Why Select an Agency over in-house Recruitment?

The underlying decision is with the employer, not the recruiter.

It should be a business decision based on proper analysis of the options and which one will yield the best overall results.

Despite the spin that other recruiters may put on things, it’s not rocket science. It’s the management of a process on behalf of a third party to hopefully yield a better outcome than handling matters partly or fully in-house. The very essence of the outsourcing debate.

Most companies outsource in some way but recruitment seems to be particularly emotive and in many ways the industry only has itself to blame as recruiters themselves do not present themselves to the market correctly. In truth, the models we use have been built off the mistakes we have observed along our journey. This piece is therefore a little indulgent but hopefully includes the odd nugget along the way.

From Skills Provisions experience, here are two interesting statistics:

86% of companies are not recruitment ready

80% of the companies have an in-house HR function

Negatives

Recruiters do not listen.

This is a double edged sword; is it that they are not listening or are you not communicating? It takes two to have a conversation. The employer always needs to start the dialogue, recruiters are not psychic. If your recruiter doesn’t listen, don’t use them, move on. On the flip side, recruiters need to be properly briefed to get the best results. Ask yourself are you ready to recruit:

• Do you know exactly how you want your brand to be represented in the marketplace do you have a 100-200 word snapshot available?
• Do you have a detailed job description with full internal sign off, this includes legal and brand checks?
• Do you have a full package defined and documented? The package should be compared to local, national or international markets where you are seeking to recruit, it should be competitive.
• Do you have a draft offer letter and contract of employment ready to be signed and sent off within 24 hours of a decision being made?

If the answers to the above are all yes, then you are ready to recruit in-house or externally, if your recruiter still does not respond with pertinent input then seek an alternative agency.

Recruiters try to offer me candidates they have, rather than what I want

Yes it happens. Why?

• Poor or incomplete communication leaves recruiters guessing at what you want
• Rushing the process because of time constraints
• Unwilling to pay for the talent you want to hire

Skills Provision work on all styles of engagements from SME’s to major multinational companies. We are often brought in when recruitment in-house or through other third parties has failed and the panic button is pressed. Occasionally, a recruiter may get lucky and have a close match in their database, but more often than not it is a necessity to carry out a bespoke search utilising the knowledge gained in the initial exchanges. Results are rarely instant.

Recruiters always tell me I need to pay more than my guidelines permit

The fast identification of a mismatch between a client’s objective and market demands is one of the best services a recruiter can deliver to a client. Take this message on board and evaluate it.

We try to warn clients as early as possible and often turn away invitations to recruit because the package on offer gives us no realistic chance of success. Recruiters dislike tyre kickers and employers soon get a reputation if they are nickel and dimers. Your offering needs to be competitive. If a candidate is earning US$150,000 he/she won’t come to work for you for less. It is human nature.

I keep losing candidates through our in-house processes

We hear this all the time. This is where you need to look at your in-house processes. If you keep carrying out the same actions you will get the same results whatever method you use.

Brace yourself, here comes the top issues recruiters have with clients, they all revolve around communication

• They don’t answer………………………………….fill in the gap. Phone, email, interview booking request, feedback requests
• They continually move the goal posts
• They take too much time to make decisions
• When offers are belatedly made they do not match the offer that was outlined and advertised

In our opinion, especially as the talent war intensifies, in-house recruitment needs to be much slicker to effectively engage with the marketplace directly or via third party recruiters.

Recruiters want to charge me an arm and a leg for their services

Probably the number 1 beef!

Remember, many forms of recruitment are 100% results driven which means the client only pays on delivered results. Recruiters take away a lot of the drudgery associated with recruitment and the ultimate decision comes back to cost benefit analysis. Remember to include a weighting for getting in-house recruitment wrong; time, training and brand damage both internally and externally.

It starts with perception. Do you regard effective recruitment as a cost or an investment?

Recruitment is like an iceberg. You see the 10% above the waterline and this part is the public face of recruitment which is vital to feeding the machine that lies beneath the water. Undoubtedly the most important part of successful recruitment is gathering the information, analyse it and feed the results into the machine.

Early full on exchanges with potential clients are normally without charge and represent a considerable investment by the recruiter.

Much of a recruiter’s time wastage goes on

• Political or visa changes
• Market changes
• Clients change their mind
• Candidates change their mind

It is true that a recruiter can get lucky and earn a tasty fee without much work; but it is equally true that they work tirelessly to find the perfect candidates, everything is moving according to plan and then something goes wrong. All recruiters carry these battle scares.

Skills Provision specialise in filling skills shortages, locally, nationally and internationally. Most clients recognise the value of the service rather than the costs, seeing it as a part of the business development on a flexible and cost effective basis. A full evaluation is carried out on the skills needed and the package being offered prior to a quote being made.

Tell me, what do recruiters bring to the party?

• A third party sounding board
• Reduces your exposure to in-house staff risks, such as illness, pregnancy or staff turnover
• The right recruiter will bring business expertise, improving decision making
• A good recruiter will make sure you are recruitment ready
• Release time back to the business. What is the value of that time to the business?
• Can be turned on and off as required therefore no expensive overheads, payment by results
• Market coverage, you can’t be an expert on everything

Skills Provision is a modern internet based international recruitment agency and thrives on taking skills shortage fulfilment challenges around the world.