Recruiting is a very unique profession, for a number of different reasons. One of those reasons is that each firm owner has a myriad of choices regarding how best to run their particular business—which things to add and which things to not and which tools to implement and which to not.
One of the things that recruiters approach on an individual basis is guarantees, specifically whether or not they offer a guarantee of any type to their client companies on the candidates they place there. We recently conducted a survey of recruiters all across the country regarding the topic of guarantees. We asked recruiters targeted questions about the guarantees they offer to their clients (IF they offer them).
Coincidentally, that was the first question that we asked in the survey—“Do you offer guarantees to your clients regarding placed candidates?”
As you can see below, the overwhelming majority of respondents answered affirmatively:
Yes—95.9%
No—4.1%
Those results aren’t surprising. Most recruiters offer some sort of guarantee. However, recruiters begin to differ when it comes to the types of guarantees that they offer. That’s when the choices become almost as varied as ice cream flavors, although some flavors are more popular than others. In this case, the “guarantee flavor” that recruiters like the most is the 90-day variety.
The next question we posed was “What is the standard timeframe for your guarantee?” Below are the results that the question brought:
30 days—20.3%
45 days—1.9%
60 days—20.0%
90 days—44.9%
180 days—2.4%
1 year—2.3%
Other—5.7%
No responses—2.5%
For the “Other” responses, here is a sampling of some of the specific reasons that recruiters chose that answer:
- Depends on fee arrangement
- 90 days prorated monthly
- Ranges from 30 to 90 days
- 180 days if under 100K, and one year if over 100K
- 90 days prorated on ENGAGED SEARCHES ONLY (emphasis theirs)
This blog post is the first in what will be a series of posts that reveals the results of our survey about guarantees and also analyzes their results. Above all else, we not only want to share the information that we’ve gathered, but also solicit your feedback.
Do YOU offer a guarantee to your clients regarding the candidates you place with them? If so, what’s the timeframe that you offer? Are there any special circumstances surrounding your guarantees, and if so, what are they?