Whether you’re part of a large multi-national organisation or a small start-up/SME, getting the right people on board is essential. The key word here is ‘right’, and what’s right for your organisation may not be right for the next.
This is proving to be a big challenge in the current competitive climate, with many employers missing out on hiring top talent as they lack the time and resources required to scout for candidates internally. Our recent survey highlighted this fact, and our findings divulged that 67% of employers admitted that they lost talent in the interview to hire process in the last year. As a result, many organisations are turning back to trusted recruitment partners in an effort to combat this market difficulty.
However, recruitment agencies are only as effective as your approach to them. Here are a few things you should do to get the most out of your recruitment partner and create a longstanding and successful relationship.
Talk
There is no substitute for a face-to-face meeting, at your premises if at all possible, so that the recruiter can get a feel for your organisation, your team, where the role sits in relation to the business and get an overall feel of the work environment and culture of the organisation. This will ensure that your consultant will have a clear understanding of your requirements from the beginning.
Once the process commences, it is them important to ensure that you don’t close the doors of communication – give feedback at every stage of the process. The only way to hone a business relationship is for honest, constructive two-way communication.
Ask questions
To optimise your results from a recruitment agency, you need to ask questions and get involved in the recruitment process. A good recruiter will have his or her thumb on the pulse of the recruitment market with up to date knowledge on the talent pool available, market conditions, new regulatory changes and legislation being rolled out across a particular industry and up to date salary expectations. A good recruiter will know what your competitors are currently offering in the market, what the professionals on the market are expecting from their next move, and will offer advice readily on where you sit in comparison to your competitors. Creating open lines of communication with your recruitment consultant will go a long way in creating a more collaborative and successful recruitment process.
Seek advice on how to sell your organisation
When a recruitment agency presents you with an excellent shortlist of candidates that you call for an interview, we have done 75% of our job. Once this element of the process is complete, it is now the responsibility of the company to do the selling to the candidate. In a highly competitive candidate driven market, good candidates on the market typically have a multitude of opportunities open to them. No matter how much you like a candidate, if they don’t have a good experience of the interview process or, they don’t get a good feel for the company — it can be a back to the drawing board situation.
Whether you’ve held interviews in the past or not, it’s a good idea to ask the recruitment firm for advice on how to conduct interviews. Here at Lincoln Recruitment, we offer our clients advice on good questions and engagement techniques for interviewers for entry level roles right up to senior executive hires. We can provide you with good insights into the questions you should be asking for the role in question. It will allow you to probe deeper into the candidates and ensure that you are able to choose the best match for your organisation.
Consider exclusivity in your job advertisement
Incentivising your recruitment consultant can be one of the best ways to get a job filled fast. While it may appear to be a good idea to have a number of recruitment agencies looking for the best candidate, it may work against you. Since it is not possible to dedicate equal time to all the agencies to follow-up on their progress, you will not create a strong relationship with your consultants, and hence chances are you will not get the results you are looking for. Also, managing many recruitment agencies works to your disadvantage and derails you from the main reason you enlisted their services to begin with, which is to save time in the hiring process. If we are recruiting for a type of candidate in high demand for you, you can be assured we are recruiting the same role for multiple other companies in similar industries. When a golden carrot of an exclusivity arrangement is dangling above a certain role – it is prioritised.
Ultimately, recruitment firms are responsible for so much more than simply helping you to find your next employee. No employer is looking to simply fill a position, they want to hire a candidate who can play key roles in the growth strategy of the company. When you can tap into the knowledge and expertise of an experienced recruitment firm throughout the process, it can play dividends quickly now, and in the future.
If you would like assistance with market information, interviewer preparation or up to date salary benchmarking, please feel free to contact a member of the Lincoln team and we would be delighted to assist you +353 1 661 0444 / info@lincoln.ie.
