No Agencies Please
Chris Pestell
HR/Talent Recruitment Specialist | UK | US | Europe | Finding the best HR/Senior Talent for high growth & market-leading businesses ??
The majority of job ads I read on LinkedIn state 'No Agencies Please!'
The apparent reason for this is businesses are trying to save money and that there are more quality candidates available compared to 2019. However, I wonder if there is more to it than this?
Have agencies got to the point where they are struggling to add value for the fees that they charge?
Let's look at the pros and cons of Recruitment agencies;
Cons of using an agency
- Cost is high compare to the service they provide (not all agencies)
- Some agencies just advertise and search job boards (companies can do this for less cost)
- Lack of understanding of the business
- Agencies have a high turnover of staff, meaning businesses don't have a consistent point of contact
- Some recruiters don't listen to what the client wants and therefore becomes a CV sending service
Pros
- Manage the whole process saving business time and money
- Can be an extension to your company if briefed effectively
- Long term partnership/Trusted advisor
- Temp/Interim solutions can be fully managed including payroll
- De-risking the hiring process and manage changing legislation (IR35)
- Offer management, especially in this current market with candidates reluctant to move on due to uncertainty
- By partnering with an agency and will continuously talent pool for you
- New ways of recruiting and using new technology to save time to hire
There seems to be a disconnect at the moment, and recruitment firms (not all) need to innovate and clearly demonstrate value add in relation to cost (if this is the main issue for companies).
Some of the innovations we have seen have been;
- Video profiling
- Different pricing strategies (subscription based)
- Recruitment tech, sourcing AI, intuitive CRM's
- Onboarding programmes
- Offering a tailored service to each client, not a one size fits all service
- Different commission structure, focusing on value add and not making money from placing people
- Consultancy services and Coaching
My thoughts are recruitment consultancies need to be more 'consultative' and become more an extension of an organisation that adds value across the whole hiring and talent landscape. Quality agencies are required more than ever, not just when the market is strong.
'There is a huge amount of talent in this world sat in the wrong seat.'
Our job is to work together and put them in the right seat.
Senior Project Manager | Product Owner | Helping companies run software projects (SAFe, Waterfall, Agile)
2 周Chris, thanks for sharing!
CEO @ The People Experience Hub - Employee Engagement, People and Employee Experience, giving your people a voice
4 å¹´Interesting blog Chris, and I have done this recently myself on roles I've been recruiting. The reason I did it was that I am connected to some fab recruiters like yourself and Kris and will go direct for certain roles. However, for a role I know I can recruit myself I put it mainly to stop the volume of messages I get when I don't, just recruited a developer and even with this comment I received over 100 emails or messages.
Sr. Global HR Business Partner | HR Director | Head of HR | VP of HR
4 年Great quick thought provoker, Chris Pestell! Couldn’t agree with @Sophie Everard more. It’s the moment that I view an agency as a partner when the real magic happens. This is clearly only possible if both entities take the long view. From experience, these kind of agencies are few and far in between but I’ve been nothing but pleasantly surprised when working with your team.
HR Director at Kiwa UK
4 å¹´This is a really interesting point Chris, when I work with an agency I want it to be a partnership - an extension to the business. Get to know the business as if you were a part of it, how does it feel culturally for example, as the agent will be selling the business to candidates. Crucially, providing services/skills/expertise to the business that I/the team can't deliver themselves. Interesting!
Assoc. CIPD, MBA, Pro-Active Forward Thinking Leader
4 年Great points Chris. Like in any business there are some teams that add value and don’t. The more time and effort an agency makes to truly understand a business and its needs the more of a business partner they will be.