Are Recruitment Agencies Worth the Cost?

I suspect that a lot of hirers would say not; “After all they only post an advert, then send me CVs – I could do that!”

I don’t need to tell you that the world’s economy has seen a dramatic slowdown – in terms of aerospace, a crash and burn (maybe an inappropriate analogy). Therefore, it’s understandable that senior management are looking at ways to reduce costs.

Deciding to do without outside recruitment services may look attractive, if you only look at the fees charged, but have you considered the man hours that you and/or your company would need to expend in obtaining quality people for your next hire?

For the purposes of this exercise, I won’t even consider the knowledge of employment law (which is changing as we speak) and best practice that professional recruiters possess.

So, let’s have a look in more detail what you (or your team) would have to do instead of that ‘expensive’ recruitment company:

1. Research to understand what reasonable salary would attract candidates.
2. Research where the most effective places would be to place your job advertisement
3. Search job board databases for suitable candidates.
4. Reach out to LinkedIn community.
5. Sift resultant CVs – assess professional capabilities and certification.
6. Research what other certifications may be equivalent.
7. Obtain by phone, or in person, a candidate’s motivation for considering change and what their needs are.
8. Carry out reference checks, DBS checks (if required), psychometric profiling (if required) and eligibility to work in your country checks.
9. Select candidates for interview.
10. Coordinate candidate interviews, including timings, route to site and possible public transport arrangements.
11. Provide feedback to candidates and elicit theirs.
12. Carry out salary discussions and coordinate acceptance correspondence.
13. If hiring a contractor in the UK: research information to decide whether your company will comply with HMRC’s Off-payroll Working Rules (to be rolled out next April). Are they ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ IR35? It’s not just enough to play safe and say that they’re inside, you may lose the best talent that may be able to make a cogent case to work outside of IR35. Ensure HMRC compliance (is that Umbrella compliant, for example?). Do you even know whether you will be held responsible to make the IR35 assessment?

There are a lot of other activities around the periphery of the tasks outlined above. Will you put aside the time to do these things? Can you put aside the time to do these things? Can you afford others to step away from their primary task to do these things? Are you willing to contact candidates outside your normal working day?

Hirers of NDT personnel

In addition to the above, you will need a recruitment company that understands NDT methodology, industrial sector practice, certification, and product technology. This will enable an informed discussion with your NDT Manager/Level 3, so as to fully understand the nature of the role, so that candidates are briefed accurately and only those who have the competence (not necessarily the bits of paper) are put forward. For example: A PCN UT Level 2 with only weld inspection experience would not necessarily be a good fit for your composites (CFRP) inspection department. Knowledge of the nature of flaws that may occur during manufacture or service life of these parts and their particular indication signatures may well be a key differentiator for you. So just stating that you want PCN UT Level 2 candidates would mean that you would be inundated with irrelevant CVs.

If you want to let someone else to take the load and who understands NDT, then please feel free to contact our Technical Director, Paul Morgan, for a confidential, no obligation chat. Our fees are really quite reasonable!