Give exclusivity to one yacht recruitment agency, it's a win-win!
The mechanism of recruitment is at times misunderstood and can become messy when too many players are involved.
There are many reasons why giving exclusivity is a clever move and Laurence Lewis, president of YPI CREW, brings us the five main ones.
1. Recruiters actually work harder for clients who give them exclusivity
Serious recruiters concentrate their efforts and dedicate their time to clients who they are working within partnership and who show commitment. In recruitment it takes two to tango and recruiters will absolutely work harder for clients who use them exclusively or who will perhaps only put them in competition with one other agency. It is a total fallacy to believe that recruiters will work harder when they are in competition.
2. Recruiter will have the incentive to build an effective shortlist of candidates
Clients might think that they get a better selection of candidates when they enlist various crew recruitment agencies but mostly they won't as they just create a race, resulting in them getting loads of inappropriate and duplicated CVs of candidates. Clients will spend their precious time reading these CVs, contacting candidates to find out it's all a big waste of time. On the other hand, one well-connected recruiter working exclusively on a job will absolutely want to find the best solution and will do a thorough job to source a few suitable, interested and available candidates and might even have time to headhunt. This recruiter will have the incentive to build an effective shortlist of candidates deserving of an interview.
3. Working with just one recruitment agency is much less time consuming and much more effective
Engaging various crew recruitment agencies is time-consuming, frustrating and can be costly. Why repeat yourself to multiple recruiters when all can be sorted in one phone call? Working exclusively also means the chosen recruiter gets to you know well over time resulting in faster searches and a more suitable selection of candidates
4. Confidentiality is preserved when only using just one agency
Confidentiality is paramount to many yacht owners so why tout a job around town to half a dozen or more recruiters, each of whom will contact six or seven (or eight! ) candidates and, perhaps even plaster it all over social media?
5. Limiting the number of agencies is good for your image
The covid crisis has reminded us that yacht image is important and needs nurturing: just like slashing salaries at the first hurdle during the confinement tarnished the yacht image, that same yacht image is devalued in the eyes of potential candidates if a job is being represented by various agencies. In recruitment too, what is rare has more value and is more interesting; that's simply human.