For an ongoing role, the job is not to find one person. It is to find the same kind of person twenty times. So write the standard down after the first hire the client liked, keep a bench of people who match it, and check every new submittal against that standard, not against your memory of it. The twentieth hire should match the first, even if a different recruiter sends them.
Write the standard after the first good hire
The first placement the client is happy with is the most useful thing you will ever learn about that order. Call the client and ask three questions. What is it about this person that works? What did the one before them get wrong? Is there anything on the original order that turned out not to matter?
Write the answers down as the standard. "Shows up early. Has run this kind of line before. Does not need telling twice. The forklift card matters less than we said; the attitude matters more." That is now the order, and it is better than the first version.
Build a bench, not a search
An ongoing role means an ongoing need. Each time you source, keep the people who matched but were not placed. Tell them the truth: "You're on my list for this client. The next spot opens in about three weeks." Call them when it does.
A bench of ten people who match the standard turns a two-day search into a two-hour one.
Keep the referral loop open
The people you placed know people like themselves. After their first month, ask: "Who do you know who could do this?" A referral from a worker the client already likes is the shortest path to the next hire that matches.
Refresh the standard twice a year
Sites change. Leads change. The client's "what works" drifts. Twice a year, ask the three questions again and update the lines. An ongoing role sourced against a two-year-old standard will slowly stop matching.
Where M-Tracker fits
The written standard is the brief. In M-Tracker, it lives with the order, and each new submittal is read against it before the client sees it, with a plain-words note on what matches and what is missing. A different recruiter, six months later, sends a submittal that is checked against the same lines the first one was.
Check every submittal against the standard
This is the step that keeps quality up across months and recruiters. Before a submittal goes to the client, read it against the written standard. Not the job title. Not your memory of the first hire. The written lines. Does this person show the three things the client said mattered?
When a new recruiter joins the desk, hand them the standard. Their first submittal to that client should look like the twentieth, not like a first draft.
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Questions people ask
How big should a bench be?
Enough to fill the next three orders without a new search. For most ongoing roles that is eight to fifteen people who match.
Should I tell bench candidates there is no job yet?
Yes. They stay on the bench when you are honest about timing, and they leave when you are not.
What if the client's standard is different from the written order?
Then the standard is right and the order was wrong. Update the order.
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