Should you risk DIY recruitment or use an expert recruitment agency?

 

In a previous blog post, “Do you have the right soft skills?”, we talked about the importance of a candidate’s soft skills, such as teamwork, communication skills, conflict resolution, leadership and negotiation skills, problem-solving, presenting and emotional intelligence.

We’ve also touched on what makes a great employee in, “Five ways to be a great employee”, in which we outlined five factors that employers should consider when evaluating whether someone is the right “cultural fit” for a company.

So, we know what makes someone a great candidate but how do you go about finding and recruiting them? Should you just do it yourself or leave it in the capable hands of a professional firm such as Artemis Clarke?

The most obvious benefits of hiring candidates directly include the fact that you are completely in control of the whole process, you also get to review all the applicants yourself, you can decide where you’d like to advertise the role and of course there are no recruitment fees.

However, the recruitment process involves a lot of time and resources and there are many factors to consider:

  • Visibility: recruitment agencies generally have better visibility for candidates, with access to job boards and other tried and tested routes through which to advertise your vacancy. They also know how to ensure a vacancy ranks highly using certain keywords and how to mine environments such as LinkedIn to find suitable prospects for the job.
  • Passive candidates: Most agencies will already have a good pool of skilled candidates on its books who are available to work. Some agencies will also approach candidates who may not be actively looking for another role but may be perfect for the one you are trying to fill.  It is these passive candidates that the DIY method will often miss out on.
  • Additional testing: some agencies will use bespoke tests to narrow down the shortlist – this can save valuable time as it’s all very well having a great personality but if they can’t do the role they have applied for then this can be somewhat problematic! Psychometric testing can also be used to help gauge whether they have the right cultural fit your company. Artemis Clarke offer each of these tests as stand-alone services and therefore you can get the benefit of DIY recruitment combined with functional expertise of specialists which will give you reassurance that you have selected the right candidate.
  • Time and cost savings: this is one of the key reasons people use recruitment agencies. It can take a long time to find the right candidate as it involves sifting through CVs, screening candidates, interviews, and negotiating salaries. If you’re not used to doing this on a regular basis it can be stressful and takes you away from your own role. Agencies carry out these tasks on a daily basis and can do it a lot quicker. It can also work out cheaper in the long run when you hire a recruiter as they’ll ensure you get the right person first time around and if you don’t they’ll often replace a candidate for free or offer a reduced fee for doing so.
  • Market knowledge: specialist agencies, such as Artemis Clarke, are able to keep up with news and developments affecting the specific industry they’re recruiting for. This is particularly important when it comes to legal developments; if a company falls foul of the law in this area it could have an adverse effect both financially and in terms of their reputation.

 

How Artemis Clarke can help

Recruiting staff can be a time consuming and costly process. We offer a tailored and bespoke service and can carry out a full psychological assessment of a candidate by looking at, amongst other things, their ability to handle complexity, think strategically, interact with others and handle conflict. Get in touch today for an initial consultation.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

 

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