I have often come across ‘Agency Y will only charge £500 to fill this role’ I can advertise in the local newspaper for £1,000′. I have even heard of candidates being charged by agencies to find them work. So how do you get value for money from your recruitment agency? Here’s how.
Candidates looking for a job
If you are paying a recruitment agency to find you a job, STOP NOW! You should not pay money to a recruitment agency to find you work. Simple answer.
The very best agencies such as ourselves will proactively target employers with your CV, pre-screen your CV and offer tips and advice, offer interview advice, give feedback and advice from interviews you have attended and post useful blogs and information to help you find a job.
Clients looking for candidates
Here are some statistics from Mark Murphy, Hiring for Attitude:
46% of new hires fail in the first 18 months
Only 19% will be highly successful
A good agency will target the very best candidates for your role, the 19% who will be highly successful, the passive candidates who are not actively looking for work.
We spend time building a pool of candidates for your role through headhunting, networking and social media. We will take the time to understand your business, the niche skillsets and most importantly, the attitude required to be a top performer in your business. Along the way we will filter out unsuitable CVs and see candidates face to face. We work towards avoiding your new hire being one of the 46% to fail within 18 months.
If an agency offers to fill your role for £500, I would ask what they are doing to fill your role. Are they targeting the best people, or are they merely trawling the available CVs on the job boards and sending them to you? A kind of sorting office for CVs and jobs.
‘But I can advertise in the local newspaper for £1,000’ is another objection we encounter. Consider this: you have paid out £1,000 before you have even seen a CV and even then; you don’t know what the quality of responses to your advert will be. You will (or should) not pay a recruitment agency to look at a CV, the only time you should pay for a recruitment agency is when they have successfully placed the candidate.
With the right approach, a recruitment agency can be phenomenal value for money.
