The benefits of using external recruitment agencies

Some benefits for using external recruitment agencies…

Now, I know people will have their reasons not to use external recruitment agencies, but I thought I’d write a few points on how and why we actually benefit candidates and clients.

1. Picking the best candidates

Many of the permanent candidates I come across are passive and aren’t actively looking to move on. If an external recruiter with genuine intentions approaches them about an opportunity to progress their career, it’s likely they will respond. Again, one of the benefits of being external is we have the time and focus to look for those passive candidates.

Passive candidates may also feel less pressure to talking to an external recruiter about moving on as there is no feeling of obligation to a particular company to begin with.

1. Boost the brand/recognition

Building good relationships with a select number of recruiters is a great way of marketing your company for future roles and general recognition within the market, big or small. If they have a good experience recruiting for you and can really understand what your company is about, they will naturally say amazing things about the company and do some free marketing through talking directly to people within your industry.

On the flip side, it works the other way round too e.g. when companies get candidates to come in to interview but then give very little or no feedback at all, those candidates will feel very unfairly treated and spread the word on their experience.

1. Time and Money

If you haven’t got a specialist recruiter for the position you’re recruiting for internally, using external agencies can potentially save the company money. Yes money!  In that you wouldn’t be burning time (where time= money) searching for the right candidate, when you can use an external agency who will do the search for you with a view of getting a good ratio of quality candidates sent forward, interviewed and placed. 

If internal recruiters/hiring managers need to advertise, call round, review CV’s, feedback to candidates, arrange interviews or tasks, feedback again etc... this literally  is a day job in itself! Yes this is also the job of an internal recruiter but if you have multiple roles with multiple disciplines it can be very hard to cover all of them effectively on top of the other internal responsibilities they will have within the business like on-boarding candidates and coordinating requirements.

1. Interview preparation

External recruiters can take the time to sit down with a candidate before an interview and go into length about the company, questions you will be asked, what to prepare, what to expect etc without feeding them answers necessarily but ensuring a thorough and informative conversation is had by both sides in order for the right decision to be made.

I have gained great feedback from candidates and clients for taking the time to create a tailored experience and in turn a very swift and smooth hiring process, all being well.

1. Market intel

We speak to a range of potential candidates and clients constantly! We are therefore in the fortunate position to be able to give insight into whose moving where, what companies are doing what, pay rate/salary comparisons etc. So talk to us! We’re here to do more than just send you CVs.

1. Specialist knowledge (This is not every recruiter, I know!)

Because external recruiters only have a one profession they focus on (normally!) they can again take time to go to meet ups, read books, take courses as well as talking to candidates and clients in the market on a daily basis. Having the time to gain knowledge like this could be invaluable for the more niche roles and really acting in a consultative way instead of just pushing CV’s to companies based on a key word search.

1. Piece of mind

One of the great benefits of working with a trusted recruitment partner is that we should be able to filter out anyone who’s not the right fit. Sometimes this means more than just someone who doesn’t match what’s written on the brief. By meeting our candidates, taking references and perhaps having worked with particular candidates before we can really understand who will also make the grade culturally not to mention weed out who the ones are that look good on paper but perhaps prove unreliable (or worse!) in reality. This can’t always be guaranteed but we’ll always strive to ensure we take enough measures towards a successful placement long after any interviews have taken place.

1. It’s free until someone is placed. What’s to lose?