I am a member of ERE's civil engineering recruiters group and two times this week I received an email from a major consulting engineering firm "pimping" their jobs to the 500+ members of that group through the use of a website called Recruit Alliance.  There is another similar site out there that does not charge a monthly fee, but actually takes a percentage of your fee collected, that site is Bounty Jobs.  I checked out Recruit Alliance, and apparently we, third party recruiters, must pay a monthly membership fee to have access to the jobs that they post for recruiters to submit resumes to.  A few years ago this company was a client of mine, and a good one, but after some changes in management and philosophy a couple of years ago I walked away, and I am glad that I am no longer exposed to this format of recruiting for them.  I checked out the site as they did give me a free 30 day trial.  The site is very basic looking, there are even some spelling errors on the site, and that does not sit well with me as it makes a bad first impression.  Anyway, of those 500+ members in that ERE group, let's just say 200 (completely arbitrary) are third party recruiters.  Those 200 recruiters can sign up on that site, pay $75/ month, and throw "you know what" at the fan and hope that it sticks.  This is unbelievable to me that firms are hurting so bad for employees that they are actually going in this wrong direction, here is why.

A.  This looks like a completely electronic relationship - not good.  Recruiting is about relationships with clients and candidates, sharing feedback, understanding the emotional side of the process, etc, and if one has an electronic relationship with the client, don't expect much to get done.  Imagine you are calling a Department Head, Division Manager, VP or whatever and  tell them that there is a position that is posted on a website that fits their qualifications.  You don't know anything about the hiring manager, the job description puts you to sleep, you have no idea how many people these people will be supervising or what type of budget they might be responsible for.  The only response you will get is the click of the phone followed by the dial tone,  and even worse, you are building a poor reputation for yourself as a recruiter.

B.  Holy Cow - imagine 200 recruiters competing for candidate submittals on only a handful of positions - I think I can speak for those 200 in saying that if they are smart, then they will likely walk away from the situation altogether; it is not worth the hassle.

C.  The fee percentage on the civil engineering positions that I found are 20%/90 Day Money Back Guarantees, and some are even ridiculously low flat fees...I don't know about you, but I've got my share of full fee (25%-30%) job orders that any positions posted on these sites would be brushed down 2 or 3 levels and would get minimal or no attention.

Bounty Jobs, Recruit Alliance, and there are others I am sure.  I see their business plan, and I actually like it, it is a good idea and I get it, from their end, because they know there is the demand.  But I think I will stick to my clients that allow open lines of communication between the hiring managers and myself and who have good HR managers that understand that the best way to find great candidates is to build a great relationship with great recruiters where they can truly be an extension of their recruiting team.


Holla Back if you like

Interesting topic, definitely thought provoking. 

I have been using one of those sites recently for a couple positions and I'll tell you why... I started a tally of calls I got from agencies this week alone, starting Monday at 9AM - It's Thursday at 9:51, and so far I have 32 calls from agencies telling me how they have the perfect candidate for my environment. To be honest, I love that call b/c then I ask them how they know that when they don't know a thing about my company.    How many other firms did they call that day with the same candidate and the same line? 

I know we would like to think that all recruiters are the utmost professionals and only submit the absolute best candidates to the best companies for the perfect fit jobs.  I have file upon file upon file of documentation to prove otherwise.  And this breaks my heart b/c they are giving MY PROFESSION a bad name.  I have no patience for that.

Anyway, I got the same type of call from a rep of the site and decided to try it out.  Turns out it worked pretty well.  I get to chose the recruiter working on my opening, and with the click of a button I can set up an interview or reject the candidate.  If a recruiter is "throwing you know what at the wall", its tracked and other clients of the site can see their submission to interview rate.  Talk about a great use of metrics!

And I still talk with the recruiting agency on a regular basis.  But I would say that maybe these sites might be more geared towards a sourcer who wants to try to make placements?  Because once I get a candidate who looks good, I call them directly.  I set up the interview, I pre-screen them, I follow up. I make sure the all communication is clear and concise with the agency and the candidate. 

Is it the only source I utilize? Absolutely not.  But it is another tool that we have accessible to us to fill our openings.  And as Bob Villa said on This Old House, a tool is only as good as the person using it.

Have a great week.

I saw this email on ERE as well, I signed up for a "test" account with Recruit Alliance and found many of the job descriptions to be vague.  One was recently posted where they were looking for a highway engineer with 3 - 20 years of experience, staff level all the way up to Division/Department head level, but no details on the size of the group, the projects, etc.  This might work for a 3 year engineer, but if a 20 year PE is going to send me his resume, he is going to need some meat on the position.  That's the problem with those types of sites, it really eliminates any opportunity to build a relationship and to REALLY learn about the position, the hiring manager's philosophy, etc, all information that we as recruiters need to draw interest from those candidates he are pretty darn happy where they already are.  I guess its just another tool for the tool box, just make sure that that toolbox does not get filled with a bunch of junk which is probably not unlike a toolbox that we all have in our own garages.  Thanks for letting me share here, I really enjoy the communication that goes on at this forum.

Okay, so I have given these sites the benefit of the doubt just to see if it is worth my while.  I'm a straight shooter and I will admit when I am wrong...BUT, I really think I am right here.  Many jobs at Bounty Jobs have SOOO many recruiters submitting candidates that I say,  why even bother?  Recruit Alliance has just two civil engineering firms on there with openings that have been up there and never removed - are they still active?  If these sites are so good why are positions posted 30 days ago still on there.  For me, on Recruit Alliance, why pay $75/month to see positions from only 2 civil engineering firms when I can make money by recruiting from them?  Maybe if these sites had a larger group of firms to choose from and submit candidates to it would be worth my while...but that is not the case.  On top of that, some of the agreements on those sites are crazy - small fees, enormous guarantee periods, full money back guarantees, and threatening contractual terminology that gives zero protection to the recruiting agency.  It's all good I suppose for some, just not my cup of tea

Holla back, if you like

Ummmmmmm...NO!

Holla back, if you like 

Holla,

I have used BountyJobs.com and it has done absolutely nothing for me.  Too many recruiters that are throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping that it sticks.  This forces the client companies to quit accepting invites from recruiters that really do have good resumes to submit.  Once the resume is submitted, sometime you get feedback, sometimes not.  When I do get feedback it is simply a button that the client can push that says "Denied".  No reason, no good feedback that I can use to tweak my search.  The only time that I submit anyone is if they are sitting on my desk, ready to go and they are interested in the position.  Other than that, I certainly do not waste my time to actively recruit on anything for BountyJobs.  Hope this feedback helps