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25 fact-filled articles
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Tips for Recruiters
Table of Contents
Strategy & Tactics
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Make Placements --
FAST!
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Voice Mail &
E-mail: Eight Simple Rules
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Job Orders --
Better, Faster, Smarter
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How to Switch Desk Specialties
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Who Makes the Most
Money?
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Retainers: Look
Before You Leap
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How to Add Value, Not Redundancy
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Intelligent Online
Recruiting
Skill Building
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Counteroffers: Can You Spot the
Signs?
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Resume Makeovers: Quick Tips
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Is There a MAGIC to Closing?
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Finding the Right Recruiting Script
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Storyboarding for Maximum Impact
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How to Stimulate Candidate Referrals
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Expand the Supply of Candidates
Candidate Management
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Playing Softball
with Your Candidates?
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The Power of Interview Preparation
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Control: The Key to Recruiter Success
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How to Fight the Counteroffer Bug
Employer Relationships
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You’re Worth the Money You Charge!
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Negotiate for Higher Recruiting Fees
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Anti-Discount Tactics for Recruiters
For Candidates &
Employers
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Graceful Exits for Job-Changers
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Advice for Engineering Candidates
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What’s Your Capture Strategy?
Q & A
for Recruiters
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Answers
to Your E-mail Questions
Bill Radin answers letters from recruiters around the world.
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Negotiate for
Higher Recruiting Fees
By Bill Radin
The term
“negotiating” usually conjures up images of tense hostage situations, striking
auto workers or sports agents representing highly-paid athletes.
But in reality, all recruiters participate in varying forms
of negotiation a hundred times a day; in our family and social lives, among our
co-workers, and in our business relationships. Negotiating is simply the process of helping people get
what they want. And a skillful negotiator is someone who achieves a settlement in which
everyone is happy.
An effective negotiator (or selling professional) can
improve the quality of his life through using common sense and a little ingenuity.
The Recruiter as Negotiator
In our business, it’s surprising to learn how many of us make needless concessions on
a regular basis. These concessions can appear as discounted fees, low-quality job orders,
or the unwillingness to preclose (or disqualify) reluctant or counteroffer-prone
applicants. Such
unnecessary sacrifices are usually made in the spirit
of “negotiating.”
But making others happy at our own expense isn’t
negotiating; it’s simply a way of avoiding the discomfort that comes from a potential
disagreement, or the fear of “turning away business.” Not surprisingly, we all
have a very strong tendency to “go along,” even if the result is
counter-productive. And sadly, the cost to us in terms of lost billings, increased
anxiety, and weakened business credibility is enormous.
We have so much to gain and so little to lose by improving
our negotiating skills. And the good news is that negotiating is neither painful nor
difficult, once a few simple techniques have been mastered.
“We Have Met the Enemy”
My high school history teacher fought in the South Pacific during World War II. He
explained that during his basic military training, the U.S. soldiers were told countless
stories of the savagery and courage of their Japanese opponents. The type of combat our
troops were to expect would be fierce, relentless, and suicidal.
“Evidently, the Japanese were given the exact same
speech by their drill sergeants,” my teacher said. “Because the first
time I came face to face with a Japanese soldier, we both practically jumped out of our
skins!”
I like to relate this story to negotiating, because the
“savagery” or “courage” of the other side is usually either
overestimated or irrelevant. The important issues are your factual preparations, your
mental attitude, and the way in which you deal with new information. Walt Kelly’s
cartoon character Pogo probably describes most negotiators when he says, “We
have met the enemy, and it is us!”
So before you pull up a chair at the bargaining table, get
a grip on your own needs, and what you think is at stake. In terms of fees, a good
way to begin a discussion is to examine the arithmetic behind your own fee structure, and
how unseen nuances allow many of us to “negotiate” away chunks of money
we’re not even aware of.
For example, I was in the
recruiting business for over two years
before I realized that a reduction in fee from 30 percent to 25 percent represented a
discount of nearly seventeen percent, not five percent. Translated into real money,
on a placement of a $50,000 position, the difference is $2,500. In retrospect, I probably
could have bought a new car with all the money I gave away to employers as little
“five percent” discounts early in my career.
A firm grasp of the numbers is fundamental to any
successful settlement. Remember, too, that the “funny money” syndrome—giving
away bits and pieces of money—can cost us dearly over the long haul. After all, a
thousand dollars here and a thousand dollars there can really start to add up.
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