How To Maximize Your Staffing Vendor Relationship

 
"If we are going to go anywhere, we’ve got to have talent. And, I’m going to put my money in talent."
-Ray Kroc, American Businessman, McDonalds Corporation
 
There are many ways to invest in your talent. I’d like to focus on one area in particular that can yield the highest return on investment, Vendor Management, or more specifically, recruiter management. By choosing to engage in a relationship with a staffing partner, you have just made an investment in the talent that you seek for your organization. Like all investments, you get out what you put in. By maximizing your relationships with your staffing vendors, you’ll maximize your return on investment.
 
 Here are a few steps to ensure a successful vendor relationship.
 
Step One: Invest the time
Once you’ve decided to engage a firm, make time to meet the vendor. In this meeting establish the following: 

• Sell Your Company: What’s desirable about the company and the job? Why would candidates want to leave their current employer and come here? You want to get your vendor excited about the opportunity to represent your company as if it were their own. Remember, the most qualified candidates are those that are not found on the job boards. Your staffing vendor will be sourcing into companies for the “A players” that are gainfully employed. Have your sells ready to provide to your vendor. Ask your vendor to pitch the job to you as if you were the candidate.   This will determine if you are providing enough and the correct information about the job. It will also show you how well the recruiter will represent your company during the search. 

• The Package: This is where you discuss the compensation and benefits, fees and terms. It’s important to clarify and be direct about these. The recruiter must be clear on what they are selling to their candidates on your behalf. It also must be clear about what fee or bill rate the recruiter will be working towards when a successful placement occurs. 

• Motivation: Establish the motivating factors as soon as possible. Be sure to qualify your need. Why is the position open? Be specific about the consequences of not filling the role. This creates a sense of urgency. In turn, this creates motivation for the vendor. The more urgent the need, the higher the probability of interviewing candidates quickly, and the greater the focus you’ll receive from your recruiting vendors. 

• Process: Make sure to establish what your processes are, but also take the time to understand the recruiter’s internal processes. These processes need to co-exist and create a successful search. Take time to understand the motivating factors behind the firm’s processes to keep them engaged in the search. 

 
Step Two: Create a communication channel and build credibility
Make it a partnership; create a communication channel between the hiring group and staffing vendors. Remember, the hiring manager or division needing the resource is the client. The further the service provider is from the client, the less likely the client will get what they need.  
 
There are many factors that influence the client’s decision as to which candidate will be hired. Skills and experience alone aren’t the only determining factors. Managers have their own personalities and career expectations. It’s vital to understand their motivating “hot buttons” about the client’s own careers and how this addition to their team will benefit them. These motivating factors can never be discovered if communication between the hiring manager and the vendor is blocked. Another side effect of limiting communication between the service provider and the hiring manager is the length of time added to the search due to lack of feedback, or unnecessary submittals of candidates that don’t have the proper soft skills to fit into the manager’s current environment.
 
Build an effective communication channel: So how do you create an effective channel between your vendors and hiring managers that doesn’t waste time? I work with many clients that tell me the hiring group is too busy to talk to every vendor on every search. I agree. Think about it. They are already down a resource and fifteen vendors want an hour of their time.   So the first step in creating an effective communication channel is to limit the number of players. If you are an HR generalist or recruiter, you are on the firing line when it comes to dealing with all the staffing vendors wanting to do business with your company. Take time in those initial meetings with the vendors to screen who will be effective and who is just blowing hot air. Just like when screening a candidate, get references from your vendors. Know for sure that you can put your name behind a vendor when you present them to the hiring group as an expert in which ever position is being sought. This builds credibility between the HR Generalist and the hiring manager. This brings me to my second and most important point.  
 
Credibility:   Recruiting is all about relationships and credibility. As a staffing vendor, I am engaged in searches based on the credibility I have with my clients and the relationships I have with my candidates. In vendor management, it’s just as important to have strong relationships established with your hiring managers to gain credibility with your vendors and as equally important to have strong relationships with vendors to gain credibility with your hiring managers. You have to know your people, both internally and externally to be considered an expert liaison.
 
Too many times I’ve had searches fail because HR doesn’t have a strong enough relationship with the hiring area they are supporting. This is the most important piece to every search. The hiring manager and HR recruiter have to be on the same page before reaching to the outside. Once there is a trust and credibility built between the hiring manager and HR, then it’s time to filter out the vendors that aren’t right for the search narrowing down the number of vendors and the amount of time the hiring group will need to spend detailing their needs.
 
Step 3: Communicate throughout the search
Whether this entails regularly scheduled meetings or encouraging open communication between selected vendors and the hiring manager, communications is vital to increasing the probability of a successful placement. Much of a search is trial and error. As the search continues for the right candidate, new initiatives and projects may surface for the hiring manager changing their need for resources. On more specific roles it’s important to get feedback from both the submittal and the interview immediately in order to make necessary adjustments or simply confirm the recruiter is on the right track. 
 
Summary:
To effectively manage your staffing vendors, it’s important to invest time in the selection process so that you clearly communicate your company’s processes and you take the time to understand the vendor’s processes. Create urgency and motivation by being forthright about why the position is open and what the implications are if the position isn’t filled. This increases the probability that you will interview the vendor’s candidates, further motivating your vendors to find the best candidates quickly. Most of all, be sure to establish credibility with your hiring group and with your vendors. To effectively manage your recruiting vendors, you need to be a master communicator and understand both the hiring manager’s and the vendor’s motivation for working with you.  
 
Like all investments, you get out what you put in. By maximizing your relationships with your staffing vendors, you’ll maximize your return on the time and money you spend building the best team for your company.