I thought this was an urban myth!  Banner Image

I thought this was an urban myth!

Having recently attended a Master Class in Sydney made up of over 500 Recruitment Consultants from different companies, sponsored by the governing body of the recruitment industry in the ANZ region, a discussion was had as to why you should ask candidates for exclusivity.

The answers that came back were:

  • To stop your CV being trawled through the market without your permission
  • To ensure you get an honest & transparent service
  • To ensure you are portrayed with honesty & respect

That weekend I then read an article in the Sydney Morning Herald that suggested Recruitment Companies post adverts for jobs that don’t exist, mainly so that they fulfill the KPI’s imposed on them by their employers. Quotes were taken from 2 sources who currently work in the recruitment industry, one of which wanted to remain anonymous.

No wonder the recruitment industry has a bad name!

With over 30 years’ experience in the industry, I had heard of all the bad things that recruitment companies are accused of and in most cases accepted them as urban myths. The evidence at the Master Class and the fact that bad behaviour is cited as a fact in our industry and the fact that main stream media are reporting what goes on in the recruitment industry is still a shock to me.

Why is it that 500 Recruiters seemed to accept it as fact that this goes on in our industry? Why does the person running the class seem to accept this as fact? Why do we work in an industry that would do what amounts to dishonest and illegal practise and get away with it? Why can’t the recruitment industry be held accountable for what clearly goes on as bad practise in our industry?

I can tell you that I have never advertised a job that does not exist, I have never knowingly misrepresented a candidate or a client for my own gain nor have I managed a business where Consultants are measured so badly that they would resort to such dubious activity.

Maybe it is time for the recruitment industry to take a long hard look at itself and come up with a different way to manage people’s expectations, so that the bad name the industry has and appears to be accepted by us that are in it, is changed and the good people out there, and they do exist, do not get bogged down in the general acceptance of terrible bad behaviour that seems to be the recruitment industry worldwide.