Here’s one for ya. I have it on good authority that there is a Wellington based recruitment agency GM with a bit of a dilemma. They are currently in possession of what all recruitment GMs covet; a “million dollar biller”. In fact, they actually have more than this, given that this individual’s gross margin sits at a purported $1.8m per year. For those readers who aren’t agency recruiters, that’s good. Really f*cking good. This Recruiter may earn around $600k a year, but that’s still a lot left in the kitty for the company owners, and probably has a big impact on said GM’s bonus.
This top biller is also an anti-vaxxer.
The Company is trying to move towards a “vaccine certified” situation. The top-biller is sticking to their guns. A game of chicken, with the GM driving their prized Bentley, and the chicken made of solid granite. Something has got to give, with one party either losing face (and jeopardising the health of other employees), or $1.8m walking out the door. It’s not going to be pretty either way. In this instance, I don’t actually know the business or who the players are, so don’t try and bribe me with craft beer in Vultures this afternoon. Actually, you are more than welcome to try. This makes writing this blog safer from a legal perspective, and also means we can look at it purely on a moral and theoretical basis, without letting existing perceptions of the firm or consultant cloud our judgement. For me, this dilemma raises a few interesting points…
Does it matter? They have no doubt billed loads of money whilst locked away at home. Why can’t they continue? Recruiters no longer to physically fraternise with colleagues, candidates, or clients. They could be a purely remote resource, and providing they continue to deliver, is this really a big deal? Perhaps this is a common sense approach, but with “common sense” the new buzz word used by biggots to describe their prejudices, I’m trying to remove it from my vocabulary.
Will they continue to be a high-biller in a world where at least 90% of clients are vaccinated? Or will we be seeing clients and candidates demanding vaccine certificates from their recruitment suppliers? If so, then the business is loosing less than they think, and the Consultant’s bargaining position is massively eroded.
Is anyone bigger than the firm? There is a fair chance that this Consultant is the firm’s biggest biller. In an industry where preferential treatment has always been given to the top revenue generators, is it time we step forward and admit what we are? All recruiters are equal, but some are more equal than others. Billers keep the lights on, and rules don’t apply to them.
If they leave, when it becomes public knowledge that they left due to their vaccine status, what’s left for this recruiter? Would any of the GMs and Recruitment Firm owners reading this step up and hire them? Or will their only option be to set up a fringe recruitment firm working only with marijuana growers an and knob-head “wellness” gurus.
Do you need a brain to bill a lot of money in recruitment? Guile, resilience, tenacity, hard work – yes. Intelligence? Clearly not.
And my view on the above, well, you didn’t ask for it, but here it is anyway. In order; yes it matters. I wouldn’t want a totally remote team member. We like the pub here at Rice. Yes, they’ll lose some billings if the GM decides to go public, but not heaps. Nah, no one should be bigger than the firm. And no I wouldn’t hire them. 3 months in lockdown because of these people. Jog on.
More questions than answers this week folks, so I’d love you to weigh-in on any of the above.
^SW
It’s common sense really Sean 🙂