How to choose the best recruitment agency for your business
Finding a recruitment agency for your business can be a challenging task, with plenty of pitfalls along the way. That's because selection isn't always easy and rarely straightforward. Perhaps you need to make a hire now, but don't have the time to conduct an extensive research. Maybe you've got some key criteria that must be met. Or it could be that making such an important decision is simply taking you longer than expected.
What is a recruitment agency for your business?
Starting from the basics, recruiters are basically matchmakers at work. They connect companies looking to hire with talented professionals looking to change jobs and work closely with both to ensure that their needs are met. When the hiring company commands the hiring manager to fill the vacancy, a dedicated consultant begins to look for the right candidate, although, in many cases they already have people in mind. So, they are responsible for the whole hiring process.
Why to use a recruitment agency for your business?
- Save time: Avid recruiters find the right people to work as efficiently and effectively as possible through an extensive network and resume database. In addition to sourcing, they also handle most of the time-consuming aspects of the recruitment process, such as screening and initial interviews. Lastly, you can reduce costs in some areas, such as posting job ads, track their performance, overtime, and training costs.
- Find the best fits: With their utmost care and better sourcing ability, they take additional action to procure and screen candidates across multiple platforms. Through telephone interviews, placement tests and tasks they ensure that only those who are accepted by the organization will pass. You get rid of people who aren't the right cast and only advance qualified individuals who can adapt to the goals and objectives of your organization. You can use the time saved to connect to the previous point so that quality candidates are not checked properly and in a hurry.
How to evaluate a recruitment agency
Evaluating a hiring agency of course is a complicated process. It requires extended research and knowing what your end goals are. These are two crucial factors to take into consideration. Working with a hiring company gives you an outside perspective on the entire hiring process, not just potential new hires. This will further focus on the candidate's experience.
This is very important now. The agency you work with, depends on where you want to hire a specialist. The entire team specializes in a particular industry, as different recruiters specialize in different professions. This means that they have an extensive network, know what and where to look for an ideal candidate profile, and know exactly what motivates experts in the field.
So, our most important advice is to conduct this research on the recruitment agencies you are looking at. See their services. Check if they have hiring managers specialized in areas. Such as, tech/IT recruiter, Marketing recruiter etc. It’s very helpful to get feedback for the candidates on point and effectively.
Know what your business needs
If your business is focusing on a specific niche, then for sure you are in search of specific job positions to fill. With a very specific candidate profile based on backgrounds, skills and qualifications. That also makes your search for a recruitment agency much easier as you know where they should be experts at and help you out.
You need also to check the budget you are willing to spend for this partnership. This will be defined directly to what type of business you run. Is it an agency, is it a small and medium sized enterprise? Is it a huge business or organization? That plays an important role to your budgeting and of course on the predetermined cost for a job position. Have in mind that, professional hiring agencies will have a catalog with separate prices for each category mentioned above.
4 tips to select a recruitment agency
Let's go. Let's check the most important tips that you need when selecting a recruitment agency for your business:
1. Shortlist only the hiring agencies that fit your criteria
Save your time with relevant agencies because trust us, there are hundreds out there providing hiring process procedures. As we mentioned above, answer the question: What kind of hiring company do you need? If it’s a short-term employee then a temporary agent is the ideal. For more upscaled roles, like executives & managers then headhunting agencies are the best.
For a full-time employee, traditional consulting is just the right choice. It's important to remember that there are also niche agencies. Unlike typical agencies, this recruiting agency has the advantage of finding talented people who are truly specialized in the field. why? Because, they help fill the position faster by understanding the talent gap in the market and providing the most suitable candidates for such professional roles. I'm writing about a wide range of different types of recruiters here.
2. Make clear your criteria for the person you are searching for
List important questions such as the number of positions you need to fill. The job type, part-time, full-time, contract, internship. The way of working if it’s going to be on-site, hybrid or fully remote. The experience level for example, entry, senior, expert. These basic questions help companies guide the right people accurately and accurately. Don't be afraid to talk about your company. There are many points to discuss: Company background. Company mission and vision. Company values. Existing corporate culture. Description of working environment. If you find common ground to all these, then go for it!
3. Check internally how the recruitment agency works and their recruiters
Learn as much as you can for the hiring company as they are going to be your partners. As they will get to know a lot of things for your company and needs, you need to find out at least the following.
- Their existence in the niche area
- Their hiring succession rate
- The other companies they have partnered with
- Their selection process time and the steps they follow on hiring the best fits. This will make it clearer if they are the right ones for you or not
- As for their recruiters you can check their experience and working background, their succession percentages and area of expertise. Check also testimonials.
4. Evaluate and agree on a win-win budget
Our last tip is to evaluate and agree on a win-win budget: We mentioned it again above, but it is really important to negotiate the budget for the best of both sides. Many surveys conclude that companies spend a lot of money on hiring processes. So, make smarter moves, not expensive ones.
Currently, recruiter fees depend on the position you want to fill. They consider the following factors: Number of positions to be filled. Types of industries to be met. Type of work. Types of staffing and expected salary for work.
It may seem costly at first, but think about long-term profits. Every employee is an investment. They can think about how they can contribute to the organization and derive potential benefits from it!
Now choose a recruitment agency and get the work done!
Remember that the best recruitment agency will be a partner that you can trust, and they'll be someone who's invested in your business' success. They're going to work as hard as you are to grow your team, and they'll always be available to answer your questions or address any concerns you have.
What if you made a wrong decision?
After your selection here comes the evaluation you need to do. If you find out that your choice of the agency is wrong then don’t panic. It can happen to anyone. The two biggest mistakes people make when partnering with a hiring company are either choosing the wrong one or not engaging in the process properly. If you deal with the wrong agency an offer will be made and accepted.
There is a real risk that the "big candidate" may not be as good as expected. Candidates look good on paper and are often encountered in interviews, but may not fit into the right culture. This happens more often than you might think and can have a significant impact.
If you need to repeat the entire process, from creating a job ad, reviewing your resume to conducting an interview, the time and cost of hiring one person is effectively doubled. It goes without saying that the increased stress of finding someone else, the time constraints of deadlines, and the fact that bad hires come and go can all have a negative impact on the morale of the team.
Depending on the terms agreed, getting a good agency usually means getting a refund or starting looking for a replacement right away.
We can help you find the right recruitment agency for your business!
If you are still unsure about which recruitment agency you should partner with, then check Loopcv. Our platform can help your company by finding the right fit candidates. You can save time from research. And you can be at peace for making the right choice! Will you miss this offer?
Take a look here.