Unethical Recruiters Ruining it for the Rest of Us

Recruitment as an industry does not always have the best reputation. One of the things that we sometimes have to deal with is a perception by our candidates or clients that recruiters are just in it for the money, are not there to help them, and will sell their own mothers for a quick buck.

When Kye and I founded Skye Recruitment it was important to us that we reached for the highest professional standards that we could. We knew that we may not always succeed, and that there was always the possibility that a member of staff might do something without our knowledge or consent that was deemed unethical. What we could do, however, was set out - from the very start - our own code of conduct and our own value system, and then ensure that we communicate that to staff and build teams of people who share those values.

If a recruiter is not hitting their targets then we will not fire them. We will work with them, try to identify where they are going wrong, and what they can do to improve. If a recruiter is unmotivated we will offer them coaching, extra training, and do what we can to turn that around. If a recruiter lies to us or our clients, falsifies information, or acts in a way that we deem to be unethical then we will show them the door. We are happy to support anyone who is trying to do well, but we will not tolerate cowboys or charlatans.

Our view is that our clients must be able to trust us in order to do business with us. We work hard to build and maintain that trust, but there are recruiters out there who are working to do exactly the opposite.

Every now and again we run into a situation where I despair, as some recruiters seem determined to perpetuate the myth that all recruiters are untrustworthy.

Sometimes we have clients come to us, concerned, to say that a rival recruiter is trying to claim ownership over a placement (made by us, or another agency) where they have done nothing more than send a CV across. They have not spoken to the client about the candidate, they have not spoken to the candidate about the client or arranged an interview, and - in fact - the candidate often wants nothing to do with them. But, in these cases, the agency comes out all guns blazing and demands that the client pays them a placement fee or they will take them to court.

Sometimes the recruiter in question is desperate to hit target, and is not acting with the support of his or her agency. Sometimes the agency wholly supports these bullying tactics. Often the client decides that it is too much trouble, and they withdraw the offer. Sometimes they pay two recruitment fees. Sometimes the agency that has actually made the placement agrees to a discounted fee, in order to help their client. Either way, the client goes away vowing never to use the agency that has bullied them, and forms a perception of agencies that goes against everything our industry is working toward.

To me, the job of an agency is to provide an exemplary service to your clients and candidates. Your clients should feel that you have really added value to their business, and consulted with them as a business partner. Your candidates should feel that you have provided specialist advice to them, and helped them achieve what they are looking for.

If someone comes away from a transaction with you feeling bullied, cornered, or scammed, then you have failed.

There are many sides to every story, and in business it is never possible for every dealing to be smooth. However, it is always possible to act with integrity, and to think of the long term view. Yes, if you harangue a client enough then they may pay up. No, they will not want to speak to you again in future.You may think this is no big deal, as there are many companies out there to deal with. However, people talk. Candidates become clients, and clients become candidates. If you act carelessly toward the people you should be helping then your reputation will quickly reflect it.

The unfortunate part is that, all too often, so will the reputation of your industry.

Thankfully there are many good, professional, ethical recruiters out there. So what can we do to avoid being dragged down by those who do adopt tactics that damage our industry?

We can refuse to tolerate them in our companies. We can communicate our values to our staff, and act in a way that is consistent with those values. We can look at the bigger picture, and not always chase the fee at the expense of all else. We can ask ourselves how we want our clients to see us, and work with them to achieve that. We can report unethical agencies to the RCSA, and we can also ask the RCSA for advice if we're not sure whether something is appropriate. And we can keep doing everything we can to show our clients (and by 'clients' I mean all those with whom we are working) that we mean it when we say:

"We are not like that."

Skye Recruitment is a finalist in the Quest Awards for Professional Services Company of the Year

2011 has been another great year with Skye Recruitment nominated as a finalist for the Quest Newspaper Business Achiever Awards in the category of Professional Services Company of the Year for the second year in a row.

Established in 1994, the Business Achiever Awards recognise and reward local businesses for providing top quality services. Judged across three stages comprising an open public vote, a business diagnostic survey and finally a "mystery shopper" these awards focus on the service offered by a company and the quality of their customers' experience.

Held at the brand new Eatons Hill Function Center the event was attended by over 200 people with some of Brisbane's most successful companies represented.

