How to Best Partner with a Recruiter

Let’s face it, recruitment agencies are often the last resort for many organisations to attract a network of talent for internal vacancies. With more and more qualified and competent Human Resources and Internal Recruitment vacancies being filled, it is not unusual to think that those internally are in a better position to understand the intricacies of their companies and the professional and cultural fit that would best resource their team. There may in turn, be less of an inclination to reach out to 3rd parties through fear of their roles becoming redundant. This however, is certainly not the case. Here at Pace, we instead want to be seen by Line Managers and Internal Recruitment / HR as an extension to their business operation, and not as an alternative. Our expertise across multiple disciplines and talent pool of thousands of active and sometimes more importantly, passive candidates, can provide a bridge to a potential gap in your network and allow you to cover the field more efficiently and adequately.

So, you have decided to test the waters and explore the option of engaging in a recruitment agency to supplement your search or to take full autonomy of an internal vacancy, what happens now? How can you, as a representative of your company, best partner with a recruitment agency to ensure maximum output and results? Is it as simple as coming to an agreement regarding fees and then letting the recruiter handle the entirety of the process? Do you need to continue to be an active player and resource throughout the campaign? Upon successful placement, does the service end there? We are here to take you through four important takeaways to keep in mind when engaging a recruiter and how to maximise their service offering.

Prior to committing to an agency, it is very important to shop around and find the best service that will work for your team and complement your existing working environment. This does not have to be a longwinded process; recruiters are never shy to pitch their story to you in an attempt win your business. However, it is worthwhile to navigate through their LinkedIn, Website, and other social media platforms to paint the best picture of their values, ethics and most importantly, their track record. You also want to gain a deeper understanding of their core disciplines and industries which in turn, will provide you with the ability to make an informed decision as to whether they have the most appropriate market presence to attract relevant talent.

You may at this point, have three recruitment agencies that are eager to work with you (of course!) and that you believe can assist you the most effectively. Some companies, will engage in all three agencies to assist them with their search on a contingent basis, as they believe that by having three agents instead of one, they will be provided with a great spread of candidates at a higher quality. This may in fact be the case, however, here is what recruiters may takeaway from this. If you are giving a role to three agencies, you are essentially providing them with a 33% chance to fill the role. This means (hypothetically) that each agency only needs to give you 33% of their efforts in sourcing for the role and therefore you are not receiving the maximum desired output.

If however, you centralise the recruitment search to a single agency, they will be more inclined to give 100% effort in the recruitment for this role. They do not need to compete or rush their process just to get the a candidate across the line, but instead they will be able to take their time and fully utilise every resource available to them and present only the best and most capable profiles. Instead of sifting through twenty mediocre applicants, you may now only be looking at five or six that tick every box, making it more convenient for you and your hiring team to navigate.?????

Now that you have chosen your preferred recruitment agency for your immediate vacancy, it is now important to have a transparent conversation with your Account Manager / Recruitment Lead and manage your expectations. The first thing that you need to discuss are fees & TCs; some recruiters are?comfortable having a conversation with clients at the end of the recruitment campaign upon placement but the status quo is to negotiate guarantee periods, payment terms and fees from the onset. This sets the expectations for the recruiters so they know what reward they will receive if they put in the hard yards, and for the client so they know how much they will be required to pay if all goes well. It is also important to analyse your company structure and decide whether contingent work or retained work will best suit your business model; there are certainly pros and cons for both. Having this discussion eradicates any awkwardness or back and forth once the perfect candidate has been found and allows for a smoother transition process.

Once the back-end discussions and negotiations have been completed and signed off, it is then imperative to talk ‘non-negotiables’. As a recruiter, there is nothing worse than being half-way through the recruitment for a role to find out that there is a ‘non-negotiable’ that they have not been made aware of, and as consequently now discounting the majority of applicants shortlisted. It is the process at Pace to organise a face to face meeting with you (where possible) to gain the highest level of understanding of professional and cultural fit for your team inclusive of any nuances i.e. language skills, technical experience, software knowledge etc. Having these ‘non-negotiables’ or ‘highly desirables’ help us as recruiters both narrow our talent pool and allow us to expand our network to candidates with the specific requirements that are needed for the role. Therefore, having this discussion in the early stages of the recruitment process provides for a more effective and precise tailor-made agenda.

Flowing on from ‘non-negotiables’, the issue of timeliness is also key to best partnering with your recruitment agency. In some instances, many clients want the vacancy filled yesterday and therefore may put pressure on recruiters to provide profiles within a few business days. Whilst there is no doubt that this can be done at a high-level with the right resources, having a conversation regarding timelines is important to allow the agent to gauge which method of sourcing talent is the most appropriate and effective in each individual circumstance.

Timeliness is also important when it comes to reviewing and providing feedback on profiles sent through at the initial stages. We pride ourselves here at Pace in providing high quality candidates to clients no matter the spec of the role, and evidently if these candidates are actively looking, there is every opportunity that they may be swooped up elsewhere if there is a significant delay in us as recruiters passing on appropriate feedback. Providing this feedback to your recruiter is not only beneficial for the candidates that they represent but is equally important to us internally. There is a chance that we may have missed the mark in our shortlist and need to go back to the drawing board, therefore the quicker that we are made aware the quicker we can reassess.

There are also higher stakes when candidates interview with you and your hiring team. This is an opportunity to gauge the top candidates in our shortlist explore their fit through a lens wider than a piece of paper. We ask that timely feedback again be at the forefront of your mind after interviewing these profiles and act as a matter of urgency. This does not mean that you need to be in a position to offer a role straight off the bat, but instead narrow down your top candidates further and potentially allows us to conduct testing or reference checks to keep them warm and interested so as not to lose out on someone that could be an invaluable asset to your company holistically.

You are successful in utilising the expertise of a recruiter and have found your dream candidate, congratulations! What happens now? Clients may feel that once the placement is made then that ends the working relationship with the recruiter. At Pace, we ensure that this is not the case, and we urge our clients to continue reaching out to us; our service does not stop there. We want to know all about how that candidate is progressing within the company as it gives us such a high level of job satisfaction. We will endeavour to continue engaging with you and maintain regular communications every few months so that you know we are in your corner and here to help wherever and however we can. We like to play a very active role in your company operation and hope that you continue to see the value in what we do and what we can bring on multiple levels.?

See you in two weeks - Happy Scrolling! ??

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Pace VIC are the experts when it comes to our four specialties: Manufacturing & Operations, Procurement, Sales & Marketing and Supply Chain & Logistics. Founded in 1990, we have over 30 years of proven success in placing candidates in exciting and relevant roles. Our team is dedicated to working with forward-thinking and inclusive workplaces to find them top talent.