Marketing Mechanics - as seen in The Drum (8.5.09)
Can recruiters be as proud of their work as agencies are?First things first. Please forgive me any typos or grammatical errors today. I’m writing this after a rather late night at the Roses and frankly not quite enough sleep. But despite the slightly paler complexion I’m sporting today I’m very glad we were there (and proud sponsors too). As the night progressed, great ad followed great ad and the talent in just that one room alone helped to reiterate that there is most definitely life outside the M25. Maybe even superior life perhaps?
Now obviously there’s plenty of competitiveness between agencies at this and similar award ceremonies. It’s all part of the fun and a key reason why the level of work consistently and continually improves. But everyone in the Hilton last night, and in the wider industry, does at least have one shared goal - to create truly inspiring, challenging and effective advertising. So it got me thinking, can the same be said for another less popular but equally necessary part of the industry? Recruitment. Do recruiters have shared ambitions that work for the good of their clients?
I think it’s fair to say that not many MD’s whoop with joy when they are informed that a recruiter is on the phone and wants to speak with them. Recruiters have long been placed in the same leaky lifeboat as Estate Agents & Traffic Wardens and to a certain extent we’ve only got ourselves to blame.
As an ex-Account Director turned recruiter I’m in a slightly tricky position. I’m keen to stand up for the good recruiters out there, the one’s that do spend time with both agencies & candidates alike, building an appreciation of both parties needs and priding finding the right person above ‘making a sale’. But equally my mind wanders back to when I was still account handling, juggling client demands with the expectations of the creative team AND the Financial Director and how I found it somewhat frustrating to be constantly under bombardment from unwanted & irrelevant CVs, sent by recruiters who had no real appreciation of what I needed (or even if I needed anyone at all).
The way I see it, great recruiters should actually be no different to great account handlers. They should manage the process well, co-ordinating & managing everyone’s expectations, spotting & preventing potential problems before they’ve even happened and ensuring all the time that their actions fit both with the short & long-term strategy of the agency. Oh, and miraculously they should be able to make all this happen under budget too! Now how’s that for shared goals that work for the good of our clients? Only when all recruiters start to have the same ambitions can our clients truly benefit.
Who knows, maybe one day there’ll even be an award for the recruiter who found the talent that created the great ad? Well, ya gotta dream.
Karen Staniland-Platt
Director
Marketing Scout
Posted 14 May 2009
