Three months without a placement: how to find the leak

Three months without a deal. You call every day, you have candidates and your clients are happy with you. And yet there’s nothing on the board. You start to have doubts: about your market, about your clients and a little about yourself.

Let’s not be naive about it: three months without a placement can be bad luck. A client who freezes hiring, a candidate who accepts a counteroffer at the last minute. But usually the problem is somewhere in your chain, and it keeps leaking until you find it. The good news: it’s almost always input, skill or both, and each of the three has its own fix.

Input, skill or both

Input is what you put in. Call time, conversations, candidates you approach. An input issue is easy: you see it straight away, and you fix it by calling more and better.

Skill is what you get out of it. How many of your candidates are placeable, how many get into process and how many processes become deals. A skill issue is harder, because you only see it once you know your numbers, and other people’s to compare them with.

Both? Start with the input. First the engine has to run, and only then do you fine-⁠tune it. As long as you’re calling too little, every step after it gets too little to measure fairly: a ratio based on three candidates tells you nothing yet.

We have that data in-⁠house: for every step, for the whole floor, every week. That’s why we can usually see where it’s leaking in a single conversation. If you don’t have that data, you build it yourself. Here’s how.

Why the leak is older than three months

A deal is the end of a chain. What you sign this month comes from interviews in the weeks before, and those interviews come from candidates you found a month earlier. The calls you make today only show up in your revenue in a month or two. So three months without a deal usually means things started to stall four or five months ago.

When I sit down with a recruiter who hasn’t signed anything for three months, that’s why I don’t look at their deals first. With a few deals a quarter, one deal more or less is almost down to chance. I look at the steps with big numbers: call time, candidates and interviews. That’s where you see a leak weeks before it hits your revenue.

And I look at the trend: how many interviews are you booking now? If you’re booking enough again, the leak may already be plugged and your revenue will follow on its own. So no knee-⁠jerk reactions. Conversely, a recruiter who’s doing well on revenue but booking few interviews will soon run dry.

Four signals warn you before your revenue does:

• Your call time is dropping: over the last four weeks, you called more than a fifth less than in the four weeks before.
• You start late: in two of the last four weeks, you usually only started calling after quarter past ten.
• You have days without a conversation: two or more working days in a single week without one conversation on the line.
• Your last deal was more than sixty days ago.

What you measure, and how you calculate it

You don’t need expensive software. A spreadsheet you update every week will do: one row per candidate, one per process and one per week for your call time. But what you count does have to be precise:

• Call time: real minutes on the line per day worked, from your phone system or calling app. Not the time behind your desk, and not your emails or messages.
• Core candidate: a candidate you could present to a client tomorrow, and who will sign if the offer is right. Everything else is non-⁠core: interesting, but not now. You count them in the month you found them.
• Process: one candidate with one client. A candidate with three clients is three processes.
• In process: a candidate with at least one first interview. Here you count candidates, not processes.
• Interview: every meeting with a client, from the first round to the last. You count it on the day you book it, not on the day of the interview: that way you see your trend straight away.
• Deal: a signed contract, on the day your candidate signs.

From that, you calculate seven ratios, one for each step in your chain:

The period you take makes the difference between a leak and noise. You calculate your call time over your last four working weeks; a week only counts from three working days, otherwise every holiday skews your average. You count your candidates and processes per month, over your last three full months. You calculate your ratios over six months.

And only calculate a ratio once you have enough cases: at least three candidates in process for your breadth, at least ten first interviews for your conversion after the first interview and at least five processes with a second interview for your conversion to a deal. Below that, one candidate more or less is the difference between good and bad, and the figure tells you nothing.

The method: work through the chain

Seven steps, from your phone to your deal. Compare each step with its norm. If you hit the norm, the step is green. If you reach at least three quarters of it, it’s amber. If you drop below three quarters, it’s leaking. Where less is better, as with call attempts per core candidate or interviews per deal, you turn it around: if you’re more than a third above the norm, it’s leaking.

