The world of recruitment can seem very cloak and dagger if you don’t know much about its inner workings. Well, we hate to burst your bubble but it’s actually nowhere near as exciting and sordid as people make it out to be.

You know the stereotype…a slick salesman trying to strongarm people into taking jobs they don’t want only to poach them back for the next client, all just to line their pockets? The vast majority of us couldn’t be further away from it, but take it from us, not all recruiters are created equal and here at Concept Resourcing we like to think we’re on the good side of recruitment history.

We pride ourselves on the level of care we have for our candidates and clients, besides, nothing on earth matches the feeling of placing an all-star candidate into their dream role.

If you’re still not convinced, I’m going to take you through some of the most common myths about us recruiters and do my best to dispel them for you.

1. “Recruiters make pure profit on their fees”

 As with any sales model business, most recruitment companies will have a commission structure for their consultants and yes, our commission is partially formed from the fees we generate for the business.

However, the amount we get is actually a modest percentage of the overall fee. The rest goes back into improving the service we offer, from training up our team on cutting edge recruitment software to investing in some niche job boards that get our client’s roles in front of the right people.

2. “Recruiters never call candidates back”

We’re sure some recruiters don’t get back in touch with candidates if they’ve not gone through to interview stage, but that’s certainly not how we do things. If a candidate has great skills and would be an asset to our clients, even if they aren’t right for the particular role they’ve applied for, we’ll always want to keep in touch in case a similar opportunity opens up.

3. “Recruiters just poach candidates back from where they’ve placed them”

Although we like to keep in touch with our candidates, the concept of trying to take them out of a role we’ve just placed them into is completely daft to us. At the end of the day, candidates who stay with our clients for a long time and manage to do great things for their business ultimately leave a lasting positive impression of us as an agency.

It means that the fee that the client paid was well worth the investment, plus it’s actually harder for us to try and place a candidate who is seen to be a “job hopper”. So the logic on this way of working just doesn’t stack up and any recruiter trying to poach their candidates back is quite frankly shooting themselves in the foot.

4. “Nothing is free when you deal with recruiters”

This is a really common misconception and we really wish people would just ask us about. First of all, our services are always completely free for the candidate, as a jobseeker you wouldn’t have to pay anything to us.

Our fees are payable by the client, and only once we find the right person for the job and they’ve started in their new role. Plus, as an added level of protection for the client – we have a rebate period whereby if the newly placed candidate leaves or turns out not to be suitable for the job, then we don’t get our fee.

Besides, as salespeople, we love to negotiate so we’ll often chuck in extras like competitor research or market mapping just to boost our chances of finding the perfect candidate.

5. “Using a recruitment agency is expensive full stop.”

Not strictly true, yes we ask for a fee from our clients when we place a candidate, however we are extremely flexible on those fees. Particularly if you’re going looking to fill a large number of vacancies or if you opt to be an exclusive client, we’ll always be fair on cost and try to give the best deal wherever possible because retaining great relationships is more important to us than getting a big pay out.

Also, have you looked at how much a bad hire can set you back? It could end up costing you double a recruiter’s fee in training costs, holiday and sick pay and salary.

6. “Recruiters just use the spray and pray technique with sending CVs to the client”

I think this is the most common misconception about recruiters, but any recruitment consultant worth their salt will know that it’s of no benefit to them to send clients candidates that aren’t a good match or simply not interested in the role.

People think of recruiters as just advertising a vacancy and sending anyone and everyone who applies to the client for review, this couldn’t be further from the truth. We actually vet each and every candidate to make sure they’re right for the role and would be a good cultural fit for the business. It’s all about quality!

7. “Recruiters don’t respect your privacy”

Okay, I can see where people are coming from with this one – a lot of recruiters do try relentlessly to get through to their candidates to the point of being a bit annoying. However, if you’re a competent recruiter you’ll always find out when the best time to contact a candidate is as we’d hate to call anyone while they were at work or otherwise not available to chat about something as important as their career.

We’d also never ever share a candidate’s CV or any other details without their permission, this kind of comes back to my earlier point about it not only being immoral but also a completely redundant way to do business.

And there you have it, some of the most common recruitment myths gone in a flash. If you’re still unsure about enlisting the help of a recruiter, myself or another member of our team of recruitment specialists would be more than happy to put your worries to rest. Give us a call on 0844 800 6600 to discuss your hiring needs.