Things to Consider When Choosing a Recruitment Company for Your Business

Recruiting new staff for any business can be an effort. The process can be long and difficult and require many rounds of interviewing before you’re certain you’ve got the right fit. Even when the new hire is in place, and there’s the excitement and sense of possibility of having a new dynamic in the team, there’s still the element of “will they fit?”.

Additionally, the process is reliant on the skills of the interviewing team, who may only experience that situation once or twice in a year, if that. Choosing a recruitment professional can cut out a lot of the more time-consuming elements of hiring, but how do you go about choosing the right company?

Do you need a recruitment company?

There are specific aspects of the hiring process which a recruitment company will take care of for you. If you’re in any doubt as to whether you should engage their services, this checklist of questions might help:

• Are you certain your advertising will be targeted enough to reach the right talent pool for your vacancy?
• Do you have time to go through CVs and application forms thoroughly enough to form the right shortlist, or will it impact on business efficiency?
• Have you got any experience of sitting on an interview panel?
• Once you’ve made your selection, are you in a position to get the new candidate onboard in such a way that they’re happy to accept your offer and ready to work?
• You might be up to date on industry news as far as day to day operations are concerned, but are you up to date with the current developments in the job market?

If you’re answering “no” to even one of those points, you probably need to start looking for a recruitment partner.

How to choose the right recruiter

Not all recruiters are created equal, so choosing the right company is of equal importance to making the right hiring decisions. They should be:

• Experienced in your industry – choosing a firm that knows which candidates are out there (sometimes even specific individuals they might approach personally for you) is crucial. In addition to recruiting, they are likely to be as knowledgeable about your industry as you are, attending seminars and networking functions, and finding out who is out there, and more importantly, actively looking for a career move!
• Within a reasonable distance – working with a recruiter at the other end of the country might not be a total dead loss when filling top-level vacancies, but very little can beat local. The job market, especially within certain sectors, can often seem to have its own micro-climate, and a firm that’s close by will understand the area’s immediate ebb and flow far more readily. Additionally, it gives you greater peace of mind to have a recruitment partner you can visit from time to time without travelling for hours.
• On top of new technology to speed up the recruitment process – an effective recruiter won’t just be using job sites to find talent, they will be making good use of appropriate social media and other networking platforms to make sure they can contact the best candidates available.

Summary

The most valuable things the right recruitment company can give you are time and experience. You might know your industry, but they know the personnel within it, and beyond that, who is likely to be a good fit for your business.