Recruitment landscape has changed over time in many ways. Today, no candidate is knocking on doors through every company they see and tries more than needed to get a job. They know we need them as much as they need us.
With this situation the need for outsourcing has also hiked with unimaginable numbers especially with the curve in technological aspect.
A report by Deloitte reveals that,“50% of executives identify talent acquisition as a top internal challenge in meeting their organizations strategic priorities”Due to this hindrance, the companies opted for the last resort, the recruitment agencies.
Utilizing recruitment agencies can be a hand of help for you to bring ease to your hiring process. But just as we say, every coin has two faces, every solution comes with some problems attached with this.
But don’t you stress out, we are here with this blog discussing the benefits and drawbacks of utilizing recruitment firms.
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Pros and cons of hiring through a recruitment agency.
Recruitment agencies are a boon to the HR world but can be a limitation for them too. Before taking a deeper dive into the topic let’s understand why you should use a recruitment agency and why not.
So, here are the pros and cons of using recruitment agencies:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|
| Time saving: Hiring processes can be time consuming. Recruitment agencies can be utilized to free up the HR team and focus on other important activities. | Costly: Recruitment agencies are costly as they charge fees based on the percentage of candidates hired for the company. This fee can load your recruitment budget. |
| Wider Talent pool: With Recruitment agencies, you can get your hand to a wider talent pool through different channels which might have been a difficult task for you. | Loss of control: When the recruitment process is controlled by agencies, you dodge most of the control in the selection process to them. As a result, you are compelled to rely on their decision. |
| Managing the process: Recruitment agencies can take care of the entire hiring process from sourcing the top talent to scheduling the interview. | May ignore your company culture: No recruitment agency will ever understand and be able to represent your company culture to the employees the way you can. |
4 Must-know consideration while working with recruitment agencies.
Recruitment agencies are not that complex, it’s just that you must know what you are relying upon. Before partnering, always be clear about what to consider when working with recruitment agencies.
Here is a list of the considerations:
- Define your needs: Before choosing a recruitment agency, jot down and define your needs in a structured manner. Clearly identify the role you want to fill and your expectations from the candidate. Set your desired skill set, qualification and cultural expectations.
- Research and choose: Research into the agency’s successful hiring rates, specializations, industry expertise, fee structure before choosing the right one for you. Analyze alternatives with better features and minimal cost in the budget. Prioritize your requirements and identify the perfect fit.
- Descriptive job description: Write a descriptive job description where you briefly state the requirements and expectations. Use a comprehensive approach while writing a job description for the role.
- Clear partnership: Establish a clear partnership with your agency by communicating with them about the progress of the recruitment throughout. You can schedule regular calls and meetings to discuss concerns and get updates about the process.
HROne acknowledges the need to have an external source of recruitment. It provides seamless integration and interaction with multiple recruitment agencies within a single recruitment management software.
Key factors to evaluate while choosing the recruitment agency.
You cannot simply go and choose a recruitment agency which looks fancy to you. You should carefully research, analyze and then choose the appropriate recruitment agency. It might sound tedious, but you must know key factors to evaluate when choosing a recruitment agency.
Here are some key factors that are a must check:
- Expertise in industry: Choose an agency that has a proven record in the industry about their expertise. This will help you to have successful hiring for the specific open position you are looking the candidate for. Make sure you understand your needs and then select a recruitment agency. Clarify your needs to them so that they pick the right talent for you.
- Quality of candidate: Look for agencies that provide qualified candidates to their clients on time. Review the agency’s process and analyze if they can satisfy your needs. Ensure that the agency understands your company culture and select the candidate based on that.
- Costing: Compare different agencies present in the market with respect to their cost-effectiveness. Once you choose your perfect recruitment agency, understand their fee structure and make sure that it aligns with your hiring budget.
- Testimonials: Utilize the power of success rate provided to you by the testimonials and reviews about the recruitment agency. Consider the quality of hire and gather client views for the agency.
- Collaborative approach: Choose a recruitment agency that considers collaborating and communicating with HR throughout the process to share the improvement of the selection. They should value communication with HR in the process to share the concerns and resolving issues.
Having a helping hand is never problematic. Yes, it might have some limitations, but you can always solve the issues by communicating and maintaining a collaborative approach with the recruitment agencies. Now that you know the advantages and disadvantages of hiring through agencies, hopefully it will be easier for you to analyze the need for recruitment agencies.
Third party recruiters can help you with the tremendous pressure by loading off some of your workload and recruiting candidates for you. Good Luck!