At Skye we strive to provide excellent services to both client companies and job seekers and are proud that the effort we have put into looking after these people is recognised and valued by the people in our community.

Skye Recruitment's Kye & Sophie Macdonald finalists in Brisbane's Young Entrepreneur 2011

Sophie and Kye Macdonald were top 30 finalists in this year's Brisbane Young Entrepreneur Awards showcasing the Best of the Best under 40.

Held at Moda Events at Hamilton overlooking the river a great day was had by all with great views, food and people there.

Skye Recruitment achieved 300 per cent growth during FY10/11 and we increased our headcount by 35%.

Being recognised in this list is a great honour and we hope to be back again next year.

Skye Recruitment goes to Vegas

Monday was the first day back in the office for the 4 top performers of Skye Recruitment after their all-expenses paid trip to Las Vegas & San Francisco.

As a reward for their performance they were sent to the USA to enjoy two nights at the Bellagio Hotel on the Vegas Strip taking in the sights and sounds of the party city, before moving onto the cultural delights of San Francisco.

Highlights included playing the tables in Vegas, a tour of Alcatraz, a helicopter flight around San Francisco (including a high speed pass under and over the Golden Gate Bridge), historic cable cars, China town, and dinner in a BubbaGump restaurant!

The team is now back at their desks ready to set new company records and continue to enjoy the rewards of their hard work, though the guys were hard pressed to leave their Dodge Challengers and Ford Mustangs behind.

David Styles of Skye Recruitment nominated for employee of the year

Skye Recruitment was pleased to be invited to attend the 2011 ActionCOACH My Business Awards in Sydney where our Operations Manager David Styles was nominated for the Best Employee Award.

Held at the Australian Technology Park in Sydney the Gala Awards Dinner was greatly enjoyed by all with a cross section of some of Australia's best, newest and fastest growing businesses in attendance.

"I don't need to spell stuff right" and other lies

We often hear people nonchalantly announce that they are 'terrible' at spelling or grammar. It seems to be okay to admit that you have poor written communication skills coupled with no desire to improve them. After all, who needs to know how to spell when online tools will highlight your mistakes and suggest alternatives, right? Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you do. I do. We all do. And here are a few reasons why:

It could cost you a job

Many potential employers reject candidates who demonstrate poor English skills at application stage. I am one of them. You may argue that being able to write well is not a necessary criterion for a particular job. You could argue that someone can be a fantastic Recruitment Consultant with terrible written skills, and that a company discriminating on those grounds would miss out on a great person. You may be right. However, I am aware that every staff member I employ is representing my company to the outside world. I need to have confidence that whenever a staff member sends an email, makes a phone call, or writes a letter, they are able to communicate effectively and represent the company well.

It can cause misunderstandings

If you do not know how to use punctuation correctly your sentences can become very long and very difficult to understand it is not always possible for the reader to know where one sentence ends and where another sentence begins you need to sort this out. Phew! Okay, hopefully you take my point. Punctuation is there to make your writing easy to understand. Poor writing can be confusing, clunky, and misleading. Offenders sometimes argue that it doesn't matter, as long as the reader can get the gist of what is being said. Sure, but why make it hard for them? Why leave them feeling frustrated and irritated? And what if the reader is someone you want to impress?

People will not read what you have written

When viewing your writing, the reader should not have to struggle through badly written sentences, go back and re-read segments in order to understand, or feel compelled to scrunch up their nose and make "huh?" noises. If any of these scenarios apply then you can take a pretty safe bet to say that they will not bother, and will abandon your email/ letter/ report. If this happens in your personal life it is annoying. If it happens at work then you stand an excellent chance of losing business over it.

Not everyone feels the same as you do

If you are content with your poor written skills, and see no reason for improvement, that is your choice. However, know that not everyone feels the same. There are many people who will make other assumptions about you based on your written communication, and what you may see as unimportant or irrelevant, others may see as a reflection of your ability, intelligence, or attention to detail.

So where do you go from here?

My advice is to take an honest appraisal of your current situation. Do others comment on your writing? Do you get asked to re-write things sometimes? Are you someone who can't be bothered to proof-read what you have written? There is always room for improvement. Often just taking a little extra time to proof-read something can make all the difference. If a mistake is pointed out to you then pay attention to it. Learn from it, and make sure you don't repeat it. If a spell-checker highlights a word then take time to notice where you went wrong. If, after all that, you feel that you need some extra help then there are many good books and courses devoted to improving your written skills. Anyone can make mistakes or find something difficult, but you have the power to change!

