In much the same way that all contracts are agreements, but not all agreements are contracts; all recruiters follow a client’s hiring strategy, but not all recruiters are hiring strategists.

Last week CML Recruitment Process Optimization client in the C-suite asked me a blunt question. He said: ‘’how do I know if my recruitment vendor is any good, Brant?” Knowing this particular client particularly well, I know he wasn’t asking about core metrics, overall effectiveness or anything about the actual science of recruitment. Rather, Mr. Client wanted to know ‘is this agency worthy of my business?’

My response to this question was another question: “Are you giving the vendors an understanding of the direction and scope of your organization’s growth, Mr. Client? Are they sharing the actual means by which they plan to pursue and realize your human capital means over time, or are they working with your HR teams to shuffle CVs?”

My answer though was really just a polite way to ask “Are you being a good client?” The fact is that finding a vendor that behaves like a hiring strategist, and not just a recruiter, is a two way street…

Of course, doing everything possible to be a great client, and make a vendor worthy of business doesn’t necessarily mean performance is guaranteed. Having that level of relationship is the minimum starting requisite though…

Learn more about the perks of hiring a recruitment company/recruiter. Contact any of our CML’s Recruiters to find out more.