Insights

One of the biggest misconceptions in our industry is that agency recruitment and search are the same thing.

They're not.

In 15+ years in recruitment, and the last 8 years building and now co-leading a boutique cleantech search firm, I've received my fair share of messages explaining why recruiters have a bad reputation.

Some have been fair. Some less so. And some completely off the mark from the ignorant out there.

I've also heard countless horror stories from clients and candidates about poor recruitment practices, mainly centred around consultants spreading themselves too thin, and firms promising a level of service they were never realistically equipped to deliver.

And honestly, some of those criticisms are perfectly valid.

But what often gets lost is that most of these behaviours are symptoms of a particular recruitment model, not our entire profession.

A contingent recruiter working 15 vacancies simultaneously and a search consultant delivering a retained mandate are doing two very different jobs.

The reality is that many of the criticisms levelled at recruiters simply don't apply to proper search.

A genuine search consultant should never be stretching themselves across more assignments than they can realistically deliver.

In fact, I'd argue one of the biggest indicators of quality isn't how much work a search firm takes on.

It's how much work they're prepared to turn down.

Every assignment sounds interesting.

Every assignment generates revenue.

But not every assignment deserves a "yes".

The first question should never be:

"Can we win this piece of business?"

It should be:

"Do we have the capacity, expertise and network to deliver it properly?"

If the answer isn't a clear yes, the assignment shouldn't be taken on.

That's why I sometimes smile when specialist search fees are compared to agency recruitment fees.

Clients aren't paying more for the same service.

They're paying for a completely different approach.

A proper search isn't a job advert.

It's not firing a LinkedIn message to everyone with the right keyword in their profile.

It's not sending a medicore shortlist three days after a briefing call, sitting back and hoping for the best.

It's market intelligence.

It's mapping talent pools.

It's engaging people who aren't looking.

It's influencing individuals who will happily ignore twenty other recruiters but take a conversation because the approach is credible and relevant.

Most importantly, it's focus.

And focus requires capacity.

The irony is that some of the practices criticised in recruitment exist because firms are trying to do too much, for too many clients, with too little resource.

Search should be the opposite.

Fewer mandates.

Greater accountability.

Deeper market expertise.

Better delivery.

Agency recruitment has its place.

Search has its place.

The mistake is assuming they're interchangeable.

They're not.

And if every assignment is genuinely a priority, then none of them are.

Agency recruitment works for every day, often run of the mill roles or volume recruitment where internal TA teams are overwhelmed and could benefit from additional support with minimal input and risk.

Search is for strategically important, business critical hires with specialist search consultants who have domain and subject matter experience, the credibility, network and bandwidth to manage a process and deliver an exceptional result whilst leadership is focused on other crucial strategic and operational activities.

I’m proud to have built a solid network of contacts across the energy transition throughout my career. But this hasn’t happened overnight.

Like my colleagues, I carved out a niche. The energy transition wasn't, and isn't, a flavour-of-the-month sector that we've piggybacked on. It is the very foundation upon which our business was built.

We all have our own reasons for wanting to build careers that have a genuine impact, and over the years we've earned a strong reputation in the market because of that commitment, consistency and specialist focus.

We aren't a team of 50 consultants taking on as many vacancies as possible and prioritising only the most fillable assignments. We're a specialist search firm operating in a niche market where reputation, credibility and delivery matter far more than volume.

Every assignment we take on must meet a simple test and criteria - do we have the capacity, expertise and market access to deliver it properly?

If the answer is no, we don't take it on.

That's because our clients aren't paying us to send CVs. They're engaging us to solve hiring challenges that can't be solved through job boards, database searches or mass outreach campaigns.

True search is built on focus. On relationships. On market intelligence. And on the confidence to turn down work when taking it on would compromise the quality of delivery.

Agency recruitment and search both have their place. But they're not the same thing.

And the sooner our industry stops pretending they are, the better served clients, candidates and recruiters alike will be.

Best wishes,

Steve