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5 reasons to use a recruitment agency

With the rising popularity of LinkedIn and the continued drive to reduce operating costs, it can be tempting to try to go it alone when it comes to finding new staff for your organisation. After all, your managerial or HR staff know more about the type of people you’re looking for than anyone else, so surely they should be dealing with recruitment themselves, shouldn’t they?

On this month’s blog we’re looking at why that may not be the case and some of the reasons you should seriously consider outsourcing to a recruitment agency.  

1.      It can save you time

Recruiting a new member of staff is about more than just meeting a few candidates, picking one and welcoming them into the fold. You’ll need to:

• ·         Write an ad
• ·         Work out where to place the ad
• ·         Go through potentially hundreds of applications to whittle them down to the top few
• ·         Schedule appointments for interviews
• ·         Verify candidates’ information to ensure they have the qualifications they state.
• ·         Write meaningful questions and conduct interviews
• ·         Provide feedback to candidates – it’s surprising how time-consuming simply sending some emails can be.
• It adds up to quite a lot of time doesn’t it? Hours spent on tasks that don’t offer a good return on investment. What if instead you could simply have a conversation with a recruitment consultant, receive support through the interview process and all communications were dealt with for you? 

2.       It can save you money

Putting your ad in all the right places costs money. The best job boards charge hefty fees to promote single jobs. By using a recruitment agent you’ll benefit from their volume of postings, potentially saving a significant amount of money.

While if you’re paying current staff overtime or giving them time off in lieu when they do extra hours to cover recruitment, you may find it’s cheaper in the long run to just outsource the task completely. And remember, from production line to senior management, seeking out the very best recruits will pay dividends when it comes to their results.

3.       It’ll improve your reach

Yes, social media platforms are a useful way to get your job advert seen by lots of people. But you are restricted by your network and your followers’ engagement. And put simply, your followers are following you because they’re interested in your goods or services, not necessarily because they’re looking for a job. A good recruiter can potentially put your message in front of a large number of people that you wouldn’t usually have access to.

They will have a pool of warm candidates they keep in touch with, potentially even those who are not currently, actively seeking work but are the right fit for the role. As an in-house team it can be hard to find those people who have the right skills but aren’t online looking for work.

4.       Specialist knowledge

Your recruitment firm can act as your eyes and ears in the market, providing advice about the type of job you’re recruiting for. They can give guidance on salaries and expectations and the calibre of candidates you can expect to find. Up-to-date information about how much you should be expecting to pay your new staff member can be particularly useful, allowing you to manage negotiations with confidence.

A good recruiter will be able to guide you through the process, working with in-house staff to make it as efficient as possible.

5.       Reducing stress

Are your in-house staff trying to perform the recruitment role on top of their regular duties? If so, this may be having a knock-on effect on the performance of their those duties leading to demotivation and feelings of stress.

Outsourcing your company’s recruitment will lift the burden. Often short term or temporary vacancies can cause the biggest headaches, particularly if there was little warning of the need.  Partnership with a recruiter can reduce the feeling of panic by giving you quick access to a large pool of good quality candidates that are able to step into the role and keep the wheels turning.

A poor recruitment choice can potentially lead to an increase in training and performance management costs. Or even, in the worst case, the need to re-hire costing you both time and money. Most recruitment agencies work on relationships. The longer you work with yours the more they will get to know you and your organisation and understand which candidates will fit best within your team. Consequently, as time goes on the recruitment process will take less of your time.

What’s more, remember that the best candidates will have their pick of the jobs that are available in the market. It’s vital that you make your recruitment process slick and professional to give the best possible first impression of your company. That way you increase the chance of your first choice picking you over your competitors.

If you’d like to learn more about how Nu Staff could help with your recruitment needs, contact us on:  01291 628888 or email info@nustaff.co.uk