The HR Leader in conversation with recruitment agency partner on taking care of staff and clients

Niall O’Rourke is a partner at Sharp & Carter recruitment agency. He joined The HR Leader to discuss the importance of rewarding staff, why you should put in effort to ensure clients are happy, and how getting these things right can benefit your business.

Shandel McAuliffe, editor at HR Leader: “What is your approach to rewarding staff?”

Mr O’Rourke: “Traditionally in any sales-based organisation, you'll have your top two or three per cent [of staff] every year [who] will get taken away on their platinum club, their top sales club. But what we do differently here at Sharp & Carter nationally, is we all as partners, agree on a number every year. If it's achieved, everyone goes away together.”

“Just because someone's job title might be office manager or HR manager and not a revenue-generating role, that doesn't mean that they shouldn't get rewarded for that hard work that they've done in the year prior. I can categorically tell you, if you took those roles away, that would have an impact on the performance of someone who's out there generating revenue,” explained Mr O’Rourke.

“It's probably one of the greatest cultural pieces that I have seen. Having come from environments where it is just the top two or three per cent [of staff that] get rewarded, that everyone gets rewarded. It creates a happier environment.”

Editor: “What are the benefits of being generous?”

Mr O’Rourke: “With the Sharp & Carter guys, it probably took me a year to understand how this all worked, in that you've got to be generous. It's probably sometimes too generous, but the benefit that you get long term and the commitment you get from staff, it's second to none.”

“There's been some fantastic success stories here of people coming into a graduate recruitment consultant position seven years ago. Now they're an equity partner in the business.”

He added: “The reason we've got such a low turnover at Sharp & Carter, is we genuinely look after our people.”

Editor: “Do you treat clients and candidates the same way?”

Mr O’Rourke: “I don't really believe in separating clients from candidates. Every person in my eyes is a customer. Every client that we recruit for, they also have the potential to become a candidate.”

He continued: “I'll always ask someone what way [they] like to operate. This is how I want to be contacted. This is what information I need from you. I'll always go with that because my mindset on it is if I annoy them, they're not going to want to do any business with us.”

“It's very much; where's the ‘value-add’ and how do you build a relationship? It just takes time to build those relationships,” said Mr O’Rourke.

Editor: “What is the benefit of treating all clients the same?”

Mr O’Rourke: “It doesn't make a difference if you recruit a C-suite person at $400 to 500K, or if you recruit a junior entry-level qualified accountant or a level-one IT support person. They must get the same level of treatment.”

“If you do the wrong thing by them, they will never, ever use you as a recruiter. If they're going to continue on a career path in technology or finance, or marketing or sales over the next 25, 30 years, they will eventually at some stage during that period become a hiring manager.”

Mr O’Rouke continued: “You will remember if you've had a bad experience with a recruiter, because there's so many options out there for you to turn to. You most definitely won't be going back to someone who hasn't done the right thing by you.”

The transcript of this podcast episode, when quoted above, was slightly edited for publishing purposes. The full conversation with Niall O’Rourke is below.