Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q. What sort of businesses should use LJW Employment Solutions?
Q. Are LJW Employment Solutions recruitment and profiling services only suitable for big businesses?
Q. When do employers most benefit from engaging LJW Employment Solutions?
Q. Can you justify seeking external assistance for recruitment in a time of economic downturn?
Q. What services does LJW Employment Solutions provide?
Q. How does the recruitment service offered by LJW Employment Solutions differ from other personnel recruiters?
Q. Why is the LJW Employment Solutions method better?
Q. But with the contingency method the employer only pays for “success”…
Q. Why doesn't LJW Employment Solutions offer recruitment services on a contingency basis?
Q. How does the client know that paying an agreed fee for recruitment services is not a scam?
Q. Won't the recruiter working on a "no success - no fee" arrangement work harder to get a result?
Q. What happens in the event of an "unsuccessful" assignment?
Q. Does LJW Employment Solutions have a database of experienced candidates?
Q. Will we have candidates on our database for YOUR vacancy?
Q. How does the LJW Employment Solutions Agreed Fee Recruitment Consultation work?
Q. How much does it cost and how long does it last?
Q. How does LJW Employment Solutions find candidates?
Q. Given the proliferation of online job boards, is newspaper advertising still effective?
Q. What sort of businesses should use LJW Employment Solutions?
A. Any business that wants to save time and money and wants to recruit better people. Back to top
Q. Are LJW Employment Solutions recruitment and profiling services only suitable for big businesses?
A. Absolutely not! In fact, our services are ideal for small to medium size companies that might normally handle their own recruitment but who are looking for a more effective alternative at an affordable price. Back to top
Q. When do employers most benefit from engaging LJW Employment Solutions?
A. Any time, but the following scenarios will provide maximum benefit:
- Need for total confidentiality
- Lack of time to properly handle the recruitment process
- Lack of expertise for a particular situation or role
- Shortage of suitable applicants in remote areas
- Insufficient response from DIY campaign
Q. Can you justify seeking external assistance for recruitment in a time of economic downturn?
A. Yes. Irrespective of the prevailing economic conditions, the right professional recruitment services will almost always save you time and money and provide a better outcome than doing it yourself.
In good economic times, candidates can be scarce which means that extra skill and focus are required to attract and secure the best people.
In a “recession” there are many more applicants and this alone can create havoc in simply dealing with the response. Also, many of the available applicants will have been “retrenched” from previous employment and whilst many redundancies are genuine, others are the employers taking advantage of the situation to get rid of excess baggage. Back to top
Q. What services does LJW Employment Solutions provide?
A. We offer professional assistance with recruitment needs on an "agreed fee" basis which generally includes employee profiling of short-listed candidates. We also offer Harrison Assessment employee profiling as a stand alone product which employers can utilise to test existing or self sourced applicants. Back to top
Q. How does the recruitment service offered by LJW Employment Solutions differ from other personnel recruiters?
A. Most recruiters derive fees from employers on a "contingency" or "successful placement" basis. These fees are generally calculated at anywhere between 10% and 20% of the selected applicant’s total salary package and equate to many thousands of dollars. Back to top
Q. Why is the LJW Employment Solutions method better?
A. We are not saying it is better for every employer, every position, every time, but remember that whilst contingency based methods can seem attractive, in reality it often means that the recruiter is focused on placing "any" candidate just to earn a fee. The client does not necessarily get good service, sound advice or the best available person for their particular needs. Back to top
Q. But with the contingency method the employer only pays for “success”…
A. True and it appears that employers find some comfort in the concept that if the recruiter doesn't deliver a suitable candidate, they don't pay anything. Although a part of me can understand this mindset, I do have to wonder why the notion of paying nothing to NOT solve your problem would be so appealing. Back to top
Q. Why doesn't LJW Employment Solutions offer recruitment services on a contingency basis?
A. Contingency assignments - where the employer only pays if they successfully employ an applicant - can be extremely time consuming and requires recruiters to charge much higher fees - typically 10% to 20% (or more) of the candidate's total salary package. Other reasons we don't offer the contingency option include:
- Often employers will contact multiple recruiters requesting candidates for the same position. This results in significant time wasting as different recruiters go through the process of contacting the same finite pool of applicants about the same job. Even if the outcome is successful, often conflict and confusion arises over which recruiter actually introduced the selected candidate.