The norms for your call time and your numbers are those of a recruiter who bills around €20,000 a month, €240,000 a year. For the ratios, your own best six months are the benchmark: what you achieved then, you can achieve again. The first step that leaks is your problem. What comes after it often leaks too, but that’s a consequence.

01You call enough

You measure your real call time per day worked, averaged over four weeks. The norm is 2h30, the minimum 2 hours. If you’re below that minimum, you don’t need to look at the rest of your chain yet: start here.

Call mainly in your core hours, between 10 am and noon and between 4 and 6 pm: that’s when you reach the most people. Block them out in your diary and protect them like a client meeting.

Ask yourself: where did my day go? Go through last week’s diary, and from now on check at noon and at 6 pm how much you’ve called. That way you can adjust the same day.

02Your calls produce candidates

You measure your core candidates per month, and how many call attempts you need for one core candidate. The norm is five to six core candidates a month. If you call enough but find fewer, or you need more and more call attempts, the leak is between your phone and your candidate: your search list or your pitch.

Ask yourself: where am I searching, and how many of the people I speak to do I turn down? Review your search profile and your channels, call new names instead of the same list again and listen back to your own pitch. Try calling between 6 and 8 in the evening too: people who can’t talk freely during the day can in the evening.

03What you bring in is placeable

You measure your core ratio: how many of the candidates you bring in are core. If a lot of your work goes into candidates you never place, you’re not qualifying sharply enough, or you’re doing it too late.

Ask yourself: could I already have known in my first conversation? Go through your last ten non-⁠core candidates and write down for each one why they dropped out. If the same reason keeps coming back, ask that question in your first conversation from now on, not only in your third.

04Your core candidates get into process

You measure how many candidates get into process each month, and how many of your core candidates get a first interview. The norm is four candidates in process a month. If you don’t hit that, look one step back. If you find fewer than five core candidates a month, the problem is in finding them: go back to step 2. If you find enough and they still don’t get into process, the problem is in booking them in.

Ask yourself: which core candidates are ready to go, and why haven’t I presented them yet? Present every core candidate without a process this week. Candidates left waiting for weeks often find something in the meantime, on their own or through someone else. How to present without burning your candidate is covered in The client wants your candidate’s name first.

05Your candidates are in several processes

You measure your breadth: how many of your candidates in process have two or more first interviews at the same time, with different clients. In our experience, those candidates sign a good deal more often than candidates with just one client. It makes sense: your candidate can choose, your client feels they have to move fast and one no isn’t the end straight away.

Ask yourself: with how many clients is each candidate in process? Present every candidate in process to at least two more clients, in the same week, so the interviews coincide.

06Your processes survive the first interview

You measure how many processes continue after the first interview. If you lose a lot of them, look at the match and the preparation: did your candidate know who was at the table, and what the client wanted to hear?

One exception: if you work with two or three candidates at a time per vacancy, usually only one goes through per vacancy, and this ratio drops on its own. That’s not a leak. Look at your interviews per deal instead: that’s your fairest measure of skill.

Ask yourself: was it the match, the candidate or the client? Find the reasons for every lost process, from both your candidate and your client, and write them down. If they often lead back to the same client, go and take a look there.

07Your processes become deals

You measure how many processes with a second interview become a deal, and your interviews per deal. The norm is around ten interviews per deal, all rounds combined. If you need more than thirteen, it’s leaking after the interview: in the offer, the counteroffer or another process your candidate is in.

Ask yourself: where did I lose the last one? Close your candidate on salary after every interview, and book the signing moment straight away. How to close that final stage is covered in Closing the offer and Close the counteroffer in your first conversation.

Work back from your target

Knowing where it leaks is one thing. Knowing how much you need is another. So work back from your target, with your own numbers. What target suits you is covered in What counts as good billing for a recruiter? An example with €240,000 a year and the average fee at Greystone, around €17,500:

Six core candidates a month: you find those with around 2h30 of real call time a day. If you can’t manage that with the same call time, you know where to start. The three interviews per candidate in process and the 67% are examples: check them yourself, because with your numbers it can look very different.

