Recently reading a post suggesting that great innovation may be coming soon in recruiting from third party agencies or RPOs brought some great perspective for me. Where does real innovation come from? It comes from motivated individuals and that motivation most of the time is related to profit. So when I look at the recruiting world it makes all the sense in the world that the innovation will come from third party recruiters. Don’t get me wrong, there are very talented corporate recruiters out there as well as others in different roles in the industry. However, when your paycheck depends on finding the individual that gets hired, your motivation is higher and what you will do to find new ways to find the right people will be much greater. I include retained search recruiters in this as well since they will simply lose the client if they can’t find the right people. In that sense, third party agencies are all in the same position from my perspective.

But that position is good and it is great for the industry. I’ll take it a step further and say that it is not just innovation that will come from third party recruiters, but the strongest effort to find the right candidate when needed comes from them. Reality is that, even with all the advances in recruiting and communication, finding the right candidate in many situations has become even more difficult. While many roles can easily be filled without using a third party agency, the best way to find that difficult fill is still going outside and it will continue to be the best way going forward. I see our role as becoming more clearly defined and more important and when companies need that extra effort to find the right candidate, third party recruiters are going to continue to be the best option. If I’m in those shoes, I want a partner or partners that are motivated to innovate and do whatever it takes to find the right candidate for me.

Todd Kmiec

Todd Kmiec & Associates

todd@toddkmiec.com