3 Benefits of Having Good Relationships in Recruitment

In the recruitment industry, and especially in Japan, relationships between consultants and clients as well as networking are highly important. Therefore, I invest a lot of time in not only building relationships, but also fostering them. But why is this beneficial for you?

Relationships between recruiters and clients are based on trust and understanding. Those who continuously learn about their clients’ industries, keep up to date on developments, catch up on how the business is doing and check in on their placed candidates, will deepen those relationships to the point where they become a recruiter’s most valuable asset.

I would like to point out three benefits of having good relationships based on my own personal experience.

1. Be the early bird

2. Better support when needed

3. Add value to both client and candidate

1. Be the early bird

I am in frequent contact with my clients and keep up to date on their business situation, their strategy for the upcoming quarters, and their current and future hiring plans. This gives me a lot of information I can pass on to you, when introducing companies and potential positions.

Recently I had a catch-up dinner with a client and he told me about his plans for the sales department. He was planning on hiring a sales director and was just finalizing details like responsibilities or budget. Through my relationship with the country manager I was able to talk to my candidates about this position earlier than it officially opened and could introduce interested candidates directly to the country manager.

When hearing about business plans for the upcoming quarter or year and potential openings, I take special note and if I come across your profile and think you would be a great addition to the team, I make an introduction even though this particular client might not be actively hiring at the moment. This will give you more opportunities in companies of your interest.

2. Better support when needed

When fostering my relationships with clients, I don’t only work with my first point of contact. I am working towards getting to know as many people involved in the hiring process as possible. This could be hiring managers, team leaders, the country manager and others involved in the process outside of Japan such as CEOs, VPs or Directors. This is a benefit when supporting you to prepare for an upcoming interview and will also provide additional information to what you can find on company websites or job descriptions.

I also use those relationships during the interview processes to be able to offer the best support when needed. Earlier this year I was working on an Enterprise Account Manager position with a senior candidate, who had another process ongoing. In the end we needed to expedite the process and ultimately the offer letter to align with the other process. While I was working with HR as a main point of contact, my good relationship with the VP of the company was beneficial in not only getting the final interview done in time, but also getting the offer letter out quickly as well as closing the candidate on the offer.

3. Add value to both client and candidate

Did you ever receive the same position from various recruiters at a time?

It is pretty common that each position is sent out to 10, 20 or even more agencies at a time. However, with good client relationships, a deep understanding of the clients’ needs and a proven track record of successful hires, clients are more likely to agree to exclusivity or even a retained search.

When a recruiter works on exclusivity or retainer basis, they are the only ones working on this position and for the agreed upon time, the position will not be given to other agencies. For the client this means not having to deal with multiple agencies, spamming them with profiles, but rather relying on a trusted partner to find the right talent to join the company.

But how is this adding value to you? Since I am the only recruiter working on the position, the client has more opportunities to accommodate your availability when scheduling an interview and you can get an update on how many other candidates are in the process while I am making sure that the process runs smoothly.

Earlier this year I was supporting a client in finding his first marketing hire for the Japanese office. After introducing multiple candidates who not only had the skill set they were looking for, but also fit well with the team’s culture, they extended two offers, but both candidates rejected the offers with different reasons.

However, despite the rejections, the client saw that I understood their company, values and the profile they were looking for, so I worked on a two months exclusivity basis in which I was able to not only find their marketing hire, but in the process they also met a candidate they decided to hire for a project manager position.

Conclusion

Good relationships are a recruiter’s biggest asset, not only when it comes to clients, but also for you. I am able to leverage those relationships to share information or positions not officially open yet with you, offer the best support to you during the interview process and often add value to your job search and our clients search for the best talents to join their team.

Generally speaking, my relationships and connections to companies can also be your biggest asset during job hunting. If you would like to apply to a specific company, check in with your recruiter and see if there is already a relationship established that you could benefit from.

This is one of the 4 reasons you should work with a recruiter to find your next job.

Here are the other three: