What is a recruitment agency and how does it work?
Employers turn to a recruitment agency to find professional staff. Let's take a closer look at this topic to debunk the myths about how such agencies select specialists.
So, the employer submits a list of criteria to the agency specifying the search parameters. Each agency has access to many databases with data on different specialists.
Besides looking for a specialist, a recruiting agency can:
- bring in candidates;
- find professionals who didn’t leave a request on the site;
- involve candidates from abroad;
- maintain confidentiality.
Why do companies use the services of recruitment agencies?
1. Heavy workload of HR-specialists
Such specialists have many tasks. And if the company doesn’t have a recruitment department, they are also looking for new employees. Therefore, this task oftengoes to recruitment agencies.
2. If the company needs a domain expert
Agencies have an extensive database of job applicants in various fields. Even if the candidate already has a job, agencies will try to bring him in.
3. When looking for a lot of specialists
If an employer needs a lot of people for the so-called line personnel, recruiters will quickly help solve this problem.
4. When urgently hiring for a position
Recruitment agencies employ professionals who manage the whole recruitment process.
5. Poor applicant selection skills
If the company doesn’t have a recruitment department, then the HR specialist may not be able to understand where and how to look. And agencies employ people with many years of experience.
6. Cost-efficiency
At first, it may seem that a recruitment agency’s services are expensive. But if you consider how much it will cost to post a job, how much time you’ll have to spend looking for a specialist, and the database access fee, the company will end up paying much more.
Advantages of recruitment agencies
- Looking for professionals
More than 70 % of recruiters are working to hire new employees. However, this isn’t easy if there are no recruiters in the company. On the other hand, agencies never stop their recruitment process, and recruiters are highly competent in what they do.
- Efficient work
The financial benefit of the recruiter depends on whether they will be able to fill the position. And this is an incentive to work more efficiently.
- Great time management
The company often receives the first offers on the day of signing the contract and the CVs of highly specialized experts during the first week.
- Applying search techniques
Job portals can receive up to 100 applications a day. Without using appropriate methods, it’s impossible to consider them all. Recruiters use reliable technologies that make it possible to assess a person's professionalism at the application stage.
- Involving several specialists
To make the search more efficient, recruiters may work together and use different information sources.
- Looking for any specialist
Agencies have several departments where they look for employees in the relevant categories.
- Competitive selection
The employer doesn’t deal with all applicants for the position and considers only the CVs of the best candidates.
- Confidentiality
If the employer wishes to remain anonymous, recruiters will list positions on behalf of the agency. The company will receive the data on potential candidates after all selection stages.
Only professional recruiters can explain the benefits of working for a specific company to potential applicants so that they will want to get a job there. And the employer will get a good reputation in the labor market.