According to research, over three quarters of business owners and HR professionals don't feel that recruitment agencies provide value for money. According to IT recruitment specialist Redrock Consulting, this feeling stems from using agencies which advertise and then flood their clients with huge numbers of unqualified CVs, without adding any additional value to the service.
How to get better value for money from your recruitment spend:
1. Ask your recruitment consultant to visit you so that you can give him or her a thorough brief. To properly and efficiently meet your recruitment needs, your consultant should have a complete understanding of the role, the company culture, and what you really want from him throughout the recruitment process.
2. Ask your consultant to provide you with a service offer suited to your need, and get him to price accordingly.
3. Check that your consultant can give you access to ‘non active job seekers' in your search for the perfect candidate. Some of the most sought after recruits are highly experienced professionals who are not actively searching web job boards and job pages, but are interested in being contacted about good opportunities for which they are well qualified. By employing a team specifically focussed on attracting and maintaining contact with this group, a good consultant can effect the introduction of candidates who would never be drawn in by an advertising campaign.
4. Let your consultant know if you'd like to involve him in the interview process. Some conduct a thorough initial screening process in order to form a proper judgement of each candidate before you spend precious time making your final selection from the resulting list of suitable, pre-qualified candidates.
5. Ask if your consultant can provide you with analytical tools to help you assess each candidate's suitability. These range from psychometric and behavioural profiling to industry respected technical competency testing. Some recruiters also offer a comprehensive set of services to support their client after the placement is made, giving guidance on staff retention issues and ongoing process improvement.
While recruitment will never come cheap, a comprehensive and efficient service from your recruitment consultancy will give you a much better and more comprehensive service, enabling you to derive greater value from your spend.
