Crossing over to the dark side

As more and more employers look to adopt a 'direct resourcing strategy' I see more and more ex-agency recruiters answering the phone they used to ring!  But is the transfer of agency to corporate anywhere near enough to make it work?

Agencies work the way they work as they have found this to be the best way; lots of cold calls, adverts on every job board as it is so cheap (for them), throw CV's at every vacancy etc.  Now, I know that not every recruiter works quite as crudely as this and as an ex-recruiter know the challenges you face with HR but in principle, this is how it works.  And in many cases, the agencies are forced into the modus operandi so HR ignore their calls and on it goes; HR by default create their own Frankenstein!

But, on the other side of the fence it is very different so why try and adopt the same approach? OK, maybe Line Managers all of a sudden see you as a threat to their cosy little agency relationships.

You are now on the inside so are allowed to have the information you always wanted as a recruiter.  Staffing levels, agency spend, Line Manager contact details, turnover rates, budget figures etc.  Now if you had all of this information on the other side would you have changed the way you work?  Of course it isn't necessarily any easier, just different.  But as it is different maybe a different approach should be taken?

You can talk to candidates about real positions that you know you will be the one to fill rather than just being one of many trying to fill it.

So, you are in a different world now so stop for a minute and think about what you need to do and how you can do it better now you have crossed to the dark side!