Why would you use a PSL of Recruiters as opposed to all Recruiters?
Well I guess it's a way to manage the multitude of recruiters that claim to be able to fill your slot and then tie you up on the phone and face to face for days claiming they can deliver ...and then not delivering. The perceived wisdom has been to find a reliable firm or two, brief them thoroughly and then tell the rest that they're not on the PSL!
Recruiters have unique access to candidates. They find them, database their CVs, follow them and most importantly deliver them when the right opportunity presents itself. They are often skilled in the art of persuasion. So despite being at the expensive end of the spectrum of choice, they have their place and they offer a strong delivery capability.
I'm going to do some simple maths here based purely on some best-guess-work. We know there were c 95,000 staff employed in the UK recruitment industry in 2008/9 according to the REC (http://www.rec.uk.com/about-recruitment). Worldwide that figure could be say 500,000. If each Recruiter has access to a database of 250 candidates, then worldwide the industry is in touch with and tracking 125 million people! OK I know there are some flaws in the arguement but what is irrefutable is the fact that recruiters are motivated to find candidates and persuade them to join you and they do know a lot of candidates.
So if you could communicate your job vacancy to all these recruiters in such a way that the telephone exchange didn't melt-down the minute the information went public and that CVs were submitted in a orderly, manageable and measureable way, wouldn't that be a powerful option to have? Maybe it would enable you to reduce your agency spend, speed up time to hire, really find the best candidate or simply fill the mission impossible role.
I wonder if there's a solution out there?
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