I understand that the concept of moving through a search layer by layer and digging through contacts and clients is completely obvious to any recruiter (good, bad or indifferent) who has ever worked in the business no matter if they are old school or internet recruiters. However, the problem is that our client companies don’t know this to be the case which is why they have such outrageous expectations.

Therefore, the burden falls on you (recruiter guys & gals) to teach them that this process takes time. From the moment we start getting leads we begin heading down a path that has us meeting people that assist us in moving this detailed search forward and hopefully (with some hard work and maybe a little luck) to the ideal candidate.

So be up front with them and let them know that yeah we may hit the jackpot and fill it in three days, but reality says it most likely won’t happen that way. So give them the truth about how their job compares to the rest of the market and the likelihood of filling it with someone at their ideal level (skills and dollars) and within their timeframe. Because a realistic client will work with you on the details and be very appreciative of the hard work that you’ve put in on their behalf and most importantly will want to work with you again, even if you're not the one closing the deal.