On the Backs of ?Contract Recruiters?? follow this blog post

posted by Doug Franklin on Dec. 2, 2007

As I spend more time in the recruiting industry, I continue to hear about the strength of the Contract Recruiters who are out there every day getting the job done.  I almost feel like Contract Recruiters are a subterranean group of experts who carry a major portion of the recruiting workload but who seldom are given the credit for their extensive capabilities in recruiting?  I often wonder how many thousands of Contract Recruiters are out there?

 

Last week I met with a company who is a leader in the entertainment world.  Our topic of conversation eventually came to the aspect of recruiting and some specific recruiting agencies in their vertical market.  When I described the various ways I know major recruiting firms utilize Contract Recruiters to flex their recruiting staff, I began to think how Contract Recruiters can be a significant portion of the recruiting staff for major recruiting agencies and corporations.  Of course, most companies will not differentiate between ?contract? recruiters and full time recruiters.  So, the only way Contract Recruiters can stand up and be recognized is through Blog like this one, and other association groups like my Yahoo Group ContractRecruiterJobs with over 3000 members.

 

I doubt there are any easy ways to determine just what percentage of the workload is completed by ?Contract? Recruiters at any given company or agency?  However, I think in some cases the percentage would be significant.  The Contract Recruiting profession is a very important piece of the overall recruiting industry and growing every day!  It is important we all recognize the responsibility we have to promote the Contract Recruiting profession, and strive to improve our ranks through professional training, completing our contracts with integrity, and helping the recruiting industry in every way possible as Contract Recruiters.

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•  Doug Franklin

  1 point 2 years ago

  Dan,

  Thanks for your comment. I agree that Contract Recruiters need to continue to grow in their capabilities. I'm not sure if you are aware that many large recruiting firms utilize many contractors to get their search work completed. The point of my original post was that a great deal of the recruiting work being completed is being done on the invisible "contract recruiter" in some of those major recruiting firms.

  Thanks for your comments,

  Doug

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•  Dan Purell

  1 point 2 years ago

  While I do not disagree that contract recruiters were once very valuable, I do believe that today, contract recruiters face many challenges that ultimately diminish their value and longevity as a predominant resource in the hiring arena.

  Traditionally, contract recruiters were brought into organizations to build a sustainable, repeatable hiring process. Candidates used to find companies. Remember the days? During the era of closed networks, when recruiters relied solely on their rolodexes to hire, contract recruiters had some attractive qualities. However, these days, it is no longer about building process and using a rolodex to find candidates. Candidates no longer find companies, companies now find candidates. Today, there is a deluge of information. Rolodexes, closed networks, are becoming extinct. Contract recruiters are now forced to deal with too much information and they are often beat to that information by agencies and other resources.

  How can one person be responsible for all phases of the recruiting process for more than a couple of jobs and still be successful? With the abundance of information, it is impossible and contract recruiters to compete and they are consequently a determent to most companies that absolutely need to hire.

  Like most business processes, so far other than recruiting, individuals have been replaced by teams working on both quantitative and qualitative improvements. One person handling a requisition load is absurd. The wealth management industry used to be a cottage industry operated by individuals, virtual islands. Today, companies have figured out that they are much better and providing services in a team based environment. Recruiting will be the next business process to realize that they are operating on the back?s of dinosaurs.

  Recruiting is the last business processes to be modernized. When companies, not just pure tech companies, start to get their arms around the real issues, contract recruiters will go the way of shipping department managers of the late 70?s, early 80?s.

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•  Dan Purell

  1 point 2 years ago

  While I do not disagree that contract recruiters were once very valuable, I do believe that today, contract recruiters face many challenges that ultimately diminish their value and longevity as a predominant resource in the hiring arena.

  Traditionally, contract recruiters were brought into organizations to build a sustainable, repeatable hiring process. Candidates used to find companies. Remember the days? During the era of closed networks, when recruiters relied solely on their rolodexes to hire, contract recruiters had some attractive qualities. However, these days, it is no longer about building process and using a rolodex to find candidates. Candidates no longer find companies, companies now find candidates. Today, there is a deluge of information. Rolodexes, closed networks, are becoming extinct. Contract recruiters are now forced to deal with too much information and they are often beat to that information by agencies and other resources.

  How can one person be responsible for all phases of the recruiting process for more than a couple of jobs and still be successful? With the abundance of information, it is impossible and contract recruiters to compete and they are consequently a determent to most companies that absolutely need to hire.

  Like most business processes, so far other than recruiting, individuals have been replaced by teams working on both quantitative and qualitative improvements. One person handling a requisition load is absurd. The wealth management industry used to be a cottage industry operated by individuals, virtual islands. Today, companies have figured out that they are much better and providing services in a team based environment. Recruiting will be the next business process to realize that they are operating on the back?s of dinosaurs.

  Recruiting is the last business processes to be modernized. When companies, not just pure tech companies, start to get their arms around the real issues, contract recruiters will go the way of shipping department managers of the late 70?s, early 80?s.

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