Fire The Ad Agency!

Recruitment advertising is not complicated, so why make it so by using an advertising agency?

The following is a true story of how I lost a client but won many more by recounting the tale.

A potential client enlisted my help in running a recruitment campaign. They had a couple of vacancies for specialist IT staff.

They knew that their options were limited.

Recruitment agencies had (unsurprisingly) failed to find the right people for the job in a little over a year of looking.

The only real option was to go to the trade press and advertise the positions nationwide.

I was in competition with a well known UK advertising agency, but wasn't worried, as I knew that they were not recruitment specialists.

They did an excellent sales pitch to the client. They completely sold them on the concept of running a four week campaign, using full colour creative ads across a double-page spread in two publications.

The cost was astronomical, but there would be no finders fee at the end of the exercise.

My proposal was somewhat simpler. And cheaper.

It came with free re-run guarantees if it didn't perform.

Up-front costs were around £3500 and a recruitment fee of 20% of commencing salary at the end. The risk involved was minimal.

The advertising method I proposed was simple. Concentrate on the job specification and appeal directly to the people with the skills required.

The ad was to be placed anonymously, using our company name and credentials, together with prominent contact information and the promise of an immediate interview.

What happened?

The client chose the creative route and spent more than £20,000 on recruitment advertising alone.

Sadly, the jobs remained unfilled. But, of course, the advertising agency got paid in full.

The ironic thing though, is that the advertisement won an advertising award for creativity!

The moral of the story is that if you want to spend a lot of money and win an advertising award, use an advertising agency.

If however, you really must fill the vacancy, but don't want to spend all of your time screening unsuitable, poorly qualified candidates, give me a call.

My name is David Carter and you can reach me directly on 01564 824554 or mobile 07800 790427.

Ask me the usual questions when you call. I won't bore you with the details here, other than to say that I know recruitment and advertising inside out. You will be delighted with the approach.