As a specialized marketing recruiter, some of our projects are leadership-level retainers (with a 100% completion rate to-date), and some are lower/mid-level ‘contingent.’ That means I recruit for you and you owe me nothing unless you choose to hire my candidate at the end. Unfortunately, most of my new company clients engage me on contingent assistance only after their business (both its performance and its people) have been really strained and stressed by this nightmare scenario.

Here’s what happens all too often. I was just talking with an industry friend, who said, “… yeah, that’s the worst!”

• Company opens tough-to-fill or niche-based position, and stands firm on relying solely on their internal recruiting capabilities.
• They do recruit some candidates and move them to 1^st, 2^nd and/or final-round interviews over the course of 1-2 months.
• Along the way, one candidate drops and chooses another opportunity; they disposition another candidate; and they offer to the remaining candidate, who unfortunately declines.
• Suddenly, the company finds itself panicked. They’re left with no candidates after feeling confident throughout the prior weeks, meanwhile they know the peers on the team with the missing chair are growing unhappy, morale is low, stakeholders are unhappy, and the business is suffering.
• Then, they decide to engage me on . . . contingent.
• (And sometimes, someone else on the team resigns because they are sick of working 60-hour weeks covering for the open position, and then there are two openings and some major PR & morale issues to deal with. Just had that happen a couple weeks ago).

This does not need to happen. Engaging me – or any contingent recruiter, for that matter – is a better option. You don’t have to pay that recruiter anything. We literally work for you, for free, and simply supplement your internal recruiting. We’re a safety net . . . we’re insurance without a premium. All you’re doing is expanding your options for the sake of your business, concentrating on the best talent you can find, and you’re fully in-control of the decision-making without any cost or commitment. And we, at least, are specialists in our marketing niche (having sat and reported into the function as well), and spend every hour of every day – year after year – working with the exact people you need to hire.

Would we advise you to pay a recruiter upfront with a retainer all the time? Of course not. I’ve been in corporate recruiting myself. But honestly, engaging a recruiter on contingency is very favorable to the hiring company. Instead of 2-6 months later, why not wait just 3-4 weeks as long as it doesn’t cost you anything? It does make a lot of sense, and it really does prevent this common and often damaging hiring situation from occurring in the first place. Through one way or another you fill the role quicker; your business benefits from that person in the seat; and your team dynamics remain positive. Overall you save money and burden. And you didn’t have to pay anything upfront: you were fully in-control the whole time, calling all the shots. I don’t understand why many companies let themselves get in these situations. When I was in corporate recruiting, I engaged firms from time to time for tough reqs outside my expertise. Sometimes we hired those candidates, and other times we didn’t but appreciated the extra help. It’s all good!

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