Recruitment impacts many different business functions; the HR department, line manager and the rest of the team. Not to mention, the future of the company, targets and revenue. So, why is recruitment often seen as a separate entity from the rest of the business?
When it affects the whole organisation, recruitment should be a partnership between the agency and the business, to ensure diverse demands are met, and ultimately, the right candidate ends up in the right role and business.
What are they key things recruitment agencies and businesses should remember to ensure the process is a partnership? Let’s find out.
Understanding
A recruitment agency will spend as much time as possible gaining exposure to the business; speaking, or ideally meeting, as many of the key players within the company. Seeing their working environment, cultures and processes, can also help to understand the DNA of a business and the people who make it tick. It then becomes easier to ascertain what the client’s immediate, medium and long-term goals are for the business, as well as what the role being recruited for entails.
They’ll also take the time to understand how you want to work with them. Just like no two business are the same, the way in which you wish to recruit will ultimately vary too. You should both understand how the other party wants to communicate and the pace they want to take. This will ensure that both the recruiter and the business are aware of how the other works, ironing out any potential issues which may occur.
Honesty
Recruiters are the experts. It’s why you hired them to support and facilitate your recruitment strategy; so, expect them to be honest. They have the market knowledge to be able to consult and challenge the needs of the recruitment function.
For example, as a business you may believe that you want to employ a graduate, but you need to make sure you can manage their career expectations later down the line. A recruiter’s priority is to ensure that the candidate they place will be there 12 months down the line.
As the client, it’s likely you are looking for a quick and value-for-money solution. Yet, filling a position with the best possible talent and within financial constraints isn’t always feasible. An element of flexibility in terms of end goal, can ensure the partnership is one which is open to consultation through the process, and where necessary, open for changes to be made to strategy.
The level of honesty must be incredibly high among each part involved. While recruitment makes up 100% of an agencies time, a candidate may only make around four or five job moves in a lifetime. HR managers may be juggling several vacancies at any one time, while simultaneously managing other needs of the business. For line managers, every hire has a direct impact on their career and day-to-day duties. These are all things which should be remembered through the process; and honesty between each party is an essential part of the recruitment process.
Communication
Everyone should be kept in the loop throughout the whole process; recruiter, business, candidate – they all have a right to an update from each party involved. If a high level of communication isn’t kept up, then you can find the relationships may begin to deteriorate.
Radio silence frustrates everyone. Sometimes a phone call to say there is no update, is an update to them. Each party should let the other know where they are in the process, and expectations should be managed at all time.
Expertise
Recruiters have the expertise required to support and advise businesses on how to manage the recruitment process. They should be able to offer market knowledge in terms of salaries, timescales and the calibre of a candidate that a client can attract within the required salary bracket.
When a recruiter or recruitment agency have the confidence and ability to do this, it allows them to manage the client’s expectations and deliver results within specific timescales. Furthermore, if the recruiter can have greater exposure to the clients business then this allows them to effectively present the job to the talent that they have at their disposal.
By Lukas Vanterpool, director at The Sterling Choice
