Sunday, December 16, 2007

The Wise Use of a Nominal Retainer

I was reading a rant on the Hiring Revolution blog called "You and Your Damn Internal Shifting". It was written by a recruiter who was steamed and who had applicants who were burned after a lot of effort, resources are time were expended sourcing people only to find "the last minute internal candidate" winning the day.

As he says, "I feel personally and professionally screwed EVERY TIME when: after weeks of intense direct sourcing and work, resulting in 3-5 candidates who have every element on their resume you asked for, the needles in the haystacks from the four corners of the agency world, we get the e-mail (NOT EVEN A CALL) from you: “Great news – we were able to fill the position internally by shifting someone from another account that lost some of its budget. Thanks soooo much for all your efforts, the candidates you showed us were great!”

With wisdom, he writes," Here’s who it’s unfortunate for: the 3 candidates who all thought they had a shot at this cool position, who updated resumes, cleared schedules, and jumped on planes with a day’s notice, only to realize no one was hired.

The article continues with the promise to never let this happen again and the usual threat of re-paying this behavior by recruiting from this firm.

Now, my point in this is not to advocate for this person. Frankly, I haven't been caught in a situation like this in years. It's part of working with clients closely for years that I am offered the courtesy of being told when internal candidates are still being evaluated.

At the same time, like my other article, "Influence, Hiring and Retention," it speaks to a relationship that is damaged and what its potential impact can be.

So what does this have to do with the idea of the nominal retainer?

A few dollars invested by this firm would have quelled the anger that has breached the relationship and insured the continuation of a valued resource. And, if you say, "So what! That comes with the territory," I can only reply that you probably waste too many people's resources and that disrespect will hurt you and your firm in the end.

When no one of any value will respond to your call of, "round up a posse and go out and find . . . " it hurts. When you need to continually explain your corporate culture to strangers because they will work for free, you are wasting your own time unnecessarily. After you book needless appointments too often because you've burned valuable allies who can help "close" your offers because they understand the nuances of your firm only to use people who don't know your company well enough to help you when the chips are in the center of the table . . .well you get my point.

But this is probably the least important reason you should provide a nominal retainer.

I don't lie to people--you or job candidates. It's what you expect of me when I refer someone to you; it's what job applicants hope for when they work with a recruiter (I say hope for because of how few recruiters are known for honesty).

So when your senior professional asks me with the position is on contingency or retainer, you know darned well that they have a different of your seriousness and my capabilities to serve if I answer one way vs. another.

It is for senior professionals who understand the difference, that being able to say, "This is a retained search," that the modest retainer has great value.

So, as always, evaluate your resources regularly. Replace the ones that fail to perform or who use up too many of your resources for too few hires (always remembering that you may have a part in their failure by providing inadequate information). Look at the nominal retainer at times when you have a critical hire and want to use the contingency recruiters in your search.


Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
 Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

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