“Backdoor Hires Don’t Happen in My Business!”

Nick Ellis is one of the founders of HIRABL, a big data company that helps recruiters track their candidate submissions and has uncovered $18 million in missed fees for its customers, and one of Bond’s partners integrating with Adapt. HIRABL provides actionable reporting on backdoor hires (when a client hires one of your candidates without your knowledge) so that you can collect missed fees immediately. In this guest blog post, Nick tells you why you are wrong if you think backdoor hires aren’t happening in your recruitment agency. 

Every day we call on agency owners, and often we’ll hear them say “backdoor hires don’t happen to me because….[fill in the blank]”:

• “I work closely with my clients and they would never backdoor me.” (MISPLACED TRUST)
• “I stay in touch with all my candidates.” (UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS)
• “I do executive search, and that doesn’t happen in my market.” (HUBRIS)

Do these reasons sound like something you’d say?

If so, you should think twice – backdoor hires happen in every agency, every vertical, and at every level (yes, even C-Suite placements).

Here’s the facts about backdoor hires and why these assumptions are dead wrong:

• MISTAKEN TRUST: Over 90% of backdoor hires happen by accident. Even if you work closely with clients, things slip through the cracks. Oftentimes the client hires your candidate and just forgets to tell you. Don’t assume everyone is communicating – audit your submissions regularly.
   
• UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS: No recruiter can stay in touch with everycandidate they submitted over a full year. There’s just not enough time in the day. The honest truth is that recruiters focus on the candidates they can place today, and forget about the others. Save time and find peace of mind by automating your backdoor hire checks with HIRABL.
   
• HUBRIS: Some executive search firms think they are immune to backdoor hires because they are high-touch. False. Candidates shortlisted and submitted by executive search firms can get hired months later, and the candidates and clients just forget to tell you. Less than 5% of candidate submissions are tracked over time. Don’t be too proud to audit your business.

The bottom line is that backdoor hires are a hard truth of the recruitment industry, and there is no good reason not to audit your submissions.

Sign up for a free blind audit, and start getting paid for the work you’ve already done.

*Blog originally published on the HIRABL website.