Whether your business is searching for staff or looking to build for the future there are many benefits to using a recruitment agency to find the staff you need.
How do you pick the right recruitment agency?
Well, that’s the million-dollar question. The type of recruitment agency you hire will be based on many different criteria specific to your company. The money available and the needs you have for the role you are hiring for all have to be taken into consideration, but the determining factor is likely to be the size of your company.
What Specific Issues Do Smaller Companies Face When Hiring a Recruitment Agency?
Cost is potentially the biggest factor if you are a smaller company and you may be forced to look at cheaper, more generalist recruitment agencies. A generalist recruiter will hire for a wide range of industries and the agency’s talent pool is likely to have a broad spectrum of different candidates. The agency will not pick candidates for any specific field but will have a pool that they put forward for all positions they are tasked to hire for. This raises the problem that the candidates they send to fill the vacancies you have may not have the required skill set for the job you are advertising for.
A cheaper recruitment agency may also be less experienced or may even be a start-up. This isn’t always a bad thing, but newer companies with less experience will still be learning and may not yet have found their feet. Whilst mistakes are tolerable in most fields, it can be difficult to overlook where recruitment is concerned.
What About Medium-Sized Companies?
Compared to smaller companies, medium-sized companies will probably have a larger budget available when hiring a recruitment agency and this may allow them to hire a more expensive, more experienced and a more specialist agency for their recruitment needs. Being able to hire a specialist recruiter is key as a specialist recruiter will concentrate on a specific industry and it is more likely they will have tested and pre-screened candidates so they have the requisite skills for the jobs in your sector. The problem with these kinds of recruiters is that they are generally far more expensive.
Another issue larger companies face is that their recruitment needs overall will be greater because they will have more staff. The more staff you need to hire the more difficult it will be for the agency to keep finding good candidates.
But What if Your Recruitment Strategy Is Failing You?
It can be incredibly frustrating for employers when they don’t see positive results after putting a significant amount of time, effort, and money into developing what they think is a robust recruitment strategy. But have you ever wondered why your strategies have failed? It’s easy to point the finger at the recruitment agency and put all the blame on them but sometimes the problems start much closer to home. Have you communicated your strategy and needs to the agency properly? Have you set them sufficient goals and targets? Is your employer brand strong enough?
Don’t jump to the assumption that the agency is the main or only problem with your recruitment strategy. Look at your own practices and make sure you’re doing everything you can.
Alternatives You Should Consider to A Recruitment Agency
More and more companies these days are looking for other ways to entice potential employees without the need for an agency. From social media advertising, to employee referral programs, to job fairs, there are a wide spectrum of measures you can take yourself and a plethora of tools available to help, including Recrur, the leading tool for helping employers manage their own recruitment. Take a look at Recrur’s homepage today and see how this tool could help your business.
WRITTEN BY
Meery Reisi
Recruiter and client success manager. Meery’s experience in organizing talent across different industries has helped many employers and businesses improve their recruitment and hiring.
