The rest of the quote said, “you have been sending me stuff for 10 years. When I have needed you, you have only gotten me one interview and never found me a job. And I’m really good at what I do.”

I really have a lot of empathy for this fellow. Most folks don’t really understand how our business works. If we place 10% of the people who come to us or we recruit, we are lucky and our company is, as it turns out, one of the oldest and most established in the country.

I reminded the writer that we don’t place everyone…wish we did. I reminded the writer that, last week, I placed a guy who has been a candidate of mine for 25 years, since he was right out of school. He called me every three years or so when he needed me and I never had anything for him. I’d call him every once in a while, when I needed him and he would tell me he was happy where he was and wasn’t interested in what I had. Then, bingo! I get an opportunity, call him, timing is right, send him to the client, they hire him…all in one week (…actually 25 years).

Ours is, like many businesses, a crazy, unpredictable one. We never know what kind of opportunity or candidate we will find or need. I’d love to tell you it is ‘dazzling brilliance,’ but, as much as anything, it is ‘s–t house luck’ and timing. The ‘skill’ is in getting the timing just right! We have to collect lots of candidates, all of whom think they are well-qualified for just about any job in their field…and try to match them with as many job opportunities as we can. Our fees are high because what we do is really hard! (The average recruiter in the country only stays in this business 15 months, placing 1.5 people a month and the average recruiting firm only stays in business seven years with 3.5 employees.) [Our recruiters average 16 years in the business, and there are 20 of us and we average four placements a month each. And we have been here since 1952.]*

Every business is hard. No company makes “easy money.” It appears to most of our candidates that they can do just about any job opportunity we have in their field and all we have to do is to send them out and they’ll get hired. Well, there is a big difference between being able to do a job and getting it. For every one resume a company receives, there are 150 others applying for the same job. In spite of the 3.something% unemployment, companies can still afford to be very picky and have hordes of good candidates to choose from. And even when a good candidate gets the interview, most interview so poorly, they don’t get hired. Companies interview, on average, 14 candidates to hire ONE person and take an average of 120 days to do it. (I know those figures seem astounding but they are facts.)

All of this is to say that we can certainly ‘take you off the email list.’ But neither we nor you may never know when you might need us or we might need you. We will sincerely do the best we can at finding you a job or fill your position. We don’t write the rules of what our clients demand nor can we miraculously change the quality of candidates available for the money your firm wants to pay.

We are ‘information brokers.’ We can’t always control the information. Our experience and sheer volume of candidates and companies we have in our database (over 100,000/over 90,000) gives us a great advantage. But even with all this information, we may not be successful with every candidate or every opportunity.

*BTW …we are searching for two new recruiters. Our IT and Accounting departments both are so overwhelmed with business, they need help! Call me 214-515-7613