How should recruitment firms plan cover for absence so work does not stop?

A recruitment desk has no stock to sell while the consultant is away. The mandate sits half sourced, the client calls for a shortlist and a candidate with a notice period running waits for a callback that never comes. Cover for absence is therefore a client matter before it is an HR matter.

Plan cover around mandates, not people. Every open requisition needs a named lead consultant, a named alternate and a shared mandate sheet both can read. When the lead is absent, the alternate takes the live calls, the client updates and the offer follow-ups. Everything else waits. That one rule covers most leave, sickness and surprise absences.

• Candidates at the panel stage get no debrief call, and a rival's submission reaches the client first.
• The client's hiring manager asks for a status update and gets silence.
• A selected candidate with a joining date does not receive the weekly nudge, and the offer drops.
• Sourcing slips: saved searches on the job portal are not refreshed and the inbox of applicants goes unread.
• The joining invoice stalls because only the lead knew the date the candidate reported.

Each failure is cheap to prevent with a mandate sheet. All of them are costly after a client leaves.

REQUISITION    client, role, location, hiring manager, date received
LEAD / BUDDY   two named consultants
STAGE          sourcing, screened, submitted, interview, offer, joining
NEXT CALL      candidate, client contact and promised date
OFFER WATCH    notice period, counter-offer risk, joining date, last nudge
PORTAL         saved searches, assessments and sheets to refresh
BILLING        invoice trigger and who confirms it

The lead updates it at the close of each day. The alternate reads it on Monday and before any planned leave. A mandate sheet nobody reads is worse than none, so make the Monday read a ten-minute ritual in the team huddle.

A volume desk that fills permanent roles in banking, retail and IT leans on shared sourcing. Here a pooled inbox and a rota for the portal work well. See the notes for permanent recruitment agencies.

A retained search partner works differently. The partner holds the client relationship and the research associate holds the longlist. If the partner is away, the associate must not stall senior candidates who expect a partner's call. Agree a deputy partner and tell the client. The executive search firms page has more on this split.

An overseas recruitment desk deals with demand letters, trade tests, medicals, visa stamping and emigration clearance, each with a date. A missed step strands a worker at a transit point. Here the cover sheet needs a line for every document and the courier or agent who holds it. Read the overseas recruitment companies page for desk patterns.

1. 1

   Planned leave

   The lead hands over the mandate sheet two working days before leaving, holds a fifteen-minute call with the alternate and tells the clients who will answer.

2. 2

   Sick day

   The manager reassigns live calls by ten in the morning, using the mandate sheet, and sends one line to the affected clients.

3. 3

   Long leave

   Reassign the mandates themselves. The alternate becomes lead and a new alternate is named.

4. 4

   Resignation

   Treat it as absence that has not ended. Collect the mandate sheet, export candidate notes and call the stage-three candidates yourself within two days.

Naukri and LinkedIn Recruiter seats are tied to one consultant. When that person is away, the saved Boolean strings go stale, the resume database goes unread and ATS stage reminders pile up unanswered. Keep the strings in the sheet. Give the alternate delegated access, or run a weekly refresh from one desk. Never share a single password.

Then settle the incentive question. If the alternate closes a placement on the lead's mandate, who earns the slice? Decide before the leave, not after the invoice. A common split gives the alternate a fixed share for placements closed during the absence. Write it on the cover sheet so nobody has to argue at the quarter end.

Recruitment firms run on targets, so everyone wants leave at once after a good close and before a quarter end. Set a simple rule. No more than one consultant per desk is away at once, except during a declared quiet week. Publish the calendar early. The hub for recruitment firms lists the other pressure points. Check how this fits with your attendance, shift and leave rules and with incentive timing.

Count the calls missed and the offers dropped on days when a lead was away. Compare with days when the lead was present. If the gap is large, the alternate system is weak. If it is small, protect it. The recruitment process consulting page covers this kind of review, and you can send a short note through requirements.