‘Unethical’ headhunting plagues skills-hungry industry

The scarcity of skills
within the freight and
logistics industry has
resulted in a number of
unethical practices by
certain recruitment agents,
including headhunting
candidates they have placed
in a position as soon as the
guarantee period is over.
A practice that brings a
generally ethical industry
into disrepute, according to
agents FTW spoke to.
An industry source from
a major logistics company
told FTW that she had
worked with a recruitment
agent who would routinely
headhunt staff they had
placed with her as soon
as the guarantee period
was over. “At one point
an agent hinted to a new
staff member that her
job might be in jeopardy
and she therefore had
to explore other options.
Thankfully we have a good
relationship and the staff
member came to me to
discuss this and I was able
to reassure her that this
was certainly not the case,”
the source said.
“This is without question
totally unethical and illegal
and should not be tolerated.
Any company who has
experienced, and has proof
of this practice, should
consider scrapping this
agent from their list,” says
Jill Scott of Jill Scott &
Associates. She comments
that there are many other
“ethical and professional
agents” out there who do
fair trade. “Unfortunately
the greedy ones will paint
all personnel agents with
the same brush,” she added.
The Federation of
African Professional
Staffing Organisations’
(Apso) Code of Ethics
states that an agent may
not approach any staff
member at a company
where they have accepted
remuneration for services
for a 12-month period –
and all the agencies FTW
spoke to were adamant
that headhunting in
this manner was
unethical.
Dr Lynn
Ribton-Turner,
managing member
of Ribton-Turner
Recruitment, suggested
that the client company
could request a signed
undertaking from an
agent not to approach
or headhunt their staff.
“This should be dealt
with when placing an
agent on the preferred
supplier list,” she says.
Terri Smith, managing
director of Tiger
Recruitment, says that
the Apso Code of Ethics
doesn’t deem it unethical
to represent a candidate
who approaches an agent of
their own volition. “There
is a minefield of discussion
and debate around this. If
your goal is to base your
business practice on the
Apso code, the decision is
clear. However,
I tend to
base my
business practices
on the cultivation and
retention of my clients and
the candidates that build
and drive my network,” she
says. Therefore, in many
cases she says she will
overlook the code of ethics
(regarding the 12-month
period) and politely explain
to a candidate that she
can’t work with them
because she placed them in
a certain position.
Another unethical
practice to which FTW
was alerted involves a job
seeker being incentivised to
refer a colleague or friend
to a particular recruitment
agency – and stand to win
prizes or cash by doing so.
“The colleague may not
be in the market but this
system could coerce them
to place themselves there,”
says Ribton-Turner. She
believes this will further
destabilise the freight
recruitment market where
talent is in short supply. “It
also sounds unethical that
a hand-out will be paid for
sending out your colleague's
curriculum vitae. This will
also run foul of the new
legislation on privacy of
information,” she says.
Natalie Singer, chief
operating officer of
Apso, says headhunting
is a recruitment method
that is routinely used,
especially in a scarce skills
sector. “However it is never
ethical for an agency to
headhunt candidates from
their own clients. The Apso
Code of Ethics is very clear
on this issue,” she said.
To protect themselves
from unfair agency
practices, Singer said
clients should ensure
that they have a good
retention programme
in place in order to keep
their employees happy.
They should also ensure
that they work only with
agencies who subscribe to
a Code of Ethics (such as
Apso) and where they can
seek recourse through the
complaints mechanism.