Why me?

No, I'm not whining. I'm trying to explain why you might want to hire a research-based recruiter like me. First, I need to tell you what I do for a living. It might not be what you think:

The easiest way to show the space I occupy in the recruiting world, is to tell you about some other third-party recruiting business models you might have used in the past. 

Contingency  

With contingency firms, you only pay the recruiter when they find someone. Sometimes you will use one recruiter exclusively and other times you will have multiple recruiters race to find you a candidate. The first guy across the line gets paid.

This can be a good thing. If you are trying to fill a junior role or what we refer to as a commodity position (any position where only a certain technical skill set is required e.g. someone writing code or following a telemarketing script) there is often a large pool of candidates from which to draw. Many people could fill the role quite well. What a client needs is a quick turnaround time and contingency firms have huge databases of candidates who are seeking employment. Since you only pay for success, this can be an economical way to hire too. 

The drawback is that you are providing a financial incentive for the recruiter to provide quantity over quality. Your HR department or hiring manager may feel inundated with unvetted resumes. Also, databases pull candidate names based on skills rather than fit so you may meet a lot of people who do not fit into the corporate culture. 

Retainer 

Retainer-based firms work on a exclusive basis and often charge a flat fee based on the hours they think it will take to complete the search. Generally these firms are used for senior level roles where fit is key or for hard-to-fill roles where there are not many qualified candidates. 

The advantage to using a retainer based firm is that a reputable firm will put in the time to cover the marketplace to find you the best people for the role. Also, they are accustomed to dealing with senior level people and will represent your company and the role well . Search consultants have a solid business background so they can understand the intricacies of a position. They will stick with your search until the job is done and provide a lengthy guaranty that the hire is successful. You also get marketing intelligence from your competitors or companies in your industry. My background is in retained executive search and I have a huge amount of respect for the value they can bring to a company. 

The drawback is that good search firms are expensive to use. Also, sometimes a partner will sell the search services that will be executed by someone more junior. It is important to make sure you know who will be doing the work and representing you in the marketplace. 

Research Recruitment Companies

I started Re:search as a way to fill the gap between retainer and contingency recruiting firms. The advantage of using someone like me is that you get the research services of an executive search firm but at a fraction of the fee. I unbundle my services so you pay for exactly what you need. Usually clients will handle creating the job spec, the interview process and reference checks themselves. Because I focus on the "headhunting" aspect of the search rather than the HR elements, I am able to charge significantly less than a retainer firm needs to charge. With me, you are guaranteed good coverage of the market to find the best candidate and you will be represented and marketed in the best light. I also provide marketing intelligence from your competitors or companies in your industry. 

The drawbacks are that I do not provide a guaranty the way that a full-service firm does since I am not part of the interview process. There is more work for HR or the hiring manager so very small firms or busy start ups might not have the human capital to spare. 

That being said, the Re:Search business model is becoming very popular for firms that have the HR resources to manage the search process but simply need someone to uncover who the best candidates are in the marketplace. 

(Not that I'm biased!)

Happy hunting!