How to choose a recruiter (Guest blog)

Reaching out to a recruitment agency will help ease the stress of the employment process, but how do you know which recruiter to choose?

We have put together a few things to consider when choosing a recruitment agency that’s the right fit for your business and will help you achieve the great hires you want.

It is vital that before you make any decisions regarding which recruiter to work with, that you have a discussion in-house to decide what exactly it is that your company is looking to gain from the process. This should include what calibre of candidate you are looking for, how often you make new hires and what your business is looking to achieve with each new member of staff.

Look for a specialist recruiter

It is vital that the recruiter you choose to work with understands the industry in which you operate, so that they can help you drive your business forward and make it more profitable.

This means that the recruiter you opt for needs to recognise specific skill sets within a candidate’s experience in order for them to make a successful placement.

Assess the knowledge the recruiter has within your industry using the language in their job descriptions. Each industry has a very specific vocabulary and if this is being correctly incorporated into job descriptions, you can expect that recruiter to have a comprehensive understanding of your sector.

Be explicit about your needs

It is vital that your recruiter understands how your business runs before they begin to look for suitable candidates. After all, your new recruit needs to be the right fit for your organisation in order for them to be considered a successful hire.

Before a recruiter starts looking for suitable clients make sure they know:

• Your internal structures
• How your business works
• What a successful hire looks like to you
• Your company culture
• What skills and personality you seek in your candidates

Understand communication signals

You can determine how valuable your relationship is to a recruiter according to the tone of their emails; are you receiving personalised or generic emails? This will give you an insight into how much they care about their communications, remember, your ability to talk to maintain regular contact with your recruiter is vital to the success of the relationship.

It is also important to note how much they ask you about your business. Good recruiters should be looking to gain a good insight into your company in order to source only the most relevant candidates. If they come across as slightly unreceptive, it might be worth having a conversation with them to lay down some ground rules as to what you expect from the relationship.

Be prepared

Building a relationship with a recruiter does not have to be as difficult as it would first appear. The key is to be prepared, if you enter the search armed with the knowledge of what is best for your business then you will be able to work successfully with an outside agency to make brilliant hires.

AUTHOR BIO:

Ashleigh Harman writes for Portfolio Procurement, contact them today to find out how they can help you find the perfect candidate for your procurement vacancy’