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I have been writing this column for several months now, and have often been asked by you, the readers, “Why should we managers even use a recruitment company?” I have often been told that it must be easy to find candidates especially being here in China, either through word of mouth or connections, through buying adverts (relatively cheaply) on Zhaopin, or other more specific sites, such as for example efinancialcareers.com.
My answer to all of these is – yes, of course you can recruit using any or a combination of these methods. However, it’s not as easy as it looks. Go ahead and try it, but invariably you will at some stage turn to a recruitment firm for assistance.
Here are just eight of the main reasons why companies turn to the services of the recruitment professional.
1) Finding the right people takes time, so outsourcing allows you to focus on your core business. Usually your recruiter will plan the timeframes ahead, so interviews slots are agreed at the beginning of the process to avoid unnecessary constraints on your timetable.
2) With the vast majority of recruiters these days, you are offered a guarantee, so it’s a low risk option: if the candidate you hired in the first place doesn’t work out for certain reasons, the recruitment firm will within a specified timeframe usually offer a free replacement.
3) As a company, of course you can do your own advertising but this will only attract the active or semi-active talent pool. What about all those candidates who think they are happy in their current jobs, and just don’t know there’s a better job waiting for them with you? Recruiters can tap into the passive and semi-passive jobseeking market through headhunting.
4) Recruiters have both market and industry knowledge. We are in the market every day, talking with candidates, interviewing them, talking with clients, and meeting them. That’s what we do. Recruitment firms differ in the way they operate, however. Just to give you an insight: here at Antal, we have discipline experts in industry fields. For example in our Healthcare team, we have people dealing solely in Research & Development positions, people dealing solely in Sales roles, and others in Marketing roles, and so on. This format creates a wealth of knowledge, using which we consult with our clients as to whom they should hire, for what role, and at what price. In addition, we don’t just find out the run-of-the-mill information that can be sourced on Google by anyone with the ability to type and read. We try to uncover the nitty gritty, so that we should (if we are half decent) know who works for who in a company, whether they get on with each other or not, why they were hired, and why they were fired. This information when used appropriately can be priceless.
5) With sourcing senior roles as well as replacement hires confidentiality can be imperative, so engaging a recruiter to assist you ensures that your company name remains undisclosed until the appropriate time.
6) Candidates, candidates, candidates – recruiters can tap in to their resources within hours of receiving your requirements. The speediest placement I recall was earlier on this year in our office in Shanghai – our client had an urgent requirement for a specific project hat had already commenced, they called us on the Wednesday afternoon, by Friday morning we had interviews planned for later that day, and on the following Monday the candidate was placed!
7) Even weeks into hiring your new person, your recruitment consultant will follow up with them personally to find out how they are getting on in the business. All of this information, the pros and the cons of the role, the people, and the company will be fed back to you.
8) Using a recruiter can be an exceptionally effective way of getting a message through to your competition; it can even be a stealth method of branding. Imagine a recruiter working on your behalf contacting all of your direct competitors explaining that you are increasing your headcount due to launching a new product next year?
If you are stuck in a rut with finding talented people or maybe you want to discuss your 2013 headcount strategy, why not get in touch with me, or any other appropriate recruitment agent in your industry? We would all be happy to help you find the person and the talent you want.
Sarah Jones is Head of Operations at Antal International, winner of “Best International Recruitment Agency” at the 2012 Recruiter Awards.