Welcome to part 2 of a two-part series on how external recruiting agencies got broken and how to fix them and get the help you need.

First, it’s only logical to re-state how and what’s broken so we can directly apply a fix.

If it’s been a few weeks since you read “how the agency got broke” and the details are becoming fuzzy, let’s recap. We reviewed recruiting history over the past century, which culminated in corporate HR departments unknowingly coaching agencies to stop performing outbound search, and instead serve up active candidates generated by ads. How’d that happen? They just kept asking for everything FASTER. Then they created unhelpful competition between agencies which led to quality consistently taking back seat to SPEED.

Often times, simply seeking out how something got broken is 90% of the fix. In this case, I think the paradigm fits. Agencies stopped delivering genuine value, because over time corporations kept paying full price, but asked for less and less in return.

So, as a hiring manager, you must ask yourself a complex question. Exactly what do I want and expect from an external recruiting agency.

If I were a hiring manager here’s what I’d ask for.

▪ A recruiter dedicated to my search so that for the sake of efficiency I only have to explain to one person exactly who I’m needing to hire.

▪ A recruiter adept at asking all the right questions to draw the small, seemingly insignificant details out of me that will make the search more efficient and accurate.

▪ A recruiter who has a track record performing outbound search and successfully delivering a fully qualified slate of 3-4 passive/semi-passive candidates.

▪ I’d want the process to save both me and my team time. Time lost interviewing marginal candidates is time we’re not building product.

▪ If my company is going to pay a considerable placement fee, I expect the agency to deliver high value, not waste my time and make my job more difficult.

▪ When the candidate pipeline isn’t sufficient, you want your agency to find candidates that your internal recruiting department can’t reach via advertising. That’s the service you’re willing to for.

▪ You want fully vetted, pre-qualified, pre-sold candidates. That means that before you receive their resume, they understand the position, they’re familiar with your company and they’ve passed your recruiters interview and asked to be submitted for consideration.

Is this what you currently expect, and get from the external recruiting agencies that support your hiring? If not, you will need to upgrade your expectations, and be ready to consistently ask for more, not settle for what they give you.

Call your agency. Tell them you’re not satisfied with the current results, and that you’d like to meet and discuss options. Tell them you’re looking for an agency that can deliver semi-passive candidates. If they’re willing to do the work, you’ll give them extra help, ample time to ask questions to refine job needs. You’ll give them quick feedback on candidates, and you expect them to learn and improve results through every interaction. Once the efficacy of this new relationship is proven, you may be able to give them exclusive access to top jobs.

This will get their attention. If they agree to deliver this level of value, you need to be prepared to hold them accountable to the agreement. That means you want fully vetted, pre-qualified, pre-sold passive and semi-passive candidates.

You do not need my help or comments on how to determine if you’re seeing qualified candidates. But are you seeing passive and semi-passive candidates? Let me first say, this. If you’re not convinced you should be asking for passive candidates, ask me why and we’ll talk. But, assuming your convinced that you want your agency to deliver passive and semi-passive candidates, you’re going to need to check.

Here’s how.

1. Go to their LinkedIn profile. Does it blatantly designate that they are actively looking?

2. Ask your recruiter how they found them.

3. When you’re on the phone with them, somewhere in the conversation, ask them, “how did you hear about us?” They will say, “bob and fast delivery agency”.. to which you will reply, oh, yeah, I know that, but I mean, have you heard about us in the press, or seen any of our job ads?

4. Work into the conversation, “what are your top decision criteria” and “who else are you interviewing with?” Are you near the offer stage with anyone else?

If Bob just presented them, and they’re already interviewing with other companies, they are NOT PASSIVE, or Semi-Passive. They might only be “semi-active”, periodically looking, but not in a rush.

This doesn’t mean they’re not a good hire. And it doesn’t mean you should fire Bob. What it means is this. If the next 10 candidates are NOT verifiable passive, then Bob isn’t doing what you asked. But, if he's delivering fully vetted candidates that you consider worth an interview, that’s better than most.

Hope that helps get you started.