It's a quirk of the UK recruitment industry that employers fund their contingency recruiters' failure.

If you assume a supplier has a 20% fill rate, and that they only get paid on filling a role, then each successful placement pays for the 80% that aren't filled.

Look at the other way around - if an agency knows their fill rate is 20%, then it goes to follow that everything they do has to make that 20% profitable for the company.

That means having a high enough number of vacancies to sustain their work. How they service the vacancies, their clients and candidates is dictated by this rate. The resources and tools that are invested in, for each vacancy.

Is it a surprise you see so many complaints about poor candidate experience on this feed?

When you see contingency agencies smashing it, and they have a 20% fill rate, imagine how much business they didn't smash to be so successful.

And at that level, it smacks a little of pot luck. How often does that 20% fill rate lead to failed hire?

It's a commonly accepted way to do business, yet when you think about it - utterly weird.

Of course, some contingency recruiters fill far higher than 20% (meaning some fill far fewer). The highest I've heard was 90% - mine was 60ish%.

Now imagine how your suppliers could work if they commonly filled 70%+ of their vacancies (mine's around exactly 100% over the past two years for retained recruitment that wasn't cancelled by Covid).

It's got to be a measured process to achieve this level of repeatable result. And with consistency of process comes consistency of outcome - typically a far higher retention rate.

How would they work to achieve this level of effectiveness? What does their service to clients, candidates and each vacancy look like?

What would they demand of you to ensure they fulfilled on their commitments?

What would you invest if you knew they'd have at least this prospect of filling a key vacancy?

And not just filling it, but keeping it filled so you get the return on investment you need.

Next time you have a critical hire, drill deep to understand how your supplier works - their fill rate and retention rates; how they can bring you the results you need.

You may find the Great Candidate Shortage to be less problematic than you feared.

Not all recruitment is the same.