When I first entered the recruitment industry, most businesses could easily see the value of engaging a Recruiter.  We were considered the eyes and ears in their marketplace, and because we spent our days attracting candidates we became our clients trusted advisors. We were often the only avenue they had, apart from print advertising, to engage with their future employees. We were valued for our market intelligence and for our networks.

Over the past twenty years, many tech companies have been forecasting the decline of recruitment agencies, but despite this our industry continues to grow. Of course, those agencies who haven’t invested in innovation and didn't evolve in line with technology no longer exist. For the rest of us, we have thrived because we understand the role the human element plays out when hiring, and we are able to clearly articulate the value we bring to your hiring process. 

So whilst it may look on the surface that the role of a Recruiter is redundant due to technological advances, the introduction of internal hiring teams and apparent easier access to talent via social media, it is, in fact, the very opposite. 

The role of a specialist Recruiter will add hours back into your day and will, in fact, reduce your cost to hire.

Here’s how:

1. Searching, engaging, interviewing, reference checking, negotiating offers requires a big investment of your time.

I’m guessing as with most business owners and hiring managers, time is not your friend. You’re not on your own if the only time you have for recruitment is after hours or on the weekends. Many hiring managers lose the quality time they’d usually invest in themselves, their families and friends focussing on recruitment and despite doing so, aren’t able to guarantee a good result.

A recruitment agency in your niche is constantly building talent pools of the exact employees you want working in your business. They have proven strategies which can have ideal candidates in front of you within hours for a freelance gig and within days for a more permanent role.

2. A formal search and engagement process ensures you’ll only be presented with the candidates you want to meet.

Even the most strategic recruitment process attracts a wide range of inappropriate applicants. The use of ‘one click applies’ on many of the job boards means more applications than ever for you and your internal teams to sift through. To the unexperienced eye many of these applicants are good at presenting well but are a monumental waste of your time and valuable resources.  

Recruitment isn’t as simple as skills matching. The most experienced Recruiters will listen for what isn’t being said. Their industry knowledge will help them to ensure that Resumes are an accurate representation of the candidates' role and their responsibilities. They’ll delve into the candidates' core values to ensure a good cultural fit for your business. All of this happens before the person even gets to you.

The very best recruitment agencies will have a formal search and engagement strategy in place which encompasses all of this, and guarantees that you’ll only meet with candidates who have both the cultural attributes and the skill set you’re looking for.

3. A recruitment agency is your PR machine and will help promote your employer brand.

No matter the size of your business, no matter whether you have endless resources to promote your employer brand, an independent voice is needed to break through all of the noise. This is where your recruitment agency comes in. They know how to deliver honest and transparent insight into your business and its culture, which is required in order for the candidate to feel secure that the opportunity is indeed one worth considering. A recruitment agency can champion your business in some ways better than you can. Armed with all the information that they’ve collected over the years about your industry and those in it, gives a recruiter a distinct advantage when clarifying points that may arise when speaking with potential candidates.

4. Speed to hire

A specialist recruitment agency will have a deep understanding of the talent within your niche, where they sit inside of your competitors, and who has the transferable experience that will add value to your business.  When getting the right person on board as quickly as possible is critical, turning to a specialist recruitment agency who invests all day every day into building these talent pipelines so they’re ready to go when you are, saves you time and money.  Particularly when you need temporary assistance, that extra pair of hands to ensure you meet your deadline, turning to a recruitment agency with pre-screened freelancers is often the difference between you meeting that deadline or not.

5. To compliment your internal recruitment team

Many of the larger corporate organisations have invested in building internal recruitment teams. They are given access to search technology and state of the art CRM systems and yet many of the will turn to recruitment agencies and have the budgets in place to do so. Those who do understand that some sectors, like our creative space, for example, are so niche that identifying the right candidates is outside of their understanding. Turning to a trusted specialist recruitment agency, which has taken the time to understand their business, means they will deliver the right candidates to their internal hiring managers within a shorter time frame. The internal stakeholder is then thrilled with the internal recruiter who in turn is grateful for the partnership with the external, niche Recruiter.

If you'd like to explore how Creative Recruiters can add value to your hiring process, please feel free to contact me on 0413 453 563.