All recruiters have data bases which they routinely search, as do we. There is no need to reinvent the wheel if we already know the perfect person. Ninety five percent of the time, that is not the case, however. It is at this point, that most of our competitors hit the job boards, and start posting job descriptions everywhere that makes sense.
That is what most recruiters do, but it is not what we do. Some of what we do to help our client companies is unique, and proprietary. We are unable to share that information in such a public forum. It can be said, however, that we immediately move into a full search mode based upon the criteria which we have been given by our clients. There is no way to avoid spending a great deal of time on the telephone; so we do not even try. Fortunately, each of us has many strong friends in virtually every aspect/specialty of our marketplace. The friends whom we contact within each of our personal networks become our baseline—our starting point. Others may not, necessarily, wish that they had the number of our contacts which we have as a company, but they certainly have reason to envy the “depth of relationship” which we enjoy with our various contacts.
We complete assignments on a full retainer, modified contingency and full contingency basis. We can also place candidates on a contract basis when needed.
Due the nature of most of our clients’ needs, a modified contingency type of search is usually recommended because this form of recruiting provides strong benefits to not only client companies, but to us as the recruiting company which has invested time, effort, and money to solve a client’s problem—whatever it might be. In our case, it guarantees that our expenses will be covered–regardless of outcome. For example, if a client calls to discontinue a search, at least all of our time, and money already expended will not have been for naught. Conversely, the benefit to our clients is just as strong. This approach allows Z&A to devote more immediate urgency, resources, and effort to solving a hiring (recruiting) problem because it is more of a “drop everything and get it done” approach. No recruiter (who is honest) is able to do that on full contingency work if he, or she, plans to remain in business over the long haul. The risk is just too great.
Full retainer search is available, but unless it is a very high level, c-suite, or boardroom type of position, it is often more expensive to our client companies without providing enough “value added” to justify/offset the expense. This approach commands a higher service charge percentage, and has full expense reimbursement for all activities undertaken.
We believe that the best recruiting scenario is a win-win-win result which is what occurs when everyone is happy at the end of the project—the placed candidate, the client company, and Zillifro & Associates.