The transparency imperative

By Wietse Boersma, Recruiter.

This post first appeared on LinkedIn on the 19th of June 2020.

What do organizations look for in a recruitment- and staffing partner? The answer to that question can’t be given uniformly. After all, different organizational- and business contexts require different approaches. However, my last blog series, on the shady doings of recruitment cowboys, has hypothesised what it is that organizations probably don’t want from a staffing partner. So which business values should recruitment consultants strive to attain and propagate, in order to make their business relationship with a client most valuable?

What do organizations look for in a recruitment- and staffing partner? The answer to that question can’t be given uniformly. After all, different organizational- and business contexts require different approaches. However, my last blog series, on the shady doings of recruitment cowboys, has hypothesised what it is that organizations probably don’t want from a staffing partner. So which business values should recruitment consultants strive to attain and propagate, in order to make their business relationship with a client most valuable?

Transparency is the first -- and a massive -- pillar that, perhaps you’d be surprised to find, is not-so-common practice in today’s tech recruitment business. The incentives for cloudy business practices has been maximisation of margin and the appropriation of candidates. The mistrust that followed has spread like a scourge over tech organizations that deal with recruiters in one way or another. Transparency seems wanting, and not surprisingly.

Don Tapscott and David Ticoll speak the age of transparency in their book ‘The Naked Corporation: How the Age of Transparency Will Revolutionize Business’. They pose that before roughly 2002 (when, ironically, the world saw the ‘trust crisis’ on US markets), companies could thrive under opaque corporate behavior. Some of the reasons are the same as why present-day recruitment consultants shy away from disclosing their margins: profit maximisation. The rise of information technology, however, changed the game. Organizations are now more ‘naked’ than ever; under scrutiny of the public and all stakeholders and stockholders.

On a positive note, businesses are finding out that integrity, apart from being a praised human value, makes economic sense. Organizations that manifest ethical values, openness and veracity can better compete, have enhanced market value, are more cohesive and enjoy internal mutual employee trust. Moreover, interestingly for the recruitment consultancy industry (where relationships are vital), such transparency-related values are critical to business partnerships.

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