So, when it comes to your most important investment ... hiring the people who will make your municipality successful, how can you know that your so called recruiting 'specialist' really has something 'special' to offer you? How can you be certain you are getting real value for your money?

HERE'S SOME INFORMATION THAT COULD HELP

A generalist recruiter will work for anyone, anywhere to hire anybody ... they recruit across a wide range of industries for  a wide variety of  jobs ... generalists are represented by some really big organizations often with some very fancy corporate sounding names like: Rice Potterhouse, Badgers Ornstein or Allswell Partners. Their recruitment strategy is to place very expensive ads (often without your name) in newspapers or on job boards. As a result they promote their name with your money. Many mid size and smaller recruiters are forced to be generalists too. In order to survive they will take on any work they can get.  

On the other hand a true specialist focuses on a particular industry or location and sometimes  on specific role within an organization, ...typically they work on higher level positions ... in the case of Ravenhill Group that would include positions like CAO and Directors like Corporate Services, Public Works, Finance and Planning. We are true municipal recruiting specialist because this is all we do. Over the past 7 years we have recruited literally dozens and dozens and dozens of municipal staff at every level.

WHAT MAKES A SPECIALIST A SPECIALIST? 

So, how would you rate the last recruiter you used? Are they specialists or are they generalists or perhaps they were generalists masquerading as specialists? What sort of candidates did you get from them? Did they bring you very specific and 'bang on" people who could step right into the position or did they offer you a lot of applicants that didn't have much substance?  One sure give away that you are working with a generalist si if they keep firing reswumes at you ... as if to say "what do you think of this one, or how about that one?"

We thought it might be interesting to identify some things that a true specialist in municipal recruiting should be able to bring to the table ...

THEY ARE "IN THE KNOW"

Your recruiter should know municipal work like the back of his hand. He should have ready answers to any of your questions on the subject of municipal staff. He should understand "municipal talk" and have knowledge of all the key players. In reality, he should know many of the same people you do. The old saying "knowledge is power" is never truer than when it comes to recruiting. You can expect much greater results from a person who has knowledge on a subject. HERE'S A QUOTE: "If you want to be found stand where the seeker seeks" Sidney Lanier

THEY KNOW WHERE THE TRULY GREAT PEOPLE ARE

Your recruiter should know exactly where all the really qualified candidates are. He should also have a strong data base of key municipal contacts ...that includes potential candidates and employers alike. Your recruiter's sourcing strategy should be a focused one...a lot more than just looking on Monster like a generalist does. He should know what the candidates read, where they meet and how to contact them. You will get much better candidates from someone who really knows. HERE'S A QUOTE: "The only source of knowledge is experience" Albert Einstein

THEY HAVE THEIR "FINGER ON THE PULSE"