7 Ways to Spot a Specialist Recruiter from a Generalist in Disguise
Warren Myers CMP Recruitment Consultant likes this article by Paul Slezak of Recruit Loop

As a business owner or hiring manager, it’s not always easy to keep on top of it all. You do everything possible not to drop the ball but the one area that is often the first to feel the cracks is recruiting. After all when you’ve got all the other balls in the air, who really has time to write a job description performance profile or capabilities statement for every single role in the business? What about sifting through hundreds of applications to find that diamond in the rough?
How often have you asked yourself whether you should try to run the recruitment process yourself, or whether you should engage the services of a recruitment agency?

If you decide to “D.I.Y.”, then all of a sudden you are expected to become a specialist in personality assessment and behavioural analysis. How can you really identify the ideal candidate? What should you even be looking for in a cover letter or resume.  What questions should you ask during an interview? How can you really distinguish between a candidates’ skills and competencies?

Your pulse rate and blood pressure are probably increasing just thinking about all these questions. But then again do you have the budget to engage an external recruiter to help you? If so, the big question then becomes do you want to work with a generalist or a specialist?
That’s entirely up to you. After all, when you’re not feeling well do you make an appointment to see a General Practitioner or a Specialist?

Hopefully this post can help answer some of your questions or help to at least alleviate some of your concerns.
A generalist recruiter is one who works on a variety of accounts, recruiting for a wide range of job functions, industry sectors and locations. On the other hand a recruitment specialist focuses on a particular job function, industry or location and typically recruits up to higher-level jobs within a niche with less transferable skills such as accounting, legal, graphic design, healthcare, manufacturing, architecture etc.

The main difference between a generalist and a specialist recruiter is in the quantity and quality of candidates they deliver. Specialist recruiters should be able to produce superior results for you.
So how does your ‘specialist’ recruiter measure up? Are they really a specialist, or are they in fact a generalist in disguise? What sort of candidates are you getting from them? Are they a close match to your requirements? Are there a lot of applicants, but not much in the way of substance?
Believe me there are some amazing generalist recruiters out there, but if your recruiter is truly a specialist, they should ideally be able to demonstrate all of the following qualities:

1. They can define their niche
Your recruiter should be tapped into their area of specialisation. They should be able to answer with authority any questions you might ask them on the subject. They should be familiar with the industry terminology and know all the key players. In fact, they should know many of the same people you do. Knowledge is power and that’s especially true in recruitment. The more you know about your subject, the more accurate your decisions will be and the more positive results you will achieve.
2. They should be able to demonstrate a focused strategy
Your recruiter should know exactly where to look for qualified candidates. They should have a comprehensive and current database of industry contacts and potential candidates and employers. They also need to have a focused sourcing strategy where, rather than just looking on a job board just like everyone else, they target particular niche websites and industry publications known to be frequented by the most highly sought after candidates.
3. They have their finger on the pulse
Your recruiter needs to have their finger firmly on the pulse of their particular niche market. When asked, they should be able to point you in the direction of evidence that they are actively engaged with industry people on a regular basis, that they belong to relevant industry groups, and that they are up to date with all the latest industry news and trends. You will often be able to see this through your recruiters LinkedIn profile.
4. They should have a proven track record
A good recruiter will have a solid reputation around town and amongst their peers. They should also have a demonstrated track record of successful placements in their field of specialisation. It shouldn’t be hard to find out, because if they do, they will no doubt be more than happy to share their successes with you. I’ve yet to meet a recruiter not afraid to blow their own trumpet!
Your recruiter could even have a background in the field or industry you’re in themselves. The old saying ‘it takes one to know one’ is particularly appropriate in specialist recruitment and former specialists often make the best specialist recruiters.
5. They should be able to demonstrate an understanding of your needs
Your recruiter should have a good understanding of your organisation’s structure and its goals and particular needs within the industry. If they have successfully filled similar vacancies in the industry before, then they will know instinctively the kind of employee you are looking for.
6. They will really know their audience
Your recruiter should know what makes their candidates tick, what their general likes and dislikes are, their motivations, temperaments etc. While not everyone fits a stereotype, there are certain traits that appear more often in particular professions. By knowing their audience the recruiter can then highlight the aspects of your position that they know will appeal to them most (i.e. salary may be more important to some types of candidates than others).
7. They have built solid relationships
Your recruiter should have good ongoing relationships with their candidates. A good specialist recruiter goes out of their way to build such relationships, as these people are their bread and butter and a candidate is often placed more than once throughout the course of their career. They shouldn’t need to advertise for candidates and should be able to provide you with some solid prospects off the top of their head.
So, given all this, how does your specialist recruiter stack up? How many boxes can you tick?
Knows the industry
Knows the candidates
Knows your requirements
Knows where to look
Has the background and experience
Has the runs on the board.
Are you getting what you’re paying for? Or do you perhaps need a second opinion?
 
