Welcome to our ongoing series of blog posts in the Top Echelon Recruiter Training Center: “Jeff Allen’s Collection Tip of the Week.” Each week, we’ll highlight one collection tip from Allen, JD/CPC, the world’s leading placement lawyer.
Since 1975, Allen has litigated more trade secret cases and assisted more placement practitioners than anyone else. He’s also the author of 24 books and a regular columnist for The Fordyce Letter, one of the leading publications in the recruiting industry.
Below is this week’s collection tip for recruiters, courtesy of Jeff Allen.
What the Client Says:
“The delay was too long from your referral to the hire.”
How the Client Pays:
The average delay from referral of a candidate to hire is 98 days. You probably think it’s 30 days. I did when I was a recruiter. But as an HR manager, I learned the truth.
You think it’s so short because you’re unaware of those back-door hires.
The typical recruiter loses track of a rejected candidate within 30 days after the referral. The recruiter gets caught in a “send-out-turndown cycle,” not realizing that a viable candidate’s contact information is sitting there on some hirer’s desk like an ad. It may even be circulating around from one potential hirer to another. But to the recruiter, 30 days means “cold and old.” They’re busy on some hot new search assignment somewhere else.
Recruiters move fast. Bureaucratic, committee-controlled, politically-dominated companies move slowly, but unsurely. The delay provides an irresistible temptation to call a candidate directly or accept their follow-up call. Then it’s a very short step to forgetting your fast five-figure fee.
So keep track of send-outs with candidates and clients for at least 90 days. Then call the clients and ask for the candidates you referred.
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Know how to collect your well-earned fees? Test yourself! Visit Jeff Allen’s Placement Law website and click the “Placement Fee Collection Quiz” button. Allen can be reached via telephone at 310.559.6000 or via email at Jeff@PlacementLaw.com.