Careless talk costs lives!

Well, not lives perhaps, but certainly jobs, according to a recent decision by the Fair Work Australia Commission. An employee was recently sacked from her job for spreading rumours about her employer's alleged sex and drug habits. When she claimed "unfair dismissal" to the employment tribunal, the tribunal found that such a breach of trust on the part of the employee fully justified the employer's decision to terminate her employment.

Whilst this case is interesting enough by itself, it is merely the latest in a growing list of cases coming before the courts, both here and abroad, which feature actions brought where defamation, or loss of business, are claimed to result from what has become known as 'water-cooler' gossip. And the ramifications for both sides are potentially quite serious.

As an employer, you cannot (even if you want to) monitor every aspect of an employee’s actions during their period of employment. The 'policing' that would be required, not to mention the cost of employing extra staff and the oppressive atmosphere this would cause in the workplace, would be counter-productive and probably damaging to the business.

So you have to take your employees on trust to some extent and assume that, whilst they are at work, they will do what they should and in the way that they should. And, for the most part, that approach works.

Unfortunately a small minority of employees will not want to work to such a standard. Often, they will be the less capable workers, putting in less effort than is needed, and if you couple that with a fertile imagination it is easy to see how rumours, and especially malicious ones, can start.

But an employer needs to be able to protect their position, and whereas a disaffected employee used to simply spread their stories to a few people, at the coffee table perhaps, now the use of the internet and social networking sites means that the 'personal' tittle-tattle can now be read, instantly, by hundreds or thousands of people.

That is why we are now seeing legal actions being taken in this area – because a defamatory comment about an employer to one or two people, with little real damage arising, has turned into the potential for legal action, with the potential for significant damage to the reputation of the person being defamed, and/or significant financial loss to the organisation concerned.

So what can be done?

If you are an employee, you must at all times be aware that, just as potential employers may look at Facebook, or Twitter, or similar sites, to find out about your background before deciding on whether or not to hire you, they can also look at posts on social media to see if you are saying anything derogatory about the firm, or particular individuals in the firm. If you are, then you could be dismissed from your employment. And that might turn out to be the 'best' part of your punishment, because if you have done some serious damage to the firm's (or the individual's) reputation, perhaps causing financial loss, or (say) a relationship to break up, then you could be faced with legal action, the cost of financial losses and legal fees could be awarded against you. The advice here is to be aware that anything say or publish about a colleague / boss / company may come back to haunt you. Stick to the facts, and don’t partake in gossip.

At Skye Recruitment, we are aware of the problems that can arise and would suggest to employers that you review existing contracts of employment and include a provision that, if an employee is found to have, verbally or in writing, made comments about the firm and / or any of its employees past and present which could be viewed as derogatory or damaging in any way to the status or reputation of the firm (or employees) or which could result in any financial or other loss, then the firm's formal disciplinary procedures will immediately be invoked. This could result in the dismissal of the employee, and does not preclude the firm from commencing legal proceedings against the employee.

This may sound a bit draconian, but careless or malicious gossip can be severely damaging to a company, especially as so many businesses depend on overseas relationships for their trade, and all social media are international in their usage and readership.

Any business which has a staff manual, or the equivalent, in circulation (and if you haven't, why not?!), should include reference to this topic, because there is always an implied duty of trust in the relationship between employer and employee and it is important that everyone knows that and knows where the boundary is between day-to-day moaning and the more sinister side of gossiping.

So, create a social media policy for all staff, and make sure they read and understand it, perhaps circulating it once every six months or so as reminder. At the first sign of a problem, invoke the appropriate part of the contract of employment, if you’ve covered this aspect, and carry out a first formal interview (and warning, if appropriate) under the disciplinary procedures. Ensure that all is fully documented, and signed and dated as a true record by both employer and employee, in case documentary evidence is subsequently need for a tribunal or court case.

For employees the basic message is "don't be stupid!" If you want to say something negative about your employer or colleagues, don’t say it in a roomful of people, or put anything on the internet which your employer might read or get to hear about.