Hiring the right people is essential for a company’s success, still, many leaders struggle to put a sufficient amount of effort into recruitment processes. They can be lengthy, tiring and full of ups and downs, so delegating the responsibility to an agency is a great solution for most businesses. Choosing the right partners you trust, communicating your needs and receiving candidates can still pose a challenge on the management if they don’t quite know what to expect, and how they are able to help and speed up the process. This article is here to guide you through everything from start to finish!

Why work with an agency?

Working with a recruitment agency is still considered a waste of resources and energy way too often. Companies, especially ones with more employees tend to have a person or a whole team responsible for HR processes, so hiring a separate agent can seem unnecessary. However, general and in-house recruitment require different expertise. Agency recruiters, particularly ones that specialize in a certain field may

• – have a deeper understanding of the market,
• – be able to connect with candidates more effectively and consciously,
• – have a wider comprehension of the market as a whole,
• – have a more diverse network,
• – have a better understanding of competitors’ practices.

Besides being able to take this pressure off of in-house specialists’ shoulders, their network is often broader and more concentrated on people whose abilities include specific skills for jobs that are uncommon. With multiple agents working on a single project, all of their extended and exclusive reach add up, enabling them to deliver the highest quality candidates upon request. Saving you significant time is also one of the many benefits. An agency is responsible for doing most of the time-consuming activities related to hiring new team members, like background checks and legislation reviews.

How to choose a recruitment agency?

Agencies are supposed to more or less tailor their services to each individual client’s needs. However, it is important to do your research on the available services. The first thing you should consider is whether the agency’s client portfolio includes companies and positions that are similar to the ones you wish to delegate over. Some occupations (like IT experts in our case) require specific skills that your recruiters should be able to test. This means that part of these requirements are expected from them as well, as they can be a distinguishing factor between a good and a great candidate. Trusting an agency with this step saves a lot of time for the company if they are willing to rely on the pre-screening done by the partner.

Contract forms are also a factor you should pay attention to. Some companies expect to fill one position at the time, and re-do the settlement upon availability, others prefer long-time partnerships and exclusivity- make sure you are on the same page at the very beginning.

If it comes to the first meeting, it’s worth reviewing how your company standards align, and if an agency is able to understand and righteously represent your company culture, vision and values. Only this way will they be able to attract the perfect people from a talent pool, whether it’s big or small.

In case of this business- size also matters. A lower number of employees does not necessarily mean lower quality of service. On the contrary: it can mean more focused attention on your needs and more personalized delivery methods. However, larger firms have unquestionably wider access to multiple talent pools, it is up to your understanding and perception of their work ethic to decide responsibly.

What to do to help the recruitment agency help you?

1. Give the recruiters a chance to get to know your company

Culture, customs and atmosphere are all important parts of your business. Help the agency get to know the essence and the everydays to receive the most fitting candidates

2. Provide detailed role descriptions

Describe what you are looking for accurately and precisely. List the relevant skills (soft and hard) and also describe the potential candidate’s personality.

3. Give accurate feedback

If you receive fitting candidates that lack some things you need, don’t be afraid to modify your previous descriptions. Give feedback on good and bad things.

4. Improve your response time and process length

There’s always room for improvement. Quick response times and optimized processes attract candidates and are great for the partnership as well.

5. No BS

If you contact your agency, avoid corporate formalities that might hinder the flow of information. Briefly convey all necessary details, and don’t try to beat around the bush.

If you wish to know what such a partnership looks like in practice, make sure to read one of our case studies on our blog!

https://iseeq.co/blog/successful-partnership-with-a-recruitment-agency/

https://iseeq.co/blog/8-things-we-learned-from-recruiting-for-continentals-ai-development-center-in-budapest/

https://iseeq.co/blog/how-to-ace-recruiting-for-a-scaling-business/