by Simon Lythgoe
The jobs market today is candidate driven and incredibly competitive for businesses looking to ensure they get the best people. The time, connections and resources that are required to meet that need can place an onerous burden on internal staff and systems – and may not always deliver the best outcomes. As a result, many businesses today rely on a recruitment agency – there are 4 good reasons why an agency might also be useful to you.
1. Avoid high staff turnover
Working with a recruitment agency means that your business will usually get the benefit of a guarantee period. If an employee who has been recruited by the agency leaves – or is fired - during this time then you’ll normally get either a full refund or a freshly recruited candidate at no additional cost. Most guarantee periods run from between 3 and 6 months, which helps to ensure that your new employees have time to settle in. A recruitment agent can also help to reduce staff turnover simply by picking the right people. The support of the specialist skills and experience of a recruiter can help you to find people who are a better organisational fit and less likely to leave because they’re in the wrong job.
2. Shortening the recruitment cycle
It can take months to conduct recruitment in-house, often taking managers or more senior staff away from their desks for long periods of time. Working with a recruitment agency takes this process outside of the business, freeing up your staff by putting it into the hands of experts. While internal recruitment can be slow and laborious, working with a recruitment agency provides access to a pool of suitable candidates and agents with the insight and experience to vet and identify the right people far more quickly.
3. Improving quality of hire
Recruitment agents are experts who focus entirely on recruitment day in, day out. Most specialise in certain industries or roles and have in-depth insight into what a position requires, as well as the market that it exists within. This provides a wealth of opportunities for finding better people to fill roles so that you can improve your quality of hire. Finding candidates isn’t a problem when working with a recruitment agency, which will have established networks and an existing pool of well qualified people to dip into.
4. An organised and professional process
Many businesses don’t have the resources for a dedicated in-house recruitment team and so the process can appear to candidates to be ad hoc and unprofessional. This does not inspire confidence and may mean losing out on the best people. Working with a recruitment agency ensures that the hiring process is managed swiftly and efficiently and with a degree of professionalism that will impress candidates and encourage them to choose your business over another.
Working with a recruitment agency is a clear, positive choice for many enterprises, especially those without the resources for a dedicated in-house team. If you’re looking to improve the way that your business recruits we can help – contact us to find out more.