Hello everyone and please pardon the fact that it's been over six months since my last blog. I plan on being a much more regular contributor moving forward....I promise. Well, the past six months or so haven't been without its changes...and I mean drastic changes. After leaving Mercy Medical Center Redding in August I took plenty of time to be with my family (we have a new baby daughter which makes two daughters I have now). Norah Servane Kim joins her big sister Christall Jina Kim as Dad is now thinking of how he's planning on paying for two Sweet 16 cars, two weddings, and two tuition payments to Stanford. Anyway...besides the family changes, leaving Mercy has allowed me to make career changes as well. I have started my own Healthcare Recruiting/Executive Search firm and although we are a pre-revenue start-up, I'm having a blast (and learning a lot about running a business).
I often wondered why there is such animosity (either perceived or actual) between "corporate" recruiters and "agency" recruiters. If you don't know the difference, you're probably not in the HR business or you're new to all of this. Corporate recruiters are internal recruiters (usually sitting in HR or part of it) who hire top talent for their organization. They can do this through a number of different means (job fairs, advertising, internet job boards, employee referral programs...and even third party recruiting firms or "agencies"). Agency recruiters are those people who work for a third party vendor referred to as "executive search firms", "recruiting firms", "staffing firms" or any variation of these. Their clients are the corporate recruiters and they make their living from placing top talent with their clients.
It's true that agency recruiters tend to work longer hours sourcing and interviewing people even into the evenings and on weekends. But I also know tons of corporate recruiters who did this too (myself included). It's also true that corporate recruiters tend to have specialized knowledge about talent acquisition strategies, employment law, sourcing technique skills, and a strong knowledge of metrics. But so do agency recruiters in this day and age. So then, what is the difference and how hard is it to make the transition from one to another?
In a few words: tons and very. There is a lot of difference in how both perceive their own roles and it depends on who you are talking to. For example, many contingency-based agency recruiters feel that their image and reputation in the industry has been mired in the "used car salesman" classification for too long. They know that they are qualified, often very educated and provide a valuable service to their clients and so many agency recruiters have adopted the ideology that they are to be considered "external consultants and advisors" that get called upon not only for their service but also for their knowledge and insight into the industry and the recruiting market. Corporate recruiters (especially in healthcare) consider themselves in many cases to be part or or an extension of Human Resources and more than ever are now looking at themselves as "Business Partners" in providing their service to line management. Having said that, corporate recruiters are also more apt to feel frustrated by the bureacracy of HR departments and their HR leaders who usually don't know very much about recruiting.
Another difference is how they are compensated. Many times, agency recruiters who are top billers in their firms earn two or three times as much as their corporate counterparts. Sometimes there is frustration from corporate recruiters who look at this situation with disdain and wonder why they aren't being paid more or being offered some level of parity. The answer to that is that they are comparing apples and oranges. Corporate recruiters are salaried so there will always be a cap on their earnings, regardless of how good they are at their jobs. Agency recruiters often work on commission-only situations where the more they bill (place), the more they earn.
So is it difficult to go from one to another? You bet. The average recruiter will usually serve out their career in one sector of the industry (either agency or corporate) but usually not both. There was a time when it was nearly impossible for an agency recruiter to make the jump to corporate but not so anymore. While still a challenge to make the transition due to corporate organizations wanting some corporate experience, many companies (hospitals as well) actually look for some agency background now so they know you can source, "upsell" and present, and have that "hunger". My situation however, is a bit different. Although I initially started in the agency world, I have been a corporate recruiter for over a dozen years (15 years of recruiting total). After my three years at Mercy, I am now back into the agency side and believe me when I say there are transitional challenges.
For one thing, I no longer have as many resources at my disposal as I once did working at the hospital. Whether it's slick software, access to all the job boards out there to data mine, or direct access to my "internal clients", there are many things that are lacking now. However, there is also that sense of freedom from rules and policies that only served to hamper me on the corporate side. I also know that I am much more free to serve my clients in the manner I think is best rather than an HR beauracrat handing down orders to me. The other challenge is that on the corporate side, you get really used to having such direct access to your clients. In my case at Mercy, they were all the nursing directors and allied health managers and anytime I had a question or concern, I could track them down easily. Not so when you are an agency recruiter (or vendor). Since your calls are screened and because your clients are so busy, it often takes days (if not weeks) for them to get back to you. This is a severe detriment and obstacle to business as delays can cause you to lose candidates which means losing deals.
There are many other differences but I could also site many similarities beyond the ones that I've already mentioned. However, difficult this road may be to not only starting my own business but also to becoming an agency recruiter, I know that this is the right decision and one that will serve me well. I have one goal and that is to serve my clients with professionalism, integrity, competence and enthusiasm. That is how it is now and that was how it was when I was corporate. Some things never change.
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