Recruitment agencies should avoid the hard sell when pitching for business. That was one of the views expressed at the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) members conference held in London last month.

Dan Whitehead, director of recruiting at international investment management firm Blackrock, told the audience: “I don’t appreciate people who do the hard sell. For me, it is more important that they really know what they are talking about. It’s about telling me something that I don’t already know.”

Greg Allen, EMEA head of recruitment at Nokia, added that with such easy access to information online it was inexcusable for recruiters to ring up and ask for the wrong person or the wrong company. “If someone rings me and starts talking about what is happening in Nokia, I will listen to them,” he said.

David von Ackerman, executive partner at procurement and outsource consultancy Copernicus Global Partners, advised recruiters to read the brief and follow it. This was especially important when pitching to large companies, he said. “One in four don’t, and they are amazed when they don’t get the business,” he said.