How To Make Sure Your Role Remains a Priority with Your Recruiter

A lot of agency recruiters work on a contingency basis for most roles. No fee changes hands unless a placement is made, so every call, shortlist, and hour spent sourcing is an investment made on the basis that the process will reach a conclusion. When early signals suggest it won’t, recruiters will redirect their energy toward clients and roles where the odds are better. That’s not personal, it’s practical.

It’s also why some searches, particularly harder-to-fill or senior roles, or niche roles specific to industries like Hardware and Building Materials work better on a retained basis: the recruiter’s time is committed upfront, so the search doesn’t compete for attention against easier wins elsewhere.

Four things worth checking on your side

1. How much feedback have you actually given?
   A recruiter submits a shortlist and hears nothing back, or gets a rejection with no explanation. No feedback means no ability to recalibrate, and after a round or two, even a good recruiter loses the thread of what you actually want. Even a brief response helps. If a CV isn’t right, say why: too junior, wrong sector background, salary too high. That one sentence lets the recruiter sharpen the search.
2. Is the role out with more than one agency?
   When a recruiter calls a strong candidate who’s already been approached by two other agencies on your behalf, it tells a story: the brief has been scattered rather than managed selectively. Good candidates notice, and it can make an employer look less organised than they are.
   A focused relationship with one specialist recruiter who knows your business usually outperforms a scattergun approach, and it protects how your employer brand lands with candidates.
3. Is the pace matching the urgency you asked for?
   The best candidates are rarely available for long. If a recruiter presents someone strong and two weeks pass without a first-stage interview, there’s a good chance that person has taken another offer. Slow processes suggest the urgency wasn’t real, and recruiters will read it that way even when it isn’t. If there’s a genuine reason for delay, such as decision makers travelling or sign-off pending, tell the recruiter. They can manage candidate expectations and pace accordingly.
4. Is the salary range actually a range?
   A salary of “50,000 to “60,000 that turns out to mean “50,000 and nothing more, isn’t a range. Recruiters learn this quickly, usually the first time a candidate asks about flexibility, and it erodes trust for the rest of the search. Being clear about salary from the outset helps everyone: the recruiter presents candidates whose expectations are genuinely aligned, and you’re not sitting across from someone who has already budgeted for more than you intended to offer.

Recruiters can also tell when a search is still finding its shape
Sometimes a role exists in principle but the approval isn’t fully signed off, or the brief shifts once interviews start. That’s not a criticism, hiring plans genuinely change, but it does change how a recruiter resources the search, so it helps to say it upfront rather than let it surface halfway through.

At Tactical Talent, we’re always happy to have an initial exploratory call before a search is fully live, to talk through candidate availability, salary benchmarks, and likely timelines. That conversation makes the eventual search faster, not slower.

The straightforward fix
Treat your recruiter as a business partner rather than a service provider. Respond promptly, give honest feedback, match the pace to the urgency you stated, and be straight about what you can offer. Recruiters owe you the same in return: honest updates, real effort, and a call when a search isn’t working rather than silence.

If your recruiter has gone quiet, it’s worth a conversation before you assume you know why.

For further information and to have an initial exploratory chat, contact Iseult McLaughlin, Director, Tactical Talent Recruitment, 086 102 8490 or 01 9079192, imclaughlin@tacticaltalent.ie, www.tacticaltalent.ie and Vinny Kelly, Director, 086 3360362, vkelly@tacticaltalent.ie or connect with us on LinkedIn.

Tactical Talent is Ireland’s only specialist recruitment agency for the Hardware and Building Materials sector. We work exclusively within this industry, which means we understand the roles, businesses, and candidate pool in a way a generalist recruiter cannot. If you’re hiring, or just starting to think about it, we’d love to hear from you.