Let’s face it, reputation is important. “Branding” is a thing. The marketing/branding industry, marketing and communications departments, and even reputation management systems (ex. Net Promoter Score) are designed with the purpose of improving reputation. Just about every app or website we use provides users with the ability to rate our experience with a product or provider. As consumers, customer feedback is a highly valuable data point. This feedback determines what products or services we should buy, and what individuals and companies we choose to engage.
Miriam-Webster defines reputation as “The overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general. Recognition by other people of some characteristic or ability. A place in public esteem or regard: good name.”
Why should your selection of a recruiting firm be any different than the other services and products you purchase? No doubt, reputation is probably the single-most important element to aiding consumers in their choice of product or service! In this article, we highlight a few aspects that we feel are important to building a good reputation.
Relationships
It all comes down to people. Departments, organizations, teams, and the like must have a passion and commitment to delighting, serving, and pursuing harmony and mutual benefit. The underlying characteristics of good relationships are consideration, care, honesty, patience, loyalty, empathy, purpose and selfless consideration of others.
Stephen Covey discusses in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” that “Think Win Win” (Habit #4) is a key habit of highly successful people. This is a mindset that prioritizes mutual success above one’s own. It is about understanding the needs of each party and determining if the needs of each can be met. In addition, there must be discovery and inquiry to determine the needs and wants of the other to determine if a relationship will be worth investing in. If done well, the relationship and reputation will flourish. If done poorly, the opposite is true. Great recruiters are skilled at building relationships that ultimately lead to a positive reputation.
Candidate Experience
Recruiters, like all brokers, are simply a “middle man” with the purpose of bringing together buyers and sellers. In this case, employers are the buyers and candidates are the sellers. While recruiters are paid by the Employer, there is no doubt that candidate experience is paramount to building a good reputation. Great recruiters deliver the best candidate experience when they are diligent in their follow up, honest in their communication, accurate in their description of the opportunity, and thorough in their discussions (screening, interviewing, discovery). They offer insights and help candidates in determining if the opportunity is right for them. Also important is their ability to disposition a candidate without leaving the candidate feeling like they are unimportant. Great firms have mechanisms, technology, and process to ensure a positive candidate experience. They consistently invite them to provide feedback with the purpose of learning how to improve their service to others.
Client Experience
As mentioned, recruiters are in the middle of the buyer/seller transaction. That being said, it is equally important to a recruiter’s reputation to provide a similar experience for their paying client. We feel that good candidate experience is the beginning of a good customer experience. If you don’t have a good reputation with the candidates in the marketplace, then a recruiter’s ability to leverage their network for referrals will be greatly diminished. Furthermore, this impairs the recruiter’s ability to deliver great talent.
Also important to a great client experience is a recruiter’s ability to conduct a deep discovery/intake meeting. The purpose of this initial meeting is to identify critical elements related to the company, operations, department, job, and candidate. If these are poorly understood, then it will show in the quality of the candidates provided for consideration. This will likely lead to an increase in cost and time to hire thereby negatively impacting the customer experience. Similarly to candidate experience, a recruiter will be diligent in their follow up, honest in their communication, and accurate in their description of the candidates provided. In another article, we discuss why experience is important to selecting a recruiter. There is no doubt that experience is also key to a good customer experience.
Recommendations & Reviews
Recommendations and reviews are simply the expression of the overall quality or character as seen or judged by those people involved in the recruiting process. I don’t know of any recruiting agency that doesn’t boast of its experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, but should you take their word for it? Isn’t a review from a candidate or client a better indicator of how good they are? We believe discipline is the differentiating quality that makes a great recruiter. The best recruiters do not tire of improving in their craft and are rabid in their pursuit of feedback for the purpose of learning how they can improve and build upon their reputation.
If you are looking for a reputable recruiting partner, we encourage you to check out their recommendations on social media, google, and on their website. Reputation is important when determining who to partner with when it comes to helping you find your most important asset. Reputation is so important to us that we made it our name. We are committed to continuing our pursuit of 5-Star ratings.
