Of course, you would expect us to answer this question with a resounding “Yes!”, wouldn’t you? However, set our opinion aside and there are a number of compelling reasons why hiring a recruitment consultant is the best decision you will ever make to ensure the sustainability of your business. So, why is it worth working with a recruitment consultant? Let’s begin by asking you a question:
How much does the recruitment process cost your company?
And we don’t just mean the hard cost here. What about all the time it takes to:
- Sift through applications
- Choose candidates who fit your criteria
- Set time aside for interviews etc
- Complete background and reference checks
We are sure that this time would be better spent managing your business! And what about the cost to your business of employing someone who doesn’t quite fit your company ethos or the role, but you felt was the nearest person from the pool of candidates? A high turnover of new employees doesn’t just increase costs in the short term. It is unsettling for the rest of the team and can have a negative impact on morale, especially when employees have to take on extra responsibilities to cover for the vacancy. There could be repercussions for your employer brand from the perspective of both internal and external customers. For more on this subject, read our insight about employer brand and the benefits of a positive candidate experience.
At Oliver King Consulting, we work with you to build a culture of positive recruitment, helping you to eliminate all the negatives from the recruitment process so you can hire the right person for the right role at the right time for your business. One of the best ways of ensuring business sustainability is to hire candidates who want to work in your company; people who are enthusiastic, and who are aligned with your business values. So, if you are thinking about recruiting and need a helping hand, or don’t have the time to find the right person for the role, it may be better for both you and your business to think seriously about hiring a recruitment consultant.
How does working with a consultant work?
If you have never had to hire anyone before, the whole recruitment process can be daunting, and at best, challenging. Having a recruitment consultant on board means you have expert advice from the start, saving you time and money. Recruitment consultants are not the same as recruitment agencies. Although a recruitment agency can act as an intermediary between companies and candidates, it fulfils more of a functional role and normally has set fees, whether the position is filled or not. Recruitment consultants delve deeper into your company and normally charge when someone is successfully hired. We spend time with you, getting to know your business and its requirements, and building a relationship with you by learning about:
- Your business values and culture
- Business functions and processes
- The team, your people
When we have discovered how your business and the people within it work, we can start to build a recruitment process together unique to your business needs, encompassing the following:
- Defining the role/s to be filled
- Writing the job advertisement/attracting the most suitable candidates
- Managing the application and selection process from start to finish
- Appointing the right candidate for both the role and your business
- Gathering and validating references
- Notifying unsuccessful candidates
A recruitment consultant is an extension of your company, a brand ambassador focusing on the needs of your business to ensure that you attract candidates who believe in your business ethos, fit perfectly into your team and are fully committed to taking your business forward. If you are considering working with a recruitment consultant, we explain the process in more detail in our insight ‘What is a recruitment consultant?’ Or you may like to read this LinkedIn article, ‘What is a recruitment consultant and what do they do?’
Is it worth working with a recruitment consultant?
In order to make a decision on how to take your recruitment process forward, you need to know the benefits of using a recruitment consultant.
1. Market knowledge
At Oliver King Consulting, our in-depth knowledge of the recruitment market includes the latest trends, relevant qualifications, and best practice industry standards, along with salary levels, role-specific shortages, and other complications that employers may not know about. We have the necessary tools to find the best available candidates for any role. Our expertise means that we can advise and inform both clients and prospective candidates at each stage of the process. In addition, we can recommend alternatives to our client if the talent pool is too small to yield the quality of applicants required. Employers will have access to specialist knowledge of the job market that they may not be familiar with, such as:
- Compensation rates
- Additional acceptable benefits, such as extra holidays, gym access, healthcare etc
- Skill sets available in your sector
- Hiring challenges e.g., availability of qualified candidates or those with the right skillset etc
- Career ambitions of applicants
- Market trends within certain industries or working practices such as flexible working
When you build a relationship with a consultant, future vacancies will be simpler and more straightforward to fill, because they will be able to match candidates more closely to both the job requirements and your company culture. You can trust a recruitment professional to be able to recognise transferable skill sets or qualities that may not be apparent at first glance.
Some candidates may not be actively looking for a new position, but because recruitment consultants have a large network of connections at other companies, universities and training providers, they may be able to connect your company with a more suitable candidate than you would attract through advertising alone.
2. Faster recruitment process
In the introduction to this article, we talked about the time it takes to hire new employees. The pressure to hire someone quickly to ensure a department is up to speed at the lowest possible cost is enormous and can be detrimental to the recruitment process. Not having the required amount of time to screen and consider candidates thoroughly may affect a company for years to come. Hiring the wrong person will affect efficiency and morale and can adversely affect an employer’s brand. Most departmental managers will regard hiring new people as secondary to their main job of running their department. But this is how it should be! By partnering with a recruitment professional, managers will regain the time they need to run their departments efficiently.
Consultants will be able to introduce you to candidates who match your company culture and job requirements because of their expertise and knowledge of those with matching qualifications and skill sets, helping you to get it right the first time.
3. Reduce costs
Along with speeding up the process, there are other cost benefits of using a recruitment specialist and placing your trust in their knowledge and expertise:
Time costs: Although we addressed some of the time costs in the paragraph above, it is worth stressing that time is definitely money for recruitment. Faster hiring means a lower cost per new employee, plus frees up your time to spend working in your business.
Advertising costs: Job market expertise means recruitment consultants know where and when to advertise and what the advertisement should include attracting the right candidates the first time, reducing advertising costs.
Candidate costs: Building a relationship with prospective candidates can cost both time and money, but professional recruiters will take the time needed to do this, knowing who is a good fit for your company before you get to the interview stage. Moreover, your partnership will reduce the cost per candidate when filling future vacancies.
Staff turnover costs: The hiring, onboarding and training of new staff costs both time and money. It is therefore important to get it right the first time, so these costs are not duplicated by someone leaving the company soon after starting. A consultant will also be able to advise you about candidates that are more likely to stay, by closely matching their values to your business values.
Training costs: By using a recruitment expert who can assess transferable skills and qualities, you could save money on training, retraining or upskilling new employees.
If you would like to read more about the benefits of using a recruitment consultant., you may like to read this article from Energy Resourcing.
In addition to all the benefits we have listed, Oliver King Consulting takes an active approach to bringing a new perspective to the recruitment process. We are more than a recruitment agency. We want you to be confident in our expertise, so we can engage with candidates as an extension of your company. We are fully committed to building a relationship with our clients and candidates by understanding the needs on both sides of the equation. If you would like to know the answer to “Is it worth working with a recruitment consultant?”, talk to the experts at Oliver King Consulting about positive recruitment and the difference it can make to your business.
