Is it time to consider using a recruitment agency?
There are so many recruitment agencies around just in Oxfordshire, so should your company be using one or several of them to recruit your next member of staff? Well, that depends on your company’s situation. You might expect us to say yes, but actually it’s not always necessary for your business.
Firstly, no one knows your business like the people that work there. So it can be beneficial to do all the recruitment in-house as you know exactly what the candidate should look like. Secondly, if you’re in no rush to bring your next hire in, then it might not be worth using an agency when you can afford to take your time. Also, if your company is loved by it’s employees and is recognized for great retention, development programmes and generally great employee satisfaction, then you might find that candidates want to come and work for you, rather than you having to reach out to them.
When you’re thinking of hiring, it’s worth understanding what a recruitment agency actually does. Lets look at how our team work. Our consultants have access to multiple major job boards, as well as a local job board and a website which draws in candidate CVs on a daily basis. Every candidate we speak to gets added to our candidate database, so not only can we find the details of candidates that are actively looking for a new job, but can also find those who are not actively looking, but will have their interest peaked by an exciting job spec. Now all of these things can be bought and used by any business, but it’s expensive and if your company is not doing much hiring then the ROI can often be quite poor.
The key value add-ons that a recruiter will give you are quality of candidate and speed of hiring. You need to ask yourself whether you would be able to find the right candidate for the job. If so, how long would it take for you to find them? If you have other responsibilities other than finding new staff, will the time to recruit impact the time to conduct your other duties? If you couldn’t find the right candidate yourself, or you feel the value of your time is higher than the fee of an agency, then it’s time to consider using one!
Choosing a recruiter
Another key aspect is the locality of the recruiter, as well as being able to build a rapport with them. Recruiting the perfect candidate can be a long process so it’s vital you are in it together and can build a great relationship! At MP Recruitment Group, we always say that we don’t just want to be an outsourced service, we want to be a partner to your business, and we mean it! Building a good relationship with a business helps us to get it right and means we can continue to work with them into the future.
Of course, another factor to consider is the niche/specialism of the role. If you have a very specialist role, then it might worth going to a specialist agency in that sector. Other than that, you want a recruiter that will get you the results that you want!
