Fantastic Appointment, Unhappy Client … Justifiable or Unreasonable?
Maybe it happens with your customers too?
A prompt service, fast turnaround, and delivery well ahead of schedule. Comments that would generally be associated with excellent performance and ‘what good looks like’.
But in recruitment, such positive attributes sometimes cause problems.
Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? Let me explain …
I remember receiving a call from client who needed to urgently fill a role that had unexpectedly become vacant. It was a vital operational role that needed filling ASAP.
We quickly sorted out the commercials, and I got to work. It so happened that I knew of an ideal person who might be interested, although the commute might be a little long for him. He had joined my network some years ago, and had the exact skills and attributes the client was looking for.
More importantly, I knew him to be a highly capable and reliable person, one of the best I’d ever worked with. I left him a voicemail asking him to give me a call about a role he might be interested in, and he called me straight back. He was very interested, and in the time that had elapsed since last we were in contact, he had moved house, and by coincidence, was now living fairly close to the client’s business. We fixed up an interview straight away, and he started working for the client shortly thereafter.
Everyone was delighted.
I duly sent the invoice to the client, and was amazed at his response …
“‘You’re kidding” he said, “it hardly took you anytime to find him - I’m not paying that.”
He agreed that they were delighted with the new appointment, couldn’t be happier in fact, but he resented paying the fee because he felt I’d done so little to deserve it.
He failed to appreciate that recruitment skills are built up over a period of time. It’s about the people you know, contacts, networking, and knowing where to look … and just occasionally the stars line up, and things drop perfectly into place.
Imagine a top striker (or rugby fly half) who seems to have all the time in the world, and keeps banging in the goals and making everything look so easy.
Does the Team Manager or Director of Football say; ‘sorry Christiano, we’re not paying you your full salary this month. The goals you score are so easy. You’re always in loads of space and the others keep passing to you, anyone could do what you do’.
Of course not.
But a recruitment consultant, who agrees a fee with a client, and then delivers a service ahead of schedule, and hugely above expectation, is somehow not worth the agreed amount.
It may not be persecution in the true sense of the word, but it certainly felt that way.
I guess it’s all about perception, and if I’d acted in a more selfish way, delayed things a little and made it appear to the customer that I was trawling through my network of contacts and proactively reaching out to the world to locate the candidates, he’d have paid up without a second thought.
It’s worth remembering this situation when we’re about to say that a player could hardly of missed that chance … or when a swan serenely glides by on a calm stretch of water, because there’s always more to a situation than meets the eye!
Specialising in the Food / Packaging industry, and with a wealth of networked contacts across the sector, I help organisations overcome their recruitment challenges. If you’d like an informal 121 with me about any aspect of recruitment and workplace performance, please get in touch.