Recruitment Agencies - What they are and how they work

Attracting qualified talent in today’s competitive market can be challenging and the recruitment and hiring process is often time-consuming. To engage skilled workers and make hiring more efficient, many organizations are turning to recruitment agencies.

A recruitment agency works on behalf of a company to help fill open positions with qualified candidates, including sourcing and vetting individuals and presenting top talent to hiring managers. ?

If you’re considering partnering with a recruitment agency, here’s a high-level overview of what to know before you get started: ?

How a recruitment agency works

The right recruitment agency can help your company source skilled workers by streamlining the recruitment process. As is the case with initiating any business partnership, understanding how the engagement works and preparing for productive discussions with prospective agencies ahead of time is important.

Below are some common steps involved in working with a recruitment agency.

1. Defining business and recruitment needs

Think about the skills gaps and roles you need to fill to achieve broader strategic business objectives. During this step, identify the hard and soft skills required to succeed on your team and whether full-time, in-house workers or independent professionals?are the best fit for each role. Based on this information, prepare job descriptions?to share with prospective agencies. While some agencies will help write job descriptions or job profiles, being proactive and approaching agencies with as much information as possible is helpful.

2. Evaluating and selecting an agency

Based on the requirements you outlined, search for an agency that can best support your recruitment needs. Some criteria to take into consideration as you vet agencies include industry expertise, success rate, recruitment process, pricing, and customer reviews. Also ask the agency if they have a guaranteed timeline for filling roles, as engaging qualified talent quickly can help your organization avoid lost productivity due to skills gaps or talent shortages on your team. ? ?

3. Agreeing to terms and signing a contract

A key step in partnering with a recruitment agency is ensuring the payment and contract terms align with your budget, legal requirements, and expectations. The pricing structure?for some recruitment agencies is retainer-based, while others charge a fixed percentage of the worker’s salary. Additionally, some agencies offer a guarantee period, during which they will search for a new candidate if the initial hire isn’t the right fit within a set window of accepting an offer. ?

4. Receiving and reviewing top candidate profiles

Once expectations are set, the recruitment agency will source and screen workers, saving your internal talent acquisition?and recruiting team time that can be reallocated to other strategic business priorities and responsibilities. The most qualified profiles will be shared with your team for review and consideration.

5. Making final hiring decisions

One of the drawbacks of working with a recruitment agency is that it can depersonalize the process. While the recruiters at agencies do their best to match talent with the skills and qualities needed to succeed on your team, asking your internal team to interview top prospective team members?and make final hiring decisions is a key step in creating a successful partnership.

Typical recruitment agency responsibilities

Depending on your company’s specific staffing needs and the recruitment agency you choose, responsibilities can vary. With some contracts, the agency oversees the entire recruitment and hiring process, while in others the company that engages the agency takes more of a hands-on approach and retains more ownership over the process.

Some examples of recruitment agency responsibilities include:

• Posting opportunities on job platforms. Established recruitment agencies maintain a list of top talent sourcing channels where they post open jobs or projects. Channels may include the agency’s jobs page, agency newsletters, social networks, networking groups, traditional job boards, and industry-specific job boards. If you have a specific sourcing channel or job platform in mind, consider requesting that the agency include the channel in their sourcing process.
• Building relationships with talent.?In addition to attracting new prospective applicants using traditional sourcing channels, experienced recruitment professionals often have strong existing networks of qualified talent. By building relationships with skilled professionals over time, the recruitment agency may already have an ideal individual in mind when they begin the search. ?
• Interviewing and evaluating talent.?When recruitment agencies receive applications, they conduct one or more interviews to filter out individuals who aren’t a fit and determine top talent with whom your team should meet directly. Some recruitment agencies may also have talent assessments?or other related steps in the process to more effectively identify qualified individuals.
• Facilitating final interviews with hiring managers.?After evaluating candidates, the agency shares a shortlist of top talent and schedules final interviews with internal teams. This helps eliminate the back and forth often required between prospective team members and hiring managers to confirm availability.
• Extending offers and handling negotiation.?Once a decision is made, the recruitment agency reaches out to the individual with the company’s job offer. They also serve as an intermediary for any negotiation discussions, which can save your team time and support an engaging experience, as candidates will have one point of contact throughout the entire process.
• Overseeing onboarding and administrative paperwork.?While some agencies are exclusively recruitment-focused and only involved until a worker is hired, others offer full-service staffing services. Full-service agencies manage onboarding and related paperwork, including payroll and benefits, for the duration of worker’s time with a company.

Types of recruitment agencies

Selecting a recruitment agency isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach and several options are available to support your organization’s short- and long-term hiring objectives.

Types of recruitment agencies include, but are not limited to:

• Traditional recruitment agencies.?The primary role of a traditional recruitment agency is to match workers with companies. Organizations of all industries and sizes engage this type of agency. Depending on specific service offerings, traditional recruitment agencies often have options for companies to fill different types of roles, including temporary, contract, contract-to-hire, and permanent positions. ?
• Temp agencies.?As the name suggests, a temp agency?connects businesses with talent for temporary, short-term, and project-based work. Companies often turn to temp agencies for additional help on specific projects or during busy periods. For example, an accounting firm may engage a temp agency for administrative support during tax season or a retailer may bring on temp workers during the holidays. ?
• Contingency recruitment agencies.?Companies typically partner with contingency agencies or independent contingency recruiters to fill a specific position. The agency or recruiter is only paid if a successful match is made and the role is filled, often referred to as, “no win, no fee.”
• Staff augmentation agencies.?This type of agency helps organizations bring in qualified, temporary workers who possess in-demand skills. In the past, staff augmentation?was most often used to fill technology-specific skills gaps, but organizations now partner with staff augmentation agencies to find talent with a wide range of skills.
• Specialised agencies.?When companies are looking to engage talent in a specific industry or focus area, they often turn to a specialised agency. These agencies have expertise in specialised industries (such as technology, engineering, or design) or roles (including leadership and executive positions).

How to choose a recruitment agency

The people on your team are the heart of your business and central to long-term success, so if you plan on engaging a recruitment agency, selecting the right one requires thoughtful consideration. Look for an agency that understands your industry and focus area, fits with your budget, and will make your overall recruitment process more efficient.

As you evaluate different recruitment agencies to select the right one, ask the following questions about each:

• What is the agency’s focus area?
• Which specific services does the agency offer?
• How skilled and diverse is the agency’s talent pool?
• How much experience does the agency have with filling roles in your industry or that align with your skill requirements?
• What is the agency’s pricing structure and does it fit with your budget?
• Can the agency customise its service offerings or pricing based on your company’s specific needs?
• What does the agency’s step-by-step sourcing and recruitment process look like?
• What is the agency’s estimated or promised timeline for filling open roles?
• Does the agency have a positive reputation based on client and worker reviews or industry awards?
• How does the agency handle placements that end up not being the right fit? ?
• How will the agency improve or add value to your current recruitment process?