Engaging the services of a recruitment firm is often viewed as a cost that is unnecessary or ideally avoidable. But if you have an IT issue do you ask your Accounting team to sort it out? Or if there is a need to review your HR policy and procedure do you turn to your Marketing division? The cost of a bad hire to your budget, as well as your culture, can be devastating. Below we review some of the ways that using a recruitment agency can actually reduce your costs:
1. Precious time and resources
For many years now the battle to obtain the best talent has been an ongoing challenge for many organizations. Even in the current scenario, with unemployment rates quite high in Australia, it has been proven time and time again that competition is quite high when you are trying to secure the best of the best in the market. Budgets are tight and HR departments and hiring managers have increased pressure on them to make a hire that will count in the business, adding real value. Sifting through hundreds of applications and assessing candidates that are not always honest about their motivations for a role can become a long and arduous process. Working with a corporate recruitment agency can turn month long searches into days and have your valuable management and HR teams back focussing on business-critical issues.
2. Do what you do best – and outsource the rest!
An employment agency has trained Consultants that use multiple methods of assessment to make unbiased appraisals on applicants – and they do this multiple times a day, every day. They know what is happening in the market outside of your business and why candidates may or may not be applying for the right reasons.
They are also talking to not only the active market but the passive market where around 85% of people that aren’t actually looking for jobs – are willing to look at job opportunities presented to them. If you speak to corporate recruitment agencies many will tell you that a high percentage of their quality placements are made with candidates from the passive, not active market.
Many Managers are asked to handle recruitment when it isn’t their forte. Similarly, many HR departments are relied upon heavily to look after recruitment matters, but are they experts in all areas of business, and do they have the networks needed for highly successful results?
3. The Guarantee
Even the very best attraction, screening and assessment methods are unable to show an organisation exactly how a new employee is going to fit in to their culture, the job role and the management style of their direct superior. This is where the guarantee that is in place when you pay for the services of a recruitment agency stands out as an incredible cost saver. If the hire does not work out for any reason, you have the support of a team of professionals to replace the person without an additional fee. If you take into account the cost of a bad hire not once but twice, to your time, culture and budget, I am sure you will agree that having this insurance policy is a definite cost saver.
4. The all-important temp option/resource that agencies bring to the table!
Ever run through a recruitment process and find a candidate that you thought was an excellent option for your firm, but had a niggling uncertainty that you just could not ignore? As a recruitment firm is selling your organization to the candidate, just as much as they are selling the candidate to you, there is a higher likelihood that they will convince the candidate to ‘try before they buy’ without harming the relationship. They can then also manage the relationship, the admin, the payroll, etc until you make a decision as to whether a permanent position should be put on offer.
And speaking of temp, how valuable is it to have an organization that knows your business back to front, ready and available to find you an immediate resource when a need arises? If you have a good relationship with a recruitment service in Australia they will put you first and send top-quality talent, that they know can add value to your organization specifically,
5. Picking retained over contingent
Many organizations, particularly at the office support level, choose to work with corporate recruitment agencies in a contingent rather than retained manner. First up, when you work with an agency on a retained basis you are generally offered a substantial reduction in the overall fees and the opportunity to pay these fees in an installment manner. Cost-saving exercise number 1. Secondly, committing to work with a recruitment firm on a retained assignment will be given immediate priority with time, resources, and high-value candidates. The sooner the fire is made, the quicker you can get back to business, get them onboarded, and add value to your team.
Having a relationship with a quality corporate recruitment agency is just like having a relationship with a quality law firm, the accountancy firm, and other business advisory providers. Seeking professional support with recruitment matters has proven to save companies time and money long term over and over again.
