Seek an understanding of what methods they DO use to fill positions, and create additional value by highlighting your services and the benefits you can provide.  Have they never, or are they just not going to on this search?  Why is that policy in place, and what can be done to change it?  It is important for this hiring authority to understand that you have access to a candidate pool that they will never have access to – unless they use a recruiter who is sourcing the passive marketplace.

In this clip from Jeff Kaye, he shares a few angles to open the door for continued dialogue after hearing that they “do not use recruiters”.

All recruiters should be well prepared for conversations in which the hiring authority claims to not utilize recruiters – in this clip, Helene Buchanan-Dunne shares her scripted responses for handling those conversations.

Scripts

These scripts are rebuttals to address the objections, “We do not use recruiters” or “We aren’t using recruiters on this search.”