A supply chain recruitment expert has urged staffing agencies specialising in procurement jobs to drop sales pitches, conduct thorough research, and not to avoid discussing the negative consequences of recruitment mistakes. Speaking to The Strategic Sourceror,the professional network for procurement pros, supply chain recruiter, Andy Jones, explains how recruiters can overcome the resistance to leveraging third-party staffing experts that exist in many organisations. Being ‘salesy’ isn’t part of the repertoire.
Jones’ discussion is particularly timely for the festive season, which traditionally sees procurement needing extra support, such as procurement and supply chain interims to help manage the seasonal surge in demand. The ’12 days of procurement’ generates a lot of extra work. Sales pitches are a thing of the past, Jones explains, belonging to the pre-internet era of the late 90s and early 2000s. Now, recruiters have access to information about the companies they can serve at the click of a mouse. The best recruiters today immerse themselves in relevant information, e.g., company LinkedIn profiles and anything they may have published online. By doing some preliminary research, the most effective recruiters can enter conversations with prospective clients armed with shrewd company insights.
These become pragmatic conversations about how specialist recruiters can help companies avoid the destructive effects of mis-hires, which are not uncommon when overworked internal HR personnel have too many job openings to manage well. He cites the example of a client whose sole HR person was trying to fill IT, supply chain, and claims representative jobs – too much for one person to perform well. Specialist recruiters can bring in-depth knowledge of the roles and match the highest performing candidates, sparing firms the cost and misery of mis-hires.
Jones insists that the best recruiters will never evade awkward conversations about previous bad company recruitment decisions. They are there to help. Recruiters may charge a fee, but as Jones puts it: “you get what you pay for.”
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