June 2007 Index

What Clients Want

We spent the last 45 days contacting a broad cross-section of local businesses including biotech, real estate, manufacturing, high tech, professional services, healthcare, distribution, and retail.  We asked 3 simple questions in hopes of identifying the key criteria used by hiring managers and human resources professionals when selecting recruiters.

What criteria are most important when selecting external recruiters?

The top 3 responses were:

• The availability of unique, well-screened candidates that match the required skills AND company culture

• A recruiter who takes the time to truly listen, gaining a genuine understanding of the open position

• Timeliness of qualified candidate presentations

• Interestingly, while “fee” was mentioned by nearly 100% of our participants, only 9% listed it as a “significant” factor. Furthermore, it was much more of a factor for human resources professionals than for hiring managers.

What do you like least about working with recruiters?

The #1 response, mentioned by 96% of our participants was…

• Recruiters who send resumes that are nowhere near the job spec rather than simply admitting they do not have any viable candidates at this time

What is the best way for recruiters to gain an accurate picture of your open position and company culture?

• 82% indicated that they preferred recruiters who came to visit them in person vs. relying solely on phone conversations