You don’t forecast next month in euros, but in interviews: you’re booking those now. Track them every week. Halfway through your working days, you should also have half your interviews. If you’re below that, you know now, not only once the month is over.

Two figures link your input to your revenue. The first is what one interview brings in: your revenue ÷ your interviews, over six months. With a fee of €17,500 and ten interviews per deal, each interview is around €1,750 of revenue in the making. The second is how many interviews an hour of calling brings you: your interviews ÷ your hours on the phone. Multiply them, and you know what an hour on the phone is worth to you. We track those two for every recruiter. Once you know them, you never skip a call block again.

What you tell yourself, and what the numbers say

An example

Say Bram has been working in engineering for two years and hasn’t had a deal for three months. He puts his last six months next to his best six months, last year:

His input is fine: he calls more than before and finds as many core candidates, and they’re just as placeable. The first leak is at step 4: only a third of his core candidates get an interview, compared with seven in ten before. And those who do get into process are usually with just one client.

Step 7 is leaking too. But that’s a consequence, not a cause: a candidate with one interview has no choice, and a client with no competition takes their time. So Bram starts at step 4.

For a month, he presents every core candidate the same week, to at least three clients. After four weeks, half his core candidates get an interview, and one in three is with two clients at the same time. Five weeks later, six processes are running, and two of them are in the final stage.

Checklist

• Every week, you track your call time, your candidates, your processes and your interviews.
• You call less than 2 hours a day: set fixed call blocks in your core hours and check at noon and at 6 pm.
• Your call time drops by more than a fifth: find out why now, not in a month.
• You call enough, but find little: review your search profile, your channels and your pitch.
• Lots of candidates drop out as non-⁠core: find the reason that keeps coming back, and ask about it in your first conversation.
• You find enough, but they don’t get into process: present them this week.
• Your candidates are with one client: present them to at least two more clients.
• You lose after the first interview: find the reason for every lost process, and prepare better.
• You need more than thirteen interviews per deal: look at your offer and the counteroffer.
• Halfway through the month, you have less than half your interviews: adjust now.
• Your pipeline is full, but nothing signs: go through every opportunity and agree the next step for each one.

Frequently asked questions

Is three months without a placement normal?

It happens, even to good recruiters. But anyone who goes sixty days without signing anything should work through their chain. The longer you wait, the deeper the hole, because an interview today only becomes a deal in the weeks that follow.

How much calling should a recruiter do each day?

At least two hours of real call time, ideally two and a half, in fixed blocks between 10 am and noon and between 4 and 6 pm. Only count the minutes on the line.

How many interviews do you need for one placement?

A recruiter on €20,000 a month needs around ten, all rounds combined. Above thirteen, it’s leaking after the interview. Calculate it over six months: all interviews divided by all deals.

What if you’ve just started?

Then you don’t judge your deals yet, but your input and your pace. For us, a good start looks like this: 2h30 of calling a day from the first week, four core candidates by week 4, ten interviews by week 8 and a deal or a candidate in the final round by week 13. If you’re further along, you’re doing well.

If you switch markets, largely the same applies: you’re rebuilding your chain.

What if you can’t measure how much you call?

Then that’s your first job. Call through a phone system or app that tracks your call time. Without numbers you’re guessing, and when you guess, you often pick the wrong problem.

What if your pipeline is full, but nothing signs?

Then the problem isn’t in your chain, but in your follow-⁠up. Go through every opportunity: is the date still right, and what’s the next step? An opportunity that’s past its date and has no next step is no longer an opportunity. Take those out, and you’ll see what’s really there.

When should you ask for help?

When your input is right and you still can’t find the leak, or when your best six months aren’t a good benchmark. We compare every step with the norm for the whole floor, and that way we usually see where the problem is in a single conversation. Doing all this and it’s still going wrong, or want someone to look at it with you? Then a chat with us is worth it.

Sources

• Norms and average fee: Greystone figures, 2026.