The recruitment model is broken – we read this every day on LinkedIn and hear it first hand from candidates, especially Senior Level candidates who feel they are falling through the cracks.

Everyone has a horror story or two on their experience – from recruiters to hiring managers to candidates.

The regular feedback we get from senior level candidates is that companies are often using internal TA teams for senior hires where previously they would have worked with a head-hunter / agency. In theory this is logical – save money on recruitment fees. However, TA teams may only recruit for a handful of senior hires over a long period – Head-hunters will do this on a daily basis.

Candidates sometimes think that applying directly to a company often results in your CV slipping through the cracks, not even getting a look in when they believe they are a very strong match.

Does your experience match what one recent CIO thought was happening?

Application is sent – possibly one of hundreds including a lot of unsuitable applicants who are applying for everything out of desperation. Any follow up calls from the applicant go to a generic recruitment voicemail

AI screens the applicants CVs based on arbitrary buzz words. You need to write your CV to “pass” the test.

The candidates who AI deem worthy are sent to TA teams. TA team call them in order of receipt and once the TA team have 3 or 4 candidates that look good, they stop looking at any more applicants – CVs to the manager, job done, next!

Anyone who applies a little later is ignored because as far as the internal team are concerned, they have done their bit. This results in candidates who believe they are an excellent match feel they are invisible.

(Of course, this is a simplification and based on what candidates have fed back to us, and perception doesn’t always match reality. We know lots of excellent internal TA teams who do a brilliant job.)

When working with an agency worth their salt, the process can different. A short list is usually created over a number of days – mapping the market, narrowing down applicants based on CVs, headhunting passive candidates, then screening calls to reduce it down further, additional information sent and requested, then a final shortlist presented to the client. This means a much larger talent pool is available and arguably more time is taken to personally identify the best candidate.

The twist in the tale comes when a company reaches out to an Agency to help after internal teams haven’t been successful and it turns out we are not able to represent those great candidates who have applied directly in the last 6 months – even if they were never spoken to by the TA team or application acknowledged. Guess who then suddenly gets a call by the internal recruiter…. Spooky…..