Why Brief a Recruitment Agency if You Can Just Post an Advert?
- May 13, 2024
There are loads of people looking for jobs aren’t there? Why brief a recruitment agency if you can just post an advert?
It’s a good question and it’s certainly true that there are plenty of people considering a move at the moment, either because they’ve unfortunately been made redundant, or they’re keen to increase their salary due to the cost of living! Nearly 40% of people surveyed by Robert Half recruitment recently said they are hoping to find a new role this year.
The trouble is, even if you pay to advertise your vacancy(ies) with a job board or LinkedIn, there’s no guarantee you’re going to attract the people you actually want to hire. In fact, you’re more likely to attract candidates that just aren’t qualified to do the job. If you’re lucky, maybe 5% will be worth closer consideration. That’s fine if you want to review the applications and dismiss/select accordingly. But with the average number of applicants standing at over 200 for our own adverts this year, would your time be better spent elsewhere in the business?
If you’re advertising for a very specific one-off role, it could be that an advert is the way forward. But if you’re looking to hire for multiple different hires that may be fairly generic, for example an Account Manager, or Business Development Manager you risk being overwhelmed. It’s not just that you find yourself having to wade through pages of irrelevant applications, you can actually damage your brand by not responding to those people you choose not to select. That’s one of the reasons even huge companies like Meta and Google still use external support for their hiring.
Talent acquisition is difficult regardless of what the market is like, there’s rarely a happy medium between suitable numbers of job seekers and vacancies, that’s the main reason recruitment consultancies exist.
By choosing to work with a recruiter and briefing them properly on your requirements, you gain so many advantages that you may not even be aware of (mainly because recruiters so rarely explain them properly). Here are a few:
Access to Passive Candidates
There’s a finite amount of people that can do the job you are looking to fill and fewer still that live in the right place and fit with your businesses’ culture. Many are content in their current roles until the right opportunity comes knocking. Recruiters have access to this pool of passive candidates through their extensive networks and industry connections. Leveraging these relationships, recruiters can reach out to individuals who would not be aware otherwise. If you pick the right recruiter they will pitch your business as well, or often better than you would.
Streamlined Hiring Process
Navigating the hiring process can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. Recruiters streamline this process, saving employers valuable time and effort. From initial candidate screening to scheduling interviews and negotiating offers, recruiters manage every step efficiently, ensuring a smooth and hassle-free hiring experience for both parties.
Brand Awareness
What many people don’t realise is the effect a good recruiter has on your brand in the market. Don’t forget that whoever you entrust with filling your vacancy becomes a brand ambassador for your company. They are speaking directly to the talent pool in your sector and extolling the virtues of joining your business. They are a one man or woman PR agency bigging you up from the rooftops. So, if you pick a good one, you end up bolstering awareness of your brand and hopefully promoting a positive image among potential employees of the future. In the same way, picking a bad one can be a PR disaster…
Pitching your business
Successful recruitment is only possible if you can pitch an opportunity properly. First impressions count and so many recruiters fail because they aren’t able to properly convey what a company does, and why someone might want to join them. An experienced recruiter will invest time in understanding their clients' so that they can actually “sell” the role properly. So many messages or phone calls go unreturned from recruiters or hiring managers that fail to view their role from a candidate’s perspective.
Speed
If you need to hire quickly briefing a specialist agency can be a life saver. It doesn’t matter how good your advert is, it takes time for people to apply, so particularly for freelance roles, the speed at which recruiters can recommend people can make the difference between you completing your campaign/project on time or potentially failing and losing a client.
So, before you embark on hiring think about these things;
- Do I have time to review hundreds of CVs and respond?
- Would my time be better spent elsewhere in the business?
- Would it be better to speak to a professional recruiter first?
If you do choose the recruiter route, only work with them if they can pitch your business back to you effectively. Otherwise, you might find that you not only fail to fill the role, you ruin your reputation which makes it even harder to attract talent in the future.