If you want the best possible recruitment experience, whether you are hiring for your team or advancing your own career, exclusivity is the secret.

In my 20 years of recruitment experience, much of it spent in Australia’s construction and property sectors, I have seen it all. And here is the truth: the employers and candidates who choose to work exclusively with one recruiter get a far better service, a far better outcome, and avoid most of the chaos the rest of the market seems to accept as normal.

Why? Because exclusivity creates commitment, focus and accountability. It forces the recruiter to actually do the job properly. It means they cannot just flick a few CVs around, hope for the best, and move on. They have to work it, own it, and deliver it.

Of course, not every recruiter wants that. Some prefer a transactional game. Grab some CVs, fire them into inboxes, and cross their fingers one lands. That is not recruitment. That is hoping. The reality is that exclusivity with the right recruiter is the gold standard. And here is the kicker: one good recruiter can do the work of three or four average ones, because they have the network, the knowledge, the career advice, the communication skills, and the ability to ask questions that actually uncover the right information.

So it is not just about exclusivity, it is about exclusivity with the right person. Which means as an employer or a candidate, you need to question, probe and test your recruiter before you trust them with your career or your next business-critical hire.

Here is what usually happens when an employer thinks it is a clever idea to give a vacancy to three or four recruiters at once.

Every recruiter starts with the low-hanging fruit, the active candidates who have been chasing them for a role. Easy calls to make, quick wins if one of them sticks. Then they start digging into databases and black books, sending out emails, texts, LinkedIn messages, and generally hassling anyone they can think of.

Sounds fine, right? Except when three or four recruiters are doing it all at the same time, you can imagine the result. Within days, candidates are saying:

“You are the fourth person to call me about this job.”

Or even better, “I think my details have already been sent, but I have not heard anything back yet… can you chase it up for me?”

Let me be clear. No recruiter on earth is chasing up another recruiter’s submission for you. But candidates still ask, and employers still get frustrated.

At this point, recruiters realise their odds of success are about one in four. And because we are human and like to eat, most quickly decide their time is better spent on roles where they have a 100 percent chance of being paid. So interest fades, corners get cut, and the shortcuts begin.

That is when you start to see:

Worse still, I once worked alongside a recruiter who, if he found a good candidate that had already been presented to one of his clients, would deliberately throw grenades into the mix. He would question that employer’s reputation, culture or pipeline of work to push the candidate away, then re-direct them to another client where he could control the narrative and secure the placement himself. That is what happens in a competitive, transactional environment. Recruiters end up working against your preferred outcome, not towards it.

Yes, the job might still get filled, but the process is messy, reactive, and it rarely delivers the absolute best person for the role.

Think of it like selling your house. You stick four different real estate signs out the front and tell all the agents to go for it.

Day one, they all hit the phones to the same active buyers they have been speaking with for months. By day two, the buyers are saying, “You are the fourth agent to call me about this house.”

The agents then twig that their odds of closing are one in four. A couple of them keep half an eye on it, but the smarter ones shift their energy to another listing where they have a proper chance of being paid.

What happens next? Corners get cut. Appointments are rushed. Buyers are told different stories by different agents. Some buyers start to think, “Why are there so many agents on this property? Is there something wrong with it? Surely they are all hiding something.”

It does not create more interest. It creates confusion and doubt. Buyers lose trust in the process and often decide it is not the right home or the right opportunity.

Now think about that in terms of your business and your team. Do you really want top candidates hearing four different versions of your story, told by recruiters who may be just saying what they think will hook the candidate? That approach risks putting off the best people and it can create unforeseen problems later in the process when a candidate feels they were misled.

Exclusivity allows one recruiter to control the narrative, represent your brand consistently, and properly understand the business they are representing. That builds trust, and trust is what attracts and keeps top talent.

Now let me show you what happens when it is done properly.

Earlier this year, a client engaged me exclusively, on a retained basis, to recruit a Senior Construction Manager.

Step one was a proper deep dive into the role, the culture, the team dynamics, the client base, and the behaviours that would make someone thrive. Then we built a strong Employee Value Proposition and even used a podcast I had recorded with the business owner to give candidates a genuine insight into the company.

Next, we mapped the market. Every single possible candidate who could do the role was identified.

Here is how it played out:

The successful candidate ended up reaching out to me directly after hearing the buzz we had created in the market. From initial brief to signed contract: six weeks.

No duplicates. No shortcuts. No chaos.

This is not just about employers. Candidates benefit massively from exclusivity too.

Here is why:

Before agreeing to exclusivity, research the recruiter. Ask who they actually work with. Which companies do they regularly recruit for? A handy trick: listen for the names of individual hiring managers. If they can confidently say, “I work with John Smith at Company X”, that is a good sign they have a real relationship, not just access to a job ad.

Recruitment has one of the highest churn rates of any industry. Around 80 percent of recruiters leave within their first two years. So if someone has been in the game 10, 15 or 20 years, that tells you they are successful, have built strong networks, and have sharpened their skills.

Do not let any recruiter send your CV without your permission. If they refuse to tell you which company they are submitting you to, and hide behind the “confidential” excuse, be very wary.

Often it is not about confidentiality. It is about speed. Recruiters under pressure blast CVs to as many hiring managers as they can, and if one responds, they come back to you and say, “That is the company I was talking about.”

I am seeing more of this right now. In a quieter market, managers push their recruiters to send more CVs, and the result is candidates’ details being sprayed around without consent. It is sloppy, it damages your reputation, and it shows they do not trust you enough to treat your information properly.

Speak to too many recruiters and your CV will end up in too many inboxes. Employers dislike duplicates, and it does not look good for you either. One recruiter representing you properly means controlled applications, not scattergun submissions.

A good recruiter representing you exclusively will spend time preparing you properly, giving you insights, coaching you for interviews, and positioning you strongly. Because your success is their success.

Whether you are an employer trying to secure the best talent, or a candidate looking for your next move, exclusivity makes the process better.

For employers, it means a recruiter is fully invested, covering the entire market, and telling a consistent story about your business. For candidates, it means controlled representation, confidentiality, and access to a recruiter’s full network and knowledge.

But here is the important part. Exclusivity only works with the right recruiter. Not every recruiter wants to work this way. The transactional ones want to throw CVs around and hope for the best. Some will even work against your interests if it suits them, steering candidates away from your business to another client where they can control the placement. But a seasoned recruiter, with networks, industry knowledge, and the ability to ask the right questions, will achieve more alone than three or four average recruiters combined.

So whether you are hiring your next Senior Project Manager or thinking about your own career move, the rule is simple: choose carefully, commit to them, and let the right recruiter deliver the right result.

And remember, if you would not stick four real estate signs out the front of your house, why would you do it with your hiring, or your career?