Talent partnerships
Keep agency communication clear when the search gets difficult
Communicate with an agency through a shared view of facts, decisions, and commitments. Raise concerns early with examples, explain the effect on candidates or delivery, and ask for a corrective plan. The agency should likewise challenge client delays or shifting requirements. Record scope changes and escalate through named owners before frustration becomes a surprise termination.
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Choose the right channel
Use the shared system for candidate status, a regular meeting for search decisions, and a direct conversation for sensitive performance or relationship concerns. Scattered chat messages create partial instructions and make the latest decision hard to identify. When urgency requires a quick call, update the agreed record afterward so researchers, recruiters, and managers act on the same direction.
Describe concern through evidence
State what happened, which agreement or expectation it conflicts with, and the consequence. Bring representative submissions, missed updates, candidate feedback, or timeline records. Avoid broad claims that the partner does not understand the business. A specific concern can be investigated and corrected; a verdict invites defence without showing what better work would look like.
Ask for a recovery plan
Agree the changed action, owner, support needed from the company, and review date. The agency might recalibrate researchers, rewrite outreach, improve quality review, or change the consultant. The company may need to resolve manager feedback, approvals, or a moving brief. Keep candidate communication running during correction and identify any person who needs a proactive update.
- Observed issue and concrete example
- Candidate or delivery consequence
- Correction owner on each side
- Evidence to review next
- Escalation or exit condition
Address a shared failure honestly
Illustrative example: an agency sends repeated off-level profiles for a procurement lead role. Review shows the agency used an old brief because the manager changed level in a private message to one consultant. The partner replaces its live search document; the manager confirms changes only through the designated owner. Both sides contact two affected candidates with accurate scope instead of assigning blame and continuing.
Escalate without theatrics
If the correction fails, use the named relationship owners and the agreed review evidence. Decide whether to narrow scope, replace delivery personnel, pause, or exit. Follow formal review for contractual decisions and prepare a clean candidate and data handover. A difficult relationship can still close professionally when decisions are explicit and candidates are not used as leverage between organisations. Ask who will inform active candidates, by when, and with what confirmed next step. Reconcile system records before closing access. Finish with a factual review of what the company and agency should each change, preserving useful search learning even when the commercial relationship ends. Confirm any final candidate commitments in writing so they survive the relationship change.
Next step
Take one unresolved agency concern and rewrite it as evidence, consequence, corrective owner, review date, and escalation condition before the next meeting. Include the candidate impact that makes the correction urgent.