Firstly I think I need to let you know that I have only ever worked on the external side of this clash. But many of my friends and also our Operations Manager, David Styles, either are or have been internal recruiters in the past.
That out of the way, today I want to talk to you about what I see as an increasing level of hostility and frustration between internal and external recruiters. Why is this the case, and what can we do to make things better? And how do we get to a place where both sides can see each other's worth?
I have been doing this job for over 10 years now, for both big and small companies. And right now the level of hostility between internal and external recruiters appears, to me, to be at an all time high. This is manifesting itself in outcomes that are good for no one: people not getting jobs, jobs staying unfilled, aggressive communications from both sides and dubious behaviour - again from both sides.
There are a couple of reasons why I believe this to be the case. The biggest of these, I feel, surrounds the perception that internal recruiters have of external recruiters. This perception bleeds in to all dealing with externals and sits at the base of many of the issues externals have with internal recruiters. But what is this perception, and where does it come from?
External recruitment is a sales job, and it shares many of the same employment issues that plague other sales jobs. Financial targets, KPIs, and performance bonuses that can lead to a high pressure environment that many (I would even say most) simply cannot stand. Add in to this the often perceived power differential between the client company and the agency and you end up with a high turnover industry which quite often leaves a toxic taste in the mouth of people that don't gel with it.
Now have a look at the background of many, if not the majority, of internal recruiters. Notice the trend there? Many many internal recruiters have come from an external background. This background colours their impression of external recruiters right from the word go. Now I will admit that sometimes it does happen but, really, how often do people change their careers if they enjoy what they do? So now we have a new internal recruiter with an external background that, at best, has left them with an ambivalent attitude and, at worst, an outright hostile attitude towards external recruiters.
Now let's look at why a company hires external recruiters to do their internal work. The first reason is recruitment is expensive, in both time and money and, on paper, bringing in an experienced external recruiter to remove agency fees and to manage the recruitment process makes great sense. Why wouldn't you pay a couple of hundred thousand in salaries for internal recruiters, if last year your agency spend was multiple millions? But talk about massive expectations! To justify your existence you have to find people - just like an external recruiter, but for only one client! Not only that, but every time you do have to use an external recruiter you will be holding your hand up and saying you failed on that one. Ouch!
So that brings us to the basis of where we are today. Internal recruiters with a poor opinion of the recruitment industry are having to deal with the very people they were meant to replace, but are unable to do so. It's no wonder it starts bad and from there it just gets worse.
Given the starting point of the relationship between internal and external recruiters, the interactions between the two rapidly deteriorate. External recruiters quickly develop a poor impression of their internal counterparts which is seen purely from their own vantage point. Where an internal may be doing their job well they can be leaving an external recruiter with the impression that they are blocking for the sake of blocking, are more interested in the process than the result, and many many other complaints. When these frustrations kick in external recruiters start behaving in ways that simply make internal's impressions even worse, such as contacting line managers directly or deliberately trying to cut the internal recruiter out.
So how do we get past this? And, while I know there are bound to be other options, my thoughts follow.
The first step is to acknowledge that both roles have their place in the world and to acknowledge that neither internal nor external recruiters represent a singular solution to a company's recruitment challenges. In the same way that no external recruitment consultant can fill every role a company has, no internal recruiter can either. This means that an internal recruiter needs to be able to utilise external recruiters without it being seen as a failure. This needs to be built in to the understanding a company has of what an internal recruiter can and can not do. Expecting to replace a multi-million dollar spend with a significantly lower salary cost should raise alarm bells straight away.
Once a company has a realistic expectation of what an internal recruiter can do for them, the next stage is to actively work with external recruiters to build a mutual understanding of what each party needs. External recruiters are not there to replace your internal recruiters. They are there to complement them. Build up relationships with external recruiters through open communication and you will have the best of both worlds - someone to minimise your recruitment spend, as well as a backup net to source those people who are just too hard to consistently find directly.
External recruiters, you need to realise that there is a place for internal recruiters and they aren't there just to make your life hard. Build a relationship with your internal counterparts and they can become some of your best clients. Try to put yourself in their shoes and understand how your actions can be impacting on them and, in turn, making their lives difficult. Once you have an internal recruiter on side you will have a powerful advocate in that company.
Finally, life is too short to give ourselves heartburn by setting ourselves up in conflict with either our clients or potential suppliers. Everyone needs to take a deep breath, accept that the other exists, and then look at a way in which to work with the other. In the end, while recruitment is what both sides do, the jobs we do are different and internal and external recruiters should be complementing each other and not trying to destroy the other.
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