Working with a specialist recruiter is an agreement with obligations on both sides, so write down what each of you owes the other before the search starts. Give the recruiter as much detail as you have, because every gap becomes an assumption, and assumptions are what produce a shortlist that misses. Agree the feedback timings up front.
Agree what good looks like and who owns each response before the search starts.
Here is what that agreement should cover.
What does a recruiter need from you?
Give the recruiter as much detail as you can, because every gap becomes an assumption.
The brief is the whole foundation. It needs the title and the salary, and it needs what the person is walking into: the area and its condition, who they report to and what that manager is like to work for, where the product sits in the market, what the last person did and why they left, what success looks like at 12 months, and what you will genuinely flex on against what you will not.
The brief builder walks through it properly, and how to brief a recruiter covers the detail. The short version is that whatever you leave out, I end up guessing at, and you are the one who lives with the guess.
Beyond the brief, three things:
- A named decision-maker and confirmation that they are available over the search period.
- A response standard. Feedback on submitted candidates and interviews, promptly, and a clear date when you cannot.
- The truth about the role. Including the parts you would rather not say. A recruiter who knows the difficult bits can position them. A recruiter who finds out at offer stage cannot.
What should you get in return?
You should get honesty, market knowledge, clear updates and my commitment to continue until the role is filled or you stop the search.
That is the commitment, and it is worth stating plainly. If a search goes quiet on you, that is worth asking about.
| What you provide | What I provide |
|---|---|
| A detailed brief, including the difficult parts | A mapped search across the relevant market, including the people who are not currently looking |
| A named decision-maker who is available | Direct approaches to people who are not applying, with the role properly explained |
| Prompt feedback, or a date when you can give it | Regular updates, whether or not there is good news in them |
| Interview availability inside a reasonable window | Candidates presented with a written assessment against the brief |
| Honesty about budget, structure and any known problems | Honest market feedback, including when the brief is the problem |
| A decision, and a reason behind it | No submission of anyone's details to you without their explicit approval first |
That last row runs the other way from most of the table and it is not negotiable. It protects the candidate, and it also protects you from meeting someone who was never actually available.
What does a proper search actually involve?
Mapping the market, then approaching the right people whether or not they are looking.
The distinction that matters is whether the search is limited to people who are currently active.
A mapped search means knowing who is in the market: which businesses sell what, through which channel, who holds which area, who is well regarded and who has just been through a change. It means calling the people best suited to the role even when they have no intention of moving, presenting it properly and letting them decide. Some of those calls end there. Others end with someone taking a role they would never have seen advertised.
The alternative is working through whoever happens to be looking in your market this month and did not apply to your ad. That is a much smaller pool.
That depth rests on relationships and time in one market: knowing who is who, who worked with whom, and who is quietly having a rough year. It builds slowly and it has to be kept current.
One honest boundary. Mapping tells you who exists and how to reach them. Interest is something you only find out by asking.
How should market feedback work?
You should hear where the search actually stands, including when the answer is unwelcome.
If a search is not producing what we hoped, the conversation is straightforward: this is where we are, these are the people who are coming up, and this is what the current search is producing. Sometimes that leads to a brief change. Sometimes it confirms the brief is right and it is a patience problem. Either way you are making the decision with the real picture.
When the market is not producing the person you need, you should hear that said out loud, and early.
When do you not need a recruiter?
When you have the time and the resources to do it properly yourself.
That is the honest test, and it is a question of capacity. If you have an internal recruiter with room to focus on the vertical, and the market knowledge to work it, you may not need external help. Worth noting that an in-house recruiter still needs time to get up to speed on a specialist sales market, and needs the bandwidth to focus on it alongside everything else they cover.
Junior roles and roles with a visible active pool may be practical to run in-house if you have the time and resources. Where the market is thin, mapping is what gets the role in front of people who were never going to apply to an ad.
Time is the thing to be realistic about. Recruitment competes with operational work. Decide who owns the process and the response dates before running it in-house.
The commercial models, retained, exclusive and contingent, change the incentives and the risk on both sides. That comparison has its own page rather than sitting on this one.
How do you know a search is being run properly?
Check four things you can verify yourself, without taking anyone's word for it.
- Can they tell you who is in the market? Ask for the shape of it: which businesses, which channels, roughly how many people fit and where the concentration is.
- Are the candidates assessed or just forwarded? Every submission should come with a written read against your brief, including the gaps.
- Do you hear from them when there is no news? If updates stop, ask whether the search has been parked.
- Will they tell you the brief is wrong? A recruiter who only agrees with you is not adding much.
If you want a read on whether a role you are about to open is realistic as briefed, start with a brief conversation. The candidate's side of the same relationship is on the paired page.