Companies want to fill their open position with the most qualified candidate possible in the shortest time possible.

Unfortunately, their efforts to do this often backfire, which leads us to “Recruiting Myth #3.”  That myth is as follows:

Giving the search assignment to many recruiters will result in more candidates in less time.

While this makes sense on paper, it doesn’t work in practice because recruiters will only give the search 10% of their efforts when they have competition instead of 100% effort if they know they’re the only person involved in the search.

Recruiters quickly discover if they have competition, even if you don’t tell them.  Word travels fast.

Recruiters will call some duplicate contacts, informing the recruiter that they’ve already received three calls regarding this search.  Those recruiters will stop working immediately on the search.

So, in essence, approaching the search this way will result in many recruiters only “passively” working on your assignment and not “actively” working on it to fill it as quickly as possible.

So beware of the allure of this common recruiting myth.

(In my next blog post, I’ll relay a personal story that illustrates exactly why this myth is a myth.)

(For more information about maximizing the benefits of working with a recruiter, download a copy of Dan Simmons’s e-Book, Hunting the Headhunter: Your Guide to Debunking Myths, Cutting Costs, and Changing the Way You Play the Recruitment Game.)