How not to Make a Mistake in Choosing a Recruitment Agency

In an ever-changing business world, choosing the right recruitment agency can be a crucial factor for the successful development of a company. Every company wants to find the most qualified candidates who will be able to bring long-term benefits and have a stable work potential. How to choose the perfect recruitment agency that guarantees the best quality of services and meets your needs? In order to avoid mistakes and ensure successful cooperation, it is necessary to consider some key points.

What are the features of finding employees through a recruitment agency

Cooperation with recruitment agencies simplifies the recruitment process for companies and allows you to focus on your core business and get high-quality employees whose skills and experience meet the company’s requirements.

Here are some of the features and benefits of finding employees through recruitment agencies:

1. Effectiveness: Recruitment agencies have the experience and skills to help them quickly find suitable candidates for companies. They can qualitatively compare the resume and the employer’s requirements, which speeds up the recruitment process.

2. Extended access to candidates: Recruitment agencies have access to an extensive database of potential employees, which increases the chances of finding the perfect candidate for the company.

3. Expert opinion: Recruitment agencies help companies form employee needs and requirements and provide expert opinions on recruitment issues.

4. Confidentiality: Cooperation with a recruitment agency sometimes allows companies to keep information about vacancies and potential candidates confidential.

What are the advantages of the employer’s cooperation with a recruitment agency? 

The cooperation of the hiring company with a recruitment agency has many advantages. Here are some of them:

1. Saving time: Recruitment agencies take over the search, selection and preliminary evaluation of candidates, which allows company employees to save time that they can spend on other tasks instead of searching and selecting candidates for vacancies.

2. Agency guarantees: Some recruitment agencies offer guarantees for their services, which means that they are ready to help replace a candidate if the result is unsatisfactory.

3. Expansion of the candidate pool: Recruitment agencies have the experience and knowledge that allow them to attract candidates through standard channels and their own sources and networks.

4. Assistance in interviews and recruitment: Recruitment agencies can help companies conduct interviews, evaluate candidates, and determine the most suitable candidate for a vacancy.

5. No advertising and search costs: Recruitment agencies take full responsibility for searching, selecting and providing suitable candidates, which allows hiring companies to save time and resources on these processes.

6. Candidate Search Strategy: Recruitment agencies understand their role in the competitive labour market, and, in this regard, their recruiters are not limited to using databases and job sites to find suitable candidates. They actively contact specialists not currently looking for new jobs, using various social networks, messengers, and other alternative sources. Experienced professionals know how to negotiate and convince potential candidates to consider the opportunities offered. Thus, the employer gets access to specialists who are challenging to find in the labour market as part of a standard approach to hiring.

What are the criteria for choosing a recruitment agency?

1. The adequacy of the price of the services provided: This is an essential requirement for a recruitment agency’s partner company. To get accurate information about prices, it is recommended that the agencies themselves be contacted directly. You can contact them by phone, briefly outline the requirements for a specialist and specify the cost of recruitment services. It is also possible to send a completed application for recruitment (you can use the application forms that are available on agency websites) and request information in a reply letter about prices and the approximate timing of the search for a suitable candidate. Studying the average market prices for recruitment services in the region where you plan to find a new employee is essential.

2. No prepayment for candidate search services: The presence of a prepayment clause in the contract between the hiring company and the recruitment agency can create negative consequences for the company. Firstly, prepayment may lead to the risk of non-receipt of services or low quality on the part of the agency. In addition, if the company pays for services in advance, the agency may lose motivation to provide high-quality services or actively search for suitable candidates.

Additionally, the absence of a prepayment clause gives the company more control over the recruitment process. The company can pay for the agency’s services only after successfully concluding a contract with an accepted candidate, ensuring a more reliable and transparent recruitment process for new employees. As a result, the absence of a prepayment clause in the contract between the hiring company and the recruitment agency helps to minimize risks and ensure more effective cooperation.

To start cooperation with the agency, it is required to sign a contract in which it should be indicated that the company will make payment for recruitment services after the candidate accepted by the employer starts work. It is important to note that the prepayment clause must be excluded from the contract.

3. Individual approach to staff selection: The recruitment agency manager must establish contact with the head under whose leadership the new employee will start working to get all the necessary information about the company, its corporate culture, team and other essential aspects. These actions are critical in the work of the agency manager with the customer. It is possible to limit ourselves to only formal criteria when choosing candidates. In this case, recruitment corresponds to the level of operational selection (express recruitment) and requires significantly lower costs on the company’s part than the traditional method of recruiting.

The most effective option for cooperation is when the agency manager visits the customer’s office before concluding the contract. Thus, he can evaluate the environment as a potential candidate will see it and first evaluate what he pays attention to – the office’s location, the interior, the style and communication. A personal meeting lets you understand the person you will be working with, their working methods and effectiveness. The manager can conduct interviews directly at your company’s office at your request. Such cooperation is often called HR outsourcing.

4. Personal acquaintance with the recruiter and analysis of his approach to the search: At the beginning of cooperation, getting to know the specialist you will have to work with and asking him questions about his experience, specialization and recruitment methods is essential. For example, if you, as an employer, are told that posting vacancies on job sites is an active search for staff, this is incorrect. Active search includes searching for candidates in resume databases, using social media, participating in job fairs, collaborating with universities, and other methods. Posting vacancies on job sites can be considered a passive search method.

5. Positive work experience and good feedback: An agency that successfully works in recruitment openly shares its experience and provides customer reviews and recommendations that can be checked. To decide on cooperation, it is recommended that the agency’s clients consult and find out their opinion about working with him.

6. Providing of the work plan to the customer and compliance with the stages of the plan: A recruitment agency that can be trusted always provides a work plan for finding a candidate and adheres to the primary stages of the work plan with the customer:

• Identification of the customer’s needs. 
• Determination of the required qualities of the candidate. 
• Recruitment before the start of the selection process. 
• Receiving applications from potential candidates. 
• Pre-selection of candidates. 
• The final selection and hiring of staff. 
• Making a decision.

A reliable recruitment agency always develops a candidate search plan and follows the mandatory stages of the cooperation plan with the client:

• Identification of the customer’s needs.
• Establishing the necessary qualities and skills of the candidate.
• Preparation of the personnel reserve before the start of selection.
• Accepting applications from potential candidates.
• Pre-selection of candidates.
• Final selection and hiring of employees.
• Assessment of the decision made.

7. The agency knows the scope and scope of your business: An expert from the recruitment agency you work with should have a good idea of your business needs and its scale and actively cooperate with you to achieve a common goal.

8. Recruiters don’t ignore your questions: Recruitment agency employees are required to promptly respond to calls and messages from the client, consider all his requests and preferences, and respond to feedback regarding the applicants they have selected.

9. The agency’s compliance with the deadlines agreed upon with the customer: The recruitment agency follows the established recruitment procedure, which includes analyzing the company’s needs, identifying the required candidate profiles, and selecting candidates at the preliminary and final stages. It also takes care to present suitable candidates to the customer within the agreed time frame, ensuring an effective and professional staff search.

10. The job description compiled by the agency is true: The customer must understand that the agency has compiled a job description corresponding to reality so that the employer and the applicants do not misunderstand when contacting them.

11. Highly qualified recruiters: An experienced recruiter is able to consider the company’s unique characteristics, the specifics of the business sphere, and customer requests, showing an understanding of the needs and current situation in the industry.

12. The recruitment agency provides guarantees: A reliable recruitment agency provides free replacement of selected specialists during probation. The availability of such a guarantee is one of the key indicators of this agency’s reliability.