#RecruitmentChallenges #CandidateExperience #RecruiterEthics
Hey everyone! 🌟
I wanted to chat about a situation that’s got us all a bit frazzled lately. It seems we’re up against a competing recruiter who’s been submitting candidates to our shared clients without even having a conversation with them first. Yep, you heard that right! 😱
Here’s what’s happening:
- We’ve submitted six candidates to our client.
- The client informs us that three of those candidates have already been submitted by this competing recruiter.
- When we followed up with the candidates, they were totally surprised and even angry. They weren’t aware someone else was throwing their hats in the ring!
This whole thing has raised a few eyebrows because the candidates are left in the dark. They don’t even know who’s pushing their resumes and how to get in touch with that person! 🤔
I’m not entirely sure how the legality works when it comes to candidates needing to "approve" being submitted, but I know this creates a ton of confusion for everyone involved. The clients, the recruiters, and especially the candidates—all facing unnecessary hurdles.
Why does this bother us?
- Candidate Trust: Candidates might feel their job search is out of control and lose trust in the recruitment process.
- Client Relationships: This can damage our credibility and standing with clients if they think we’re submitting candidates without proper engagement.
- Professional Integrity: It raises ethical concerns about recruitment practices, making us question the value of our own hard work.
Possible Solutions?
- Open Communication: Kick off discussions with clients about ensuring candidates are genuinely interested before submitting.
- Candidate Engagement: Make it a point to have thorough talks with candidates about their preferences and job aspirations—prioritize their consent!
- Educate Clients: Maybe we can share insights about best practices with clients so they understand the importance of proper candidate vetting.
I’d love to hear your thoughts! Have you faced similar issues with competing recruiters? 🤷♂️
What strategies have you found effective in dealing with these situations? Let’s share some advice and maybe brainstorm solutions together! 💬
Looking forward to your experiences!
Unfortunately you see that a lot on the agency side. Especially if you are submitting into a clients VMS system.
There are agencies out there who will get a candidate to electronically sign a Right to Represent and then just date it for each submittal.
I even ran in to one once who tried to get their candidates to sign essentially a non compete where the candidate agreed to not work with any other agencies for like a year.
I don’t have any advice for how to get around it.
There is also the possibility that your candidate is working with multiple agencies and has forgotten who was submitting them for what position. They could also have the mindset that multiple submissions is a good thing. Could also be the case of the other agency not telling the candidate the company name.
There are just so many scenarios.
Get the candidates to confirm (via email) that they have not given any other company but yours the right to represent and that your company has provided the name of the client and the candidate has been cleared for the role by you.
Inform your client that you hope they can consider this professionalism and your efforts and hope they see the sense here. Gd luck!
how do you know for sure the candidates didn’t talk to the other recruiter? Candidates lie and or forget all the time.
If you think the candidates are serious, here’s what you do. Tell the candidate to decline any interview request through the other agency and to call you when they get the interview request. Then you call your client and say “I know you wanted to interview Jane doe Wednesday at 3pm and they declined but I can make that interview happen.
The candidate won’t do this because they’ll lie to all recruiters until they get the interview.
Candidates never seem to know who they are working with or if they’ve been submitted.
Just casually mention it to your client on a phone call – not email – and then show a chain of custody proof like your first interview w/ the candidate and ask when the other agency met with that candidate. Clients will want recruiters that are talking to submittals. Don’t whine and complain. Just mention it casually to plant the seed.
If you can get multiple candidates who this happened to to put it in writing that you and not the other recruiter are representing them it will hopefully send a message to the client that they need to cut ties with this idiot.
I had something like this happen once but the HR person didn’t notice it was the same resume – other jackass had sent candidate a message, got a resume and candidate later told me she never followed up when he asked about an interview because she was sketched out and had no info on the job
3 weeks or so later she gets the job through me and the asshole sent them an invoice when she changed her job on LI.