FEE WORTHY CANDIDATES

When considering submitting a candidate to a client you need to ask yourself a question: “Is this a fee worthy candidate?”. Just because you identify a candidate that is technically qualified does not mean that you have a “good” candidate. In recruiting you will find that there are a number of additional aspects that make up a fee worthy candidate beyond just their qualifications. Most new recruiters, at some point, will struggle with making this determination and the cause normally stems from one of two reasons.

In some situations, when recruiters start to fall behind and struggle to hit their daily metrics, it is not unusual to see a slip in standards. In most cases this is unintentional, and the recruiter is simply trying to get anyone they can in play to hit the numbers. We refer to this as trying to “make something stick” because if you throw enough garbage at the wall something is bound to stick and by the law of averages, at some point, something will. What you have to remember is, while in some situations this can be a strategy, submitting a candidate that does not match what the client is looking for will typically get you nowhere.

To avoid this, you must be honest with yourself when qualifying a candidate, the best way to do this is to ask yourself: If I was the client, would I pay a fee to have this person work for me? If the honest answer is no, it’s best to move on and find a candidate that better matches what the client is looking for.

The second situation in which we see recruiters unintentionally sacrifice standards and quality is when the recruiter become emotionally attached to the candidate. What this means is that the recruiter starts to really like the candidate as a person, and while there is nothing wrong with this, it can often cloud the recruiter’s judgment regarding the qualifications of that candidate. In most cases, when this happens we find that the recruiter makes every attempt possible to try and draw parallels between the candidate’s background and the opportunity at hand.

The best way to avoid this is to stay as non-bias as you can. It is encouraged that you get to know the candidates you work with, but you have to remember that there is a lid for every pot and a pot for every lid. What this means is, not every candidate you work with will be perfect for every job, but there is a perfect job for every candidate, you may just have to take the time to find it.

Keep in mind that ISGF is a boutique recruiting firm specializing in matching top-tier talent with top-tier companies. Because of this, our fee for service may be higher than other recruiting firms, but our fee should always be justified by the higher caliber of candidates we represent as well as the level of service we provide. 

Each category rates the candidate on a 1-3 scale, one being the best. This rating is used to match candidates and companies together. The API rating is followed by an alphabetical letter consisting of A, B, or C with A being the best This letter stands for the candidate’s overall placability. An example of a completed API rating could be: 1/2/1-B. A rating such as this would mean that the candidate had a great appearance, could have had a better personality, was very inelegant, and overall, would be a good candidate to represent.

Appearance: This is not a “hot or not” rating. This rating should reflect how the candidate appears overall, including professional attire, posture, how they carry themselves, hygiene, etc. You must remember to keep this in perspective to the candidate’s experience level and industry.

For example, a 25-year-old, former beauty pageant competitor and a 50-year-old banking perceptional could both have an API rating of 1/1/1-A. This is because that both candidates have excellent appearance, personality, and intellect that would appeal to the types of roles they would be respectively positioned for.