idealpeople blog

Our “Call to Arms” series is becoming ever more popular, particularly internally here at Idealpeople HQ. So, here’s some more from one of our favourite guest authors, Richard Stockill….

Over the course of a typical day I have started to notice I will generally be called by one of two titles, either a ‘Recruitment Agent’ or a ‘Recruitment Consultant’. The former seems to be used by HR professionals and those working in personnel. The latter, however, is generally used by product Mangers, directors and those on the front line so to speak. So why is it that this paradox exists?

Is it that both terms hold the same meaning? Possibly, but the very fact that people who are familiar with the staffing industry, without failure in my experience, use the term agent while those not so familiar use the term consultant does suggest to me that there is more meaning to the term agent than an innocent title. Further to this people in the recruitment industry seem to gravitate towards calling themselves consultants even if this is not what they actually do!

So what might the differences between the terms agent and consultant be then?

Well, surely to be a consultant one must consult, right? Obvious, so perhaps it is the level to which this needs to be carried out that is where the problem lies? If we look at other service providers who call themselves a consultant such as a Management Consultants what do they do which entitles them to be a consultant? As with a recruiter they are selling information, the recruiter sells information on people in their database where as the management consultant sells their breadth of knowledge to be applied to solving a problem. The key difference, from my experience, between the two is not in the subject knowledge the individual brings to the table but the manner in which they do it; their competencies and behaviors.

As a consultant you are expected to bring lateral thinking and a solution focused orientation to the table, to be able to analyze and identify where needs are and understand these needs. It is only through proper needs analysis that one can ever hope to find the right person for a role. And once the people are found you must start working across the life cycle of the process to provide what your clients need. This is not to say you should come to their every beck and call, it is more the case of adopting an approach where people are appropriately informed as to the progress of applications and where an agile methodology is used so that changes to plans can be facilitated without causing problems to both yourself and the people you deal with.

So that may go some way to answering the point what a consultant is, but what about an agent, is being an agent to be devoid of all of the above? Most likely not, but it is most certainly not the above. Perhaps the term agent is one used to situate those working in the recruitment industry as not being as capable as other service providers. This would suggest the term serves a social function to bracket those who can provide a different service, those who will provide a large-scale number of candidates for vacancies without asking to many questions. What this will mean for the employer of agents is that they will get volume and speed but may lack quality. But how do we identify agents and consultants and ensure we use them appropriately?

This is the million-dollar question, how to properly identify people for the jobs they can do and I suppose takes us full circle. It is human nature to gravitate towards bettering ones self and say they provide services perceived as more focused and accurate, as recruiters we see this all the time in CVs. This will blur the lines between the agent and the consultant but does this really matter? At worst the failure of some people to grasp the importance of consultancy skills will serve as an irritant but the importance of getting skilled recruiters working for you is a very significant indeed. So the answer we are left with once we have stripped it all back is experience. Try a consultant er agent oh whatever they are calling themselves, look for referrals they have been given from previous users and if you like what you get stick with them.