You’ve heard the phrase “cheque’s in the post and I’ll love you in the morning”? It’s a good old-fashioned sarcastic comment, mostly used in the UK. It basically means: chill out, payment’s coming and we’re all good.
Well, I’m in recruitment so let’s replace cheque with signed terms.
As a recruitment agency owner, I’m used to dealing with all kinds of clients, whether they’re established paying clients or new prospects looking to get into bed with us. It’s a fortunate position to be in and testament to the fact that we’ve been around the block. But over time, there’s been a noticeable change in the behaviour of new or potential clients who reach out asking for help.
Case in point: earlier this year I was approached by a former contact I’d done a substantial amount of IT recruitment for at a previous company. I always got on well with her, so I was happy to see her name come up on my phone – even happier to hear she’d joined a new company and needed my help. They’d been trying to fill a non-IT position for eight months.
I was upfront; it wasn’t really our wheelhouse, but given the relationship, we’d happily give it a crack as it was “urgent”. Great. Fixed Term Contract, 12 months, onsite. On the face of it, straightforward.
Then came the obligatory Teams meeting involving procurement (and my contact), looking to hammer us down on our T’s & C’s. I rolled with the punches. I lowered our perm fee (to align with their other agencies, who hadn’t delivered…) and I agreed to lower the FTC fee, provided it was a minimum 12-month contract. Perfect. All agreed in the meeting. Revised terms were sent across within one hour, along with two very relevant candidates twenty-four hours later. One was immediately available and quite literally perfect for the role.
First round interview? Three weeks later. Why three weeks? Apparently, everyone was “too busy.” Signed terms? Still nothing. I won’t get into the full back-and-forth, but after 12 weeks of chasing, I finally received an offer for the candidate (6-month FTC), along with an unsigned, fully marked-up copy of our terms. The classic in-house junior legal counsel red lining everything.
And that’s where I lost it. I’d been pushing almost weekly for three months for them to return the terms, and they ignored me until the very last moment. What’s particularly frustrating is that I usually don’t start work without signed terms from a new client, but this time I acted in good faith because of the historical relationship. Hard lesson learned: as soon as procurement or legal step in, the “relationship” is a door opener at best. Nothing more.
And here we now are, placement made, candidate started, client thrilled. Everybody happy… except us, because months later, the terms are still in the post, and we still haven’t been paid!
Net result: Relationships might open the door, but once procurement or legal step in, the old gentleman’s agreement goes out the window. In recruitment, “cheque’s in the post” has become “terms are coming” and both usually mean don’t hold your breath.
If you’re an agency reading this (or any services business to be fair), don’t let urgency cloud your judgement. Stick to the rule of no signed terms, no work, even when it’s tempting to make an exception.
And of course, for clients, it’s obvious: if you want urgency from your recruitment partners, show the same urgency with paperwork. Otherwise, you risk burning goodwill before the candidate even sets foot in the office.
It really isn’t glamorous, but clear agreements upfront protect everyone, and they make sure the right people actually get paid for the value they deliver.