There is no doubt at all that there is a time and place for both competitive and exclusive recruitment. With costs becoming more and more of a concern though, perhaps it’s time to reconsider the competitive recruitment model in favour of engaging agencies exclusively.

Anyone looking at an online job board would be overjoyed at the number of job advertised; the reality though is that a lot of these jobs are the same job being advertised by multiple agencies.  Great for the job board, but incredibly frustrating for the applicant!

Going down the exclusive path will save the hiring company time and money. Competitive recruitment fees are higher because a lot of hours are spent working on roles that will be filled by other agencies or internally. Exclusive roles are generally charged at much lower fees as the recruiter know they will be getting paid for the work they do.

In light of this it can be argued that the competitive recruitment model is not only inefficient and expensive, but that it often results in a frustrating experience for all parties.

Pros of Exclusive assignments:

• Costs to the hiring firm are reduced as agencies will offer a far lower fee/rate for exclusive work.
• The consultant will have more time to dedicate to searching and working their networks to ensure a higher quality of candidates.
• It allows time to perform head hunts to passive job seekers and people in their network that are not actively looking for work but who are interested in “the right opportunity”.
• Exclusivity also allows the recruiter to better screen candidates and to fully brief them on the opportunity, meaning you the client will waste less time with inappropriate or unprepared candidates.
• The role also doesn’t become general knowledge to be “kicked around” the market by multiple agents desperate to find a speedy resolution. This often leads to miscommunication about the firm, salary and nature of the opportunity not to mention potentially damaging your brand.

Pros of competitive model:

• Competitive recruitment can lead to greater variety and choice in candidate selection, but it will also lead to duplicated resumes and often lots of lower quality candidates.
• Avoids putting all your faith in one recruiter (spreading your risk, especially if you are dealing with a non-specialist agency or a recruiter you don’t know).
• It gives you the chance to “try” agencies before committing to them.

As previously stated, there is definitely a place for competitive recruitment but if you have a relationship with your recruiter and you trust them to find you the right person, then it’s certainly worth your while to ask them for exclusivity.

To discuss any of your recruitment needs whether exclusive or competitive, please contact IPA on 02 9220 6900.

Further information can also be found on our website www.ipa.com.au or you can follow us on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/company/ipa