Brought to you by CMP Recruitment Specialist and article by Paul Slezak

 
What a great night last Friday at the WA Young Credit Professional Awards night.
The Convention centre was an idea place with excellent food, wine and service.

Well done AICM WA, some 85 Credit Professionals and their partners packed into a very slick room layout
and enjoyed networking with their peers in the industry.
There was a friendly and well delivered chat from the President Lisa Marr who made every- one feel very welcome
and as she called up the 3 finalist to let them expand on their careers in credit, a little about themselves personally and how they got to be a finalist was very assuring to know top talent in the Credit Professional ranks were coming through.
As the food disappeared and drinks were flowing there was a sense of anticipation of who was going to be
Crowned the Young Credit Professional for 2016.

Then it was announced Sarah Reed of Bunnings Ltd is now the YCP Winner for 2016.

The Bunnings crew certainly made it clear of their excitement with a loud roar of happiness and applause from their tables for their champion.
Sarah was very graceful with her acceptance speech and thanking all the right people and especially the two runner ups.
The night didn’t stop there and there was lots more networking and until we got kicked out (lol) but a many partied on at the Crown Casino next door and it was an awesome night enjoyed by all.

I know I had a good time and interested to see how Sarah goes at the Nationals later
in the year.

Till next time,

Warren Myers
CMP Recruitment & Credit Services Consultant

1. Take control of your cash flow management – Ensure invoices are raised in a timely manner, issue statements and reminder letters, ensure all terms of trade are clearly communicated, produce a cash flow plan, talk terms with your suppliers.
 
2. Revise your funding arrangements – Spend some time to revise your funding requirements and if the current arrangement isn’t suitable speak to your lender about more favourable terms and consider alternative funding methods like Crowdfunding and Invoice Financing.
 
3. Tackle the clutter – Eliminate everything that no longer has a practical purpose. As a rule of thumb, throw it away if you haven’t looked at it in the past year.
 
4. Get filing – if your office is full of paperwork and collapsing shelves, sort out your filing system. Make sure that you only file essential information such as purchase and sales invoices, bank statements and important customer data as 80 per cent of all filed papers are never read again.
 
5. Risk Management – Do you have a formal Risk Management process! In today’s challenging times protecting the business from loss is critical and insuring the debtor’s ledger with Credit Insurance is worth implementing. 
 
6. Work smarter – meticulous planning is the key to business success. Ensure that you review your business objectives and prioritize everything that you want to achieve by December. Developing a key action plan will help.
 
7. Stock matters – don’t get yourself into an over-stocked position where all your money is tied up in goods that you may not necessarily be able to sell. Review your stock levels carefully and look back at the last 18 months sales figures to determine seasonal peaks and troughs.
 
8. Harness people power – review your staffing levels for the next 6 months and plan to cover staff holidays or peak season demand. If there are any significant skills gaps within your workforce that is holding your business back, consider external training courses to boost the skills of your existing staff and the hiring of specialist skilled Temp Staff to add at peak times and when needed.