Companies nationwide are looking at severe staffing shortages after thousands of people quit or changed fields in the last two years. It may be time to consider working with a recruiting agency to build your workforce back up.
There are a lot of great reasons to partner up with recruiting agencies. Job recruiting is an expensive and time-consuming process when you don’t have the right experts in your corner.
That said, not all recruiting agencies are alike. There may be some out there who aren’t delivering on their promises and others that aren’t right for your needs.
We’re here to tell you how to find the perfect recruiting company to partner with this year. Read on as we offer tips and insights that will make the task easier.
Table of Contents
Understand Your Hiring Needs
Before you get started, take the time to analyze what your company needs are. Are you looking to fill one position or several? Are the job requirements similar across the board (ie hiring five junior salespeople) or are they different from position to position (ie hiring a salesperson, an HR representative, and a project manager)?
It’s important that you can vocalize what your needs are. Don’t just send over job listings and let recruiters do the rest. You know what you would be looking for in a candidate, including their background and attitude, and your recruiters need to know all of that, too.
Interview Recruiting Agencies Like Job Candidates
Good recruitment agencies will offer free or non-commital consultations and it’s important that you take advantage of that. Yes, hiring a recruiting agency is, in part, to reduce the time you spend interviewing people. However, you should always interview recruiters as though they were job candidates–because they are.
During your consultation, ask recruiting agencies how they source and screen their candidates. What qualifications do they look for and how do they conduct things like background checks? What kind of timeline are they operating on and how quickly do they tend to fill positions?
Listen to what they’re saying and go with your gut. If the answers add up and you feel good about it, you’re in a good position. If agents can’t offer coherent answers or you feel like something is off, keep looking.
Understand What Different Recruiting Agencies Offer
Recruiting agencies don’t vary in quality, alone. They also vary in what they focus on. Sure, some of the big-name recruiting agencies offer to fill all sorts of positions, but the smaller (and more reliable) firms tend to focus on one specific area.
This is yet another reason that it is important to know what your needs are. If you only want to fill a short-term position, you should partner up with temp agencies so that your new employees know that their position is temporary. If you’re looking for higher-ups, take a look at executive search firms here.
Recognize the Signs of a Subpar Recruiting Agency
Let’s talk about quality issues or those incoherent answers that leave you feeling a little uneasy. What indicates that a recruiting agency isn’t all it’s cracked up to be or isn’t operating in an honest way?
One sign of a subpar recruiting agency is over-promising. They might give you a too-good-to-be-true timeline, offering to fill your vacant positions in a few days. They might promise to find new hires that require no additional training.
Some recruiting agencies offer to fill positions at below-average pay. In other words, they’ll claim that they can find candidates who are willing to accept lower pay than average so that you can get away with paying less than you anticipated. This is a red flag for a number of reasons and constitutes an ethical problem.
Consider Your Budget
While you search for the best job recruiting agencies for your needs, make sure that you’re also assessing your own budget. How much can you afford to spend on a recruiting agency? It won’t do you any good to find a great agency only to realize that you can’t afford their services.
This is also an important opportunity to enquire about pricing. A good recruiting agency will tell you up-front how their billing process works and when they expect payment. If you can’t seem to get clear answers about costs, continue your search.
Take a Closer Look at Recruiter Experience
Take a look at the bios of the recruiters you’re considering. What kind of experience do they have that qualifies them for the job? How long has the agency been up and running and what kind of success rate does it have?
There are a number of pathways to becoming a good recruiter. Many people come from human resources, communications, business administration, and more. The key is to ensure that the recruiters you partner with have a strong background in a relevant field and that their strategy is built on proven results.
Research Reviews
Our final tip is to turn to previous clients for answers. Online reviews are always a great way to learn more about how a recruiting agency operates, what kind of success rates they have, and what to expect when working with them.
Where can you find reviews of recruiting agencies? Review websites like Google Reviews and Yelp are a great place to start. You can also ask recruiting agencies if they can offer any referrals so that you can get in touch with previous clients and ask questions.
Make Job Recruiting Simple With the Right Recruiting Agency
Most industries are facing staffing shortages and employers don’t always have the time or money to conduct the recruitment process in-house. Partnering with recruiting agencies is a great way to solve the problem, and this guide will make finding the right recruiting agency for your needs easier.
Looking for more ways to boost your business this year? Take a look around as we offer tips, industry news, and useful statistics to get your business on the path to success.
