We love being advocates for our Client’s businesses. We know them inside out. All the good things we are told at our client meetings make us want to quit our own job to work for them.
It’s a great honour and a privilege to truly partner with a client to help them grow their business and achieve their goals. However, nothing stays the same forever.
You know what I mean:
- When things don’t stack up,
- When you feel you are being taken advantage of
- When little rumours start to repeat themselves
When you start to sense these things, it’s time to assess whether you can continue to work with this client.
Here are the 5 reasons I’d sack a client:
1) Not delivering on what they promise
I’ve been told a ton of great (apparent) reasons why it’s a great place to work. However, after a month, my recently placed candidate is ringing me to say they want to leave! Clearly my Candidate isn’t happy and the jobs been oversold. This doesn’t do my reputation any good at all.
2) Never hiring from you and giving you impossible roles to fill
We all know about this one. The Client that gives you roles to fill but never hires from you. Alternatively, they are truly looking for a “needle in a haystack” and giving you the impossible job to fill. Do you sometimes get the feeling the client is only engaging with you to stop you headhunting from them? It’s time to ask for a Retainer if you are to continue working with this Client!
3) They move too slowly
Sometimes it can take them a week to get back to you when you call regarding a great Candidate or you are chasing feedback after an interview. That’s way too long in this Candidate short market. None of us want to lose fees to our competitors whose client’s move quicker than ours!
4) They don’t treat you or your Candidates with respect
What about the Client that totally grills a Candidate at first interview and makes them feel terrible about themselves but then wants to progress the Candidate to a second round interview?
Or they conduct off the record Reference Checks with a past, or even worse, a current employer! This doesn’t do your reputation with the Candidate any good at all.
5) The “wheels have come off” the company
It can start with little things like invoices not being paid on time, unreasonable requests outside the agreed TOB, changes in commission structures or a new Manager whose changed the KPI’s and culture. “where there’s smoke there’s fire”. Something is going wrong here.
Do any of these scenarios sound familiar to you? If a Client doesn’t respect you, your processes and your time, it’s time to find some new clients that do.
Make 2018 your year to shine!
