Top 6 tips – Selecting the right recruitment partner
Is your recruitment partner the right fit for your business?
If you are looking for help with your recruitment, there are several things that you might want to consider before making your final choice. Below are our top 6 (often overlooked) things to consider when selecting a recruitment partner:
Number 1 – Suitability
The first thing you should consider when taking on any agency, and giving them a mandate to speak to people about your business, is how you want them to interact with your customers (in this case candidates). This is true whether you are considering recruitment, PR, market research, or social media management. The tone of voice you, or your agency partners utilise affects your brand, so checking your recruitment partner is talking to people in the right tone of voice is critical. Check out their blog, read some social media content, and review previous job adverts to find out how they speak to their audience.
Number 2 – Working Practices
Does the business you are considering working with act professionally at all times? To save yourself headaches down the line, you may want to ask questions about compliance and ethics. Can your potential recruiter demonstrate that they have policies in place to ensure GDPR compliance? How do they store their records? Can they describe how they would handle a conflict over candidate ownership? Do they provide a Good Recruitment Guarantee and minimum service levels?
Number 3 – Locality
Is the company you are considering geographically close you? If not, will they have a database of candidates, and a network they can leverage to give them the best chance of finding you the right candidate? Not having a local network does not mean they will not be able to fill your vacancy, but it might make it more difficult, or take longer.
Number 4 – Specialism
Does your recruitment partner specialise in your industry or have experience recruiting the sorts of positions that you need help with? Can they demonstrate this. Do they have clients in a similar field that would be able to provide a testimonial?
Number 5 – Experience
They say they are experts in their field, but is that really true? Check out your recruiters LinkedIn profile to see how much experience they have in the industry? Have they jumped from company to company after each probation period ends, or do they have a demonstrable history of success?
Number 6 – Price
This is last on the list for a reason. In recruitment, as in life you generally get what you pay for. If you are considering a recruitment company based on them being the cheapest option, or offering fixed fees you may want to ask yourself why they are not in line with the market rate. Do they lack experience, or are they cutting costs somewhere in the process that might impact on you filling your role in a timely manner? If so, how will that impact on the range and quality of candidates they can provide?
Not all businesses work well together. Make sure you ask the right questions to ensure you are selecting the right recruitment partner for your business!
