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Arrogant recruitment owners need to alter approach before the exodus starts

 

Unhappy downturn survivors are just biding their time before conditions are right to jump ship, so managers need to re-engage people quickly, according to a new leadership paper focused on the recruitment industry.

 

At the end of last year UK-based recruitment training and development company, Lander Associates, brought recruitment industry leaders together to talk about the challenges and opportunities facing the sector.  The resulting leadership report says recruitment companies must focus attention on their downturn survivors.

“While organisations may have had to make some tough decisions around issues such as downsizing, those that remain will need some TLC.  Leaders will have spent a lot of time with those they may have had to let go; what is key is ensuring that over the coming year, those that remain are fully engaged,” the report noted.

 

Lander Associates managing director Fiona Lander added: “People engage and disengage all the time. The key is for leaders to recognise the early signals and re-engage people quickly before they fly the nest.  The ‘lucky to have a job’ attitude is not a long-term talent retention strategy.  Unhappy ‘stayers’ will move on once the market has sufficiently recovered.”

Common leadership problems

The report also lists issues the recruitment sector typically struggles with, saying that leaders often:

• become more interested in solutions than why things went wrong in the first place;
• demand innovation, but are unwilling to let people experiment – the paper says that even though leaders are nervous about taking risks, “organisations must create an environment where innovation is actively encouraged”;
• have difficulty remaining engaged with their people;
• are unsure of how to motivate Gen Y – many recruitment leaders are entrepreneurs who have adopted a “my way or the highway” approach. But Gen Y will move if the culture is oppressive and they feel that they have no voice;
• focus on “just getting through” tough times, instead of developing their business;
• place too much emphasis on short-term results; and
• do not really listen to customers, both internal and external.

Reap what you sow

So this report got me thinking a little:

I’d be surprised if any more than 10% of recruiters said recruitment was their industry of choice.  Most people ‘fall’ into recruitment by virtue of someone they know; usually influenced by the whiff of pound notes.  These “young guns hungry for money” (as noted in the report) have been bred to succeed in a highly-competitive sales environment (although this is changing).  Ostensibly these guys are out for themselves.  As a result recruiters are inherently mercenary, so is it a wonder agencies find themselves in a staff retention quandary?  This is the culture we have sown over the years.

Lucky to have a job? You’re lucky to have me!

Ten years ago I helped grow a recruitment firm from zero to £40m in four years.  One day I’ll write about that culture but I can tell you that this was achieved via a highly aggressive sales approach, where only the fittest survived.  As a divisional manager I was responsible for developing internal talent and it most certainly did not include the adoption of the ‘lucky to have a job’ approach.  It wouldn’t have worked.  Top-billers would simply walk out, and despite the recent challenges, the best recruiters could do just the same today. 

I question any manager who retains the services of an employee they consider ‘lucky to have a job’.  Shouldn’t this person be encouraged to provide a tangible return on their work, sufficient to be praised for their services instead?  If they’re not doing that, why are they working for you?

Changing times

“It’s the organisations brave enough to be radical in their approach to leadership and culture, that will reap the rewards in any recovery.”

To me the findings of this report are a little paradoxical.  I meet recruitment agencies all the time and from I see and hear the good old bad old days are pretty much gone.  Sure, there will always be a rogue amongst us but that’s not reserved for the recruitment industry.  No doubt, the recession has forced recruiters to think about their practices: employer processes have changed the way agencies work and jobseekers are more demanding.  Recruiters are being rewarded for service delivery as much as raw revenue generation, turned-on by seeing their communities grow as much as their bank balances.  Because one will lead to the other, as time will tell.

The punks have been ridden out of town.  Who feels lucky now?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.  Have you been a victim of ‘arrogant’ management?  Has the pendulum swung back in favour of the employee?

 

Simon Lewis | Editor | Only Marketing Jobs

Comments extracted from Recruiter Daily and the Lander Associates leadership report 

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