"You can't turn cheese into milk!"

Being an expert in a world where nobody quite knows what they're doing

There is a fantastic comedy sketch from Mitchell and Webb where the two comedians argue about how cheese is made.

The joke is that neither of them - and by extension, any of us - actually know how to make cheese, despite it being The Finest Food Of Them All.

The same is true of most things we take for granted. Try actually explaining how television or electricity or cars work to a five year old, and you’ll more than likely find yourself just telling them it’s all a very clever kind of magic.

This becomes a problem in recruitment when our clients mistakenly believe they know how recruitment is done. Pop up a job ad, chat to a few people, send some calendar invites and that’s pretty much it.

Except of course it isn’t. And even when we are “chatting” to candidates, we’re using all our experience and training to make sure we get the right outcome. I’ve heard plenty of horror stories of clients jumping into a recruitment process to talk with a candidate, only to scare them off because the client had no idea how to approach a prospective applicant.

So while it’s natural that clients think they know how recruitment works, they clearly don’t.

This becomes a pricing issue when your client takes their ‘knowledge’ and decides how much they’re willing to pay you. And if you start letting clients decide your rates, you’re chances of running a profitable business are slim to none.

The solution is not to have an argument about what rate you should be charging. Instead, you need to show your clients that you’re the expert. You’re the one who knows what they’re talking about when it comes to recruitment. And you’re the one in charge of deciding how - and how much.

After all, the patient doesn’t tell the brain surgeon how to perform the surgery. And neither should your client tell you how to do your work.

You’re the expert. You decide the best way to work. And you set the fees.

So in order to get paid what you deserve, you need to position yourself as the expert at solving your clients’ hiring challenges.

If you’re looking for expert help in articulating the value you create for your clients, simply reply to this email and I’ll explain how we can work together.

Jon

P.S. There is a related problem: clients don’t actually want to hear how complex recruitment is, and how you deploy your unique skills to blah blah blah… [that’s the client losing interest, by the way].

Hiring managers aren’t usually very interested in hiring. So we have to find a way to communicate our value and expertise effectively and quickly. Not an easy task.

In fact, the only way to keep your clients’ attention is to talk about things that they find valuable. Which means designing your services in a way that speaks to their needs - and as quickly as possible.

If you’re looking for expert help in articulating the value you create for your clients, simply reply to this email and I’ll explain how we can work together.