencies has led more and more companies to outsource their employment efforts as recruitment has become a very viable and cost-effective business partnership for many firms. Today, recruitment agencies are shifting focus to greater efforts on reaching out to job-seekers, as many agencies are finding no lack of client job opportunities. The task at hand, then, is to attract as many quality job candidates as possible, so as to place them in the multitudes of opportunities being offered by client businesses. Candidates are typically placed on multi-faceted set of criteria: personal preference and interests, industry or position experience, education, references, and psychographics.

See also

★ Executive search

★ Recruitment in Ireland

★ Body Shopping

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External links

★ Retained Recruiting Ethics Example

★ Ethical Treatment of Candidates

★ Recruiter Solutions - The Recruiters Directory