|
25 fact-filled articles
to help improve your performance
•
Newsletter
Articles
•
Subscribe
to Newsletter
Tips for Recruiters
Table of Contents
Strategy & Tactics
w
Make Placements --
FAST!
w
Voice Mail &
E-mail: Eight Simple Rules
w
Job Orders --
Better, Faster, Smarter
w
How to Switch Desk Specialties
w
Who Makes the Most
Money?
w
Retainers: Look
Before You Leap
w
How to Add Value, Not Redundancy
w
Intelligent Online
Recruiting
Skill Building
w
Counteroffers: Can You Spot the
Signs?
w
Resume Makeovers: Quick Tips
w
Is There a MAGIC to Closing?
w
Finding the Right Recruiting Script
w
Storyboarding for Maximum Impact
w
How to Stimulate Candidate Referrals
w
Expand the Supply of Candidates
Candidate Management
w
Playing Softball
with Your Candidates?
w
The Power of Interview Preparation
w
Control: The Key to Recruiter Success
w
How to Fight the Counteroffer Bug
Employer Relationships
w
You’re Worth the Money You Charge!
w
Negotiate for Higher Recruiting Fees
w
Anti-Discount Tactics for Recruiters
For Candidates &
Employers
w
Graceful Exits for Job-Changers
w
Advice for Engineering Candidates
w
What’s Your Capture Strategy?
Q & A
for Recruiters
w
Answers
to Your E-mail Questions
Bill Radin answers letters from recruiters around the world.
|
Negotiation
Tactics for Recruiters
By Bill Radin
Everything is not
negotiable! I recently tried to leverage one bank against the other
when applying for a loan, arguing that if I couldn’t get the interest rate I wanted,
I was willing to walk away.
“Go ahead,” the loan officer chuckled.
“I’ve got eight other applications on my desk, waiting for approval. If you can
get a better deal somewhere else, be my guest.”
He’s got a lot of nerve, I thought. But I sure respect the way he
held the line.
Later, I found out that his bank had one of the highest
ratings in the industry, and was one of the most profitable institutions in the country.
And eventually, because of other value-added services they could provide me, his bank
became my lender, even though they had a somewhat higher rate.
Negotiating: A Way to Satisfy Needs
Price, of course, is only one aspect of any sale. If
the transaction involves a commodity (such as rice, or soybeans, or crude oil, for
example), then price may very well be the predominant issue.
Recruiters often find themselves in a position of trying to
negotiate for a standard fee when others are discounting. The most successful recruiters
know that the only way to offset a concern surrounding price is to build value. Otherwise,
the service provided is viewed as a commodity, with the recruiter assuming the role of a
vendor, or supplier.
The way to distinguish your service and its value-added
dimension is to probe for the needs of the employer, and the urgency in filling a
position. Once the need has been identified (and qualified), you’ll be in a position
to hold the line, or at least reach an agreement in which both parties feel satisfied. (If
you are unable to discover a compelling reason why your service warrants the full price
you charge, then unfortunately, you may have to settle for whatever you can get.)
The loan officer at my bank was able to secure my business,
even though he charged a higher rate of interest than a competitor. The reason? There were
other important considerations which I considered to be of value that led to our
settlement.
Achieving a Successful Settlement
You can sharpen your negotiating skills by following
these four steps.
1. Measure what the other side wants. Before you begin
a fee negotiation, for example, find out exactly what the employer is asking for.
I know this sounds rather obvious, but you’d be
surprised how often a recruiter will give away the store after hearing the employer ask
for a concession that’s totally vague.
2. Qualify the negotiation. If the employer isn’t sincere, isn’t in a
position to buy, or has completely unrealistic expectations, you shouldn’t be
negotiating at all. What good does it do to settle for a reduced fee with a
prospective client in the first five minutes of taking a job order only to find out twenty
minutes later that he won’t be hiring for another six weeks and that he’s
currently interviewing five dozen candidates from the ads he’s been running for three
weeks?
3. Probe for pertinent information.
After you know what your employer is proposing (and he’s qualified to negotiate with
you), try and gather every bit of information you possibly can.
For example, what has been his previous experience with search firms? With
whom has he worked? How did they operate? What did they charge? Has he been
happy with the results? In other words, take a careful look at what the
employer’s actual benefit needs are. Very often, there exists a critical hidden
agenda, which will prove to be the pivotal point of a negotiation.
4. Assess the situation. How much do you need this employer’s business? What
are your chances of filling his job orders? What will you gain from making concessions?
And if you do make concessions, what will they
be?
You are now ready to reach an agreement, but remember that
you can always delay if you feel you have to. It’s better to put off a bad or
uncomfortable deal than agree to something you’ll later regret.
Return to Top
Printer-Friendly
Version
|
|