- On other occasions, employers will contact one or more recruiters and ask for candidates on a contingency basis. The employer will then simultaneously carry out their own recruitment campaign which often attracts the same candidates as the recruiter. In this instance the recruiter is competing against the employer rather than working for them to solve their recruitment need.
Q. How does the client know that paying an agreed fee for recruitment services is not a scam?
A. The first time I had a potential client ask me what was to stop me from charging them and then "deliberately" not finding them candidates, I was quite offended. Then I stepped back and looked at it from the client's perspective and realised it was a reasonable question.
So what is to stop me "deliberately" not finding candidates?
- Personal & Professional Pride - being of a certain "vintage", what other people think is important to me, especially when it comes to my integrity and professional reputation.
- Reputation - over the past 18 years, I like to think that I have established a positive commercial reputation which I would never jeopardise this for the sake of a short term financial gain.
- Repeat & Referral Business - the long term success of LJW Employment Solutions depends on repeat business and referrals from clients who know that I will continue to do all in my power to supply excellent candidates at a reasonable cost.
Q. Won't the recruiter working on a "no success - no fee" arrangement work harder to get a result?
A. Ask yourself the question: Who is under greater pressure to deliver a result?
a) The consultant who is charging you for their time, service and expertise; or
b) The recruiter who is only going to charge you if they make a placement
The obvious answer might be 'B', the person who is paid only on results, but (as you'd expect) I don't agree.
At the end of an unsuccessful contingency based assignment, the client might be unhappy about the lack of outcome, but as the client hasn't paid anything, they really can't complain too loudly…
However, if a client is paying me an agreed fee to do a job, they have realistic expectations of a result, irrespective of any disclaimers or warnings that an outcome can't be guaranteed. Back to top
Q. What happens in the event of an "unsuccessful" assignment?
A. Naturally, we are always striving for a 100% success rate and for this reason we generally won't undertake "highly unlikely" projects. However, we also exercise discretion in situations where there wasn't a positive outcome.
Firstly, we ask why the assignment "failed".
- Did the client change their mind about proceeding with the appointment?
- Did the person who was leaving withdraw their resignation?
- Did we fail to deliver any suitable applicants?
If the "failure" was totally our fault then we might reduce or even waive the fee or offer to do the next job free, but if the failure is due to other peoples' actions or decisions, the client would be expected to pay. Back to top
Q. Does LJW Employment Solutions have a database of experienced candidates?
A. Yes, and we utilise this resource in every assignment. Back to top
Q. Will we have candidates on our database for YOUR vacancy?
A. We may have a number of potential candidates who could be interested in YOUR position, however we first need to fully understand YOUR particular needs for the vacancy in question. Once we have that information we can provide you with a detailed recruitment solution to source the best selection of suitable candidates. Back to top
Q. How does the LJW Employment Solutions Agreed Fee Recruitment Consultation work?
A. After obtaining a detailed understanding of the position and the person you require, we devise and implement a suitable strategy aimed at finding the best available selection of suitable applicants. Back to top
Q. How much does it cost and how long does it last?
A. An agreed fee is determined depending on the individual needs of each client and the position involved. In most cases the agreed fee will include some online advertising and profiling of the short-listed candidates. The only other costs are for authorised advertising. The service is valid for a nominal period of 30 days or until the position is filled, whichever comes first. In some cases this period will be extended at the discretion of LJW Employment Solutions. Back to top
Q. How does LJW Employment Solutions find candidates?
A. To find candidates, we utilise a number of different resources including our existing candidate database plus, in most cases, a combination of online and newspaper advertising. Back to top
Q. Given the proliferation of online job boards, is newspaper advertising still effective?
A. Yes. Whilst newspaper advertising is not the single all powerful force it was 15 years ago, just grab a copy of any Saturday Age and look at the amount of large display adverting in the early general news section. Most of these ads are placed by huge national and international recruitment firms so if they still need to advertise in the paper then why wouldn’t other employers?
