In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, which is a holiday to
celebrate relationships of all kinds, a pertinent topic to cover is
relationships between recruitment and vendors.
As an internal recruiter in health care there is always the “purple
squirrel” to be chased. While “purple
squirrel” is a staffing term, it is applicable to recruiters across every
specialty area. These “purple squirrels”
are your tough-to-fill positions, be that due to lack of candidate pool (such
as experienced physical therapists) or a tough hiring manager who requires a
specific amount of experience or a specialized skillset that is tough to
find. Regardless of the reason, as an
internal recruiter you will eventually employ a vendor to help you hunt your
“purple squirrel.”
Relationships with staffing firms, headhunters, placement
agencies, etc. are typically difficult to build. This is due, in no small part, to the sheer
number of companies that are trying to earn your business. As with any plumber or landscaper you hire –
there are the good, the bad, and the excellent.
With any courtship, the relationship should start with the
agency asking you a lot of questions.
They should want to know your “story” – the picture you paint for your
candidates to generate interest in your positions. They should want to know your company
culture, your obstacles, your hiring managers’ preferences, and anything else
pertinent to your healthcare organization as a whole, eventually getting down
to the brass tacks.
This early part of the relationship requires some investment
on your part. You must invest some time
and energy into providing your vendors, or potential vendors, this backstory in
order to give them the benefit of having the full story when sourcing
candidates to you. If you are unwilling
to invest this time, imagine how little time your vendors will spend finding
talent for your organization.
Obviously if a vendor comes at you with a “save the world”
mentality and they are not willing to ask questions, they are likely not the
vendor for you. You may receive many
candidates, and some may even be candidates you hire; however, when you throw
spaghetti at the wall – some will always stick.
Having a recruitment firm that presents YOUR message to the candidate is
invaluable. They have done the initial
prescreening for you to ensure the candidate’s interest in a company like yours, and you then have the
opportunity to close the deal.
Expectations. The
ugly word that is brought into every relationship – budding or long-term. Make sure you manage expectations on both
sides with your vendors. If you would
prefer they not call you unless there is an “emergency,” let them know. If you prefer only phone communication and
strictly on Tuesday mornings, let them know that as well. Give your service provider the opportunity to
treat you how you would like to be treated as a customer. If they cannot provide you the service you
are looking for, we are all aware of the countless other providers out there. That being said, expectations work both ways. As internal recruiters we do not always
receive the feedback we would like from our hiring managers, in the timeframe
we would like to receive this feedback.
Check in with your vendor in a specified amount of time, even if you do
not have additional information. This
will garner their trust as well, and you will likely stop receiving calls in
the middle of your busy Monday mornings to “just follow up.”
Overall the purpose of this blog is to serve as a reminder
that in the vendor/employer relationship there is a service level commitment
and a positive relationship can most definitely be fostered. Once you have your trusted team of firms to
source candidates to you, you will always have this pool to draw from. As with any service, if your landscaper
starts skipping half your yard or sending someone else in his stead, you are
free to shop for vendors again. By
investing the time on the front end to research a proper provider, you will
reduce the time you spend replacing your vendors or working with too many on
the back end. Having someone to call in
your time of “purple squirrel” hunting that can deliver a quality product is
truly priceless.
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