“Ah! The generals! There are many, but not very competent.”
Aristophanes
This famous quote from the Greek poet Aristophanes is highly relevant when discussing the recruitment market in Montreal. It’s no secret that in the recruitment industry, both on the side of placement agencies and companies, we have a poor reputation among job seekers. But why exactly? Is it a matter of skills or context?
6- Agency recruiters VS corporate recruiters
What do these two positions have in common? Salary! It’s crucial to understand one thing, dear managers: remember that you are candidates, not clients. The agency recruiter answers to their boss and the companies that give them mandates, while the corporate recruiter answers to their direct superior. Having an HR recruiter is an “expense” that must be profitable. The agency needs to make its operations profitable, and the corporate recruiter must prioritize internal hires as much as possible to avoid additional costs to their company. This creates a context where the hiring process takes forever and eventually loses its objectivity and quality. Are you in such a process and unsure of what’s really going on? The other two levels don’t know either…
5- Corporate HR departments: “Santa Claus”
Some companies happily distribute mandates. Good for business? Perhaps not. I personally know corporate HR staff who, for ONE (1) hiring mandate, will have a dozen placement agencies as “partners”. One of the key negatives of this is that agency recruiters eventually find out… and simply stop working on the file. Think this is rare? Think again! It recently happened to me, and I cut ties. Trust is important. Imagine the turmoil you create, dear HR partners, when you assign the same mandate to a dozen firms! Candidates are shuffled around, and no one takes you seriously anymore. You lose the support of partners with whom you could have developed a long-term relationship. Resounding and almost certain failures.
4- Recruiters of the multitude
There are many placement agencies in Montreal because there is a lot of business. But how many mandates can a recruiter effectively handle at the same time? 5, 10, or 15? In the industry, it’s said that a “high performer” in recruitment fills 40% of the mandates obtained in a year. But most agencies don’t have a clear idea of this figure, let alone follow-up. In reality, many recruiters have between 15 and 30 different mandates to fill… which is impossible to manage in a professional and efficient manner. Let’s be honest, 15 mandates are perfectly manageable for a professional, but don’t tell me that a newbie with no work experience can handle 30…
3- Human Resources (HR) and recruitment: really?
The theory is this: recruitment is an industry of deadlines and pressure, regardless of what you think. Deadlines are not inherent to an HR professional, let alone the idea of “running” to find the right person. Recruitment is a cyclical industry like sales. There are numerous factors that can slow down and taint what should be an efficient hiring process. The recruitment industry is anything but efficient right now. An HR department is structured to do many things, but recruitment is certainly not headhunting. Because there’s a big difference between a recruiter and a headhunter…
2- The profile of agency recruiters: the taboo
There’s an idea that someone with a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources is the right person to take on a headhunting role in an agency. This couldn’t be further from the truth. An HR graduate goes into an agency to gain experience. Not to perish. Employee retention rates are incredibly low, and even when some do succeed, they end up starting their own agencies or becoming recruitment managers in large companies. As corporate HR staff, you should never entrust your assignments to beginners. The issue is that the available workforce has less than 2 years of experience, and most have no real work experience.
1- Recruitment in Montreal: a non-competitive and highly diluted market
In Montreal and its surroundings, there are over 500 placement agencies, government agencies (NGOs), and independents… THAT’S A LOT! In absolute numbers, that’s more than in Toronto! For those of you who follow the National Hockey League, imagine if you went from a 32-team league to 64 the following year, your product would be significantly diluted. The same principle applies to agencies in Montreal. With a product that’s already highly diluted… it’s challenging to find true talent when you don’t know where to start!
Conclusion
In conclusion, dear candidates, be understanding towards recruiters or headhunters, as the environment in which they operate often poses more obstacles to their success, and therefore to yours, than to themselves.