As a professional recruiter who made the shift from a long career leading corporate recruiting teams to an agency, it is safe to say that I’ve just about seen it all. Having experienced these opposing perspectives not only in my day job, but also as a board member for various associations, I find the relationship between agency and corporate recruiters particularly interesting. In many ways, it is very analogous to what plays out in playground sandboxes every day.
Here's the scenario. The sandbox is an uncharted territory that needs help to become its full potential. One child is first to arrive at the playground. This child sets up the rules. They follow the rules. They begin to build their sand castle using the rules. Then the unthinkable happens. Two other children show up to the sandbox. One of them is very assertive.This child has a different idea about the way things should be done, even if it means breaking the rules or knocking over the first child's sandcastle to speed things up. Last, we have the peacemaker. This third child sees both perspectives. They take the time to get to know the rules but help everyone work together to build something even better. Go to any playground, and there's a good chance you'll see it happen for yourself.
In this analogy, the sandbox represents the business or client. It’s the thing we’re all trying to build up. Likewise, the first child represents the corporate recruiter. They know their organization, hiring protocols, and position profiles better than anyone else. Sometimes, however, that also means they are less flexible and more emotionally invested in the recruiting process, which can really slow things down. The second child represents the type of outside recruiter who just wants the placement. They create tension in the process by going around the rules to get the result they want. Unfortunately, this type of recruiter doesn’t always have the client’s best interests at heart. Finally, the third child represents an agency recruiter who wants the best for their client. These recruiters take the time to get to know their client’s processes and work with them to make things run as smoothly as possible. This often results in better and faster hiring, leaving everyone involved better for partnering together.
As a Corporate Recruiter, there inevitably comes a time when you need to get help from an outside agency. In the second installment of this 3-Part series I’ll share 5 tips to help Corporate Recruiters build better sandcastles by partnering with a trusted Agency Recruiter.
