Do recruitment consultancies work? The short answer to that question is yes. But that alone would make for a short blog so let me elaborate.
Recruitment consultants can be effective in several ways, offering expert advice on the market or industry sector, ability to streamline what is so often a lengthy process or access to candidates not on the open market to name a few.
Did you know that is can take 4.9 weeks on average to hire in the UK? If that isn’t reason enough to outsource your recruitment, let’s unpack it some more:
Ways Recruitment Consultants can add value
- Expert Knowledge – Your consultant should be able to offer you valuable insights into what is happening in the talent pools and best practice when it comes to the hiring process. Let us be the expert and you can focus on what you do best.
- Streamlining the Hiring Process – Your consultant should handle all the admin that is associated with recruiting. From writing the advertisement to managing the candidate application process. Don’t forget even the candidates who are not successful will form an opinion of your organisation, don’t let it be a bad one because the process wasn’t handled correctly.
- Cost Savings – The time it can take to handle the initial response can be vast, be honest, do you have that time? Is it the best use of your time if you do. The hours you spend carrying out the initial screening process could have been spent winning your next big contract, think of the missed opportunities that could have happened while you have been ploughing though 100s of applications, half of which probably won’t be the right fit.
- Flexible Solutions – Your consultant may have some creative suggestions to help solve your current issue. For us we regularly refer to Slice VA when the need is not a permanent one. Or have you thought about job shares, hybrid working, different working hours. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes on the vacancy can give you more options to recruit for.
- Access to Candidates Off Market – Some candidates prefer not to place themselves on the open market and in this case will go to a trusted consultant to help them find their next role. Without the help of a consultant, you may never know this person is available.
- Fast Response – Considering we do this day in day out it’s reasonable to expect that your consultant can jump on your project swiftly. At Slice we aim to get adverts agreed and placed within the same day if that is what the client wants therefore giving us candidates to screen in as little as 24 hours.
What’s the catch?
The usual counter arguments to all these points are, high fees, loss of control or mismatched candidates. That is why at Slice we really get to know our clients and understand what would and wouldn’t work in their business. Think of us as your internal recruiter for the duration of your vacancy.
We also operate on a flat fee bases so all associated costs are clear from the off so there is no negotiation needed when it comes to paying a higher salary than initially expected.
So back to the question of do recruitment consultancies work? YES – and if you have a vacancy to fill but thought of the process to hire is filling you with dread – get in touch with Slice today.