The Benefits of Working with a Recruiter
February 25,2020
Category: Staffing
US companies spend over $150 billion annually on recruiting and staffing agencies – even when they have their own internal talent acquisition teams. So why do companies work with an outside agency, rather than leverage their internal recruiting team? This is why:
Depending on the amount of turnover within an organization, a company may not have a real-world understanding of the availability of talent, current pay scales or what top candidates desire in their next opportunity. Depending on the state of the economy, the market for talent might be very competitive. By utilizing a recruiter, an organization can better position itself to find and attract the right people.
There are a lot of great tools available to help companies find talent, but many of those tools require time-consuming efforts that slow the process down and drive costs up. Adding together the costs of purchasing recruiting resources with the expense of man-hours utilized to learn, manage and evaluate the results – not to mention time lost for other projects – many hiring managers are surprised by the total expense of an already-difficult process. The average cost of a poor hiring decision, which is often due lack of time or understanding, is $48,000 in the packaging engineering world. With the failure rate of new hires averaging between 40%-60% within the first 18 months, the importance of finding the right fit the first time saves a company both money and reputational damage. Working with an experienced recruiter streamlines those tasks and ultimately saves time and money.
Let’s face it, most Human Resource departments can be called on to fill multiple positions at any given time. A beverage company, for example, may be on the hunt for production planners, laborers, merchandisers, management systems facilitators, packaging engineers and a variety of other essential personnel all at once. It takes years to learn what makes a good hire for every department and role, but an in-house recruiter may only need to use that specific knowledge once or twice in a decade. For highly specialized roles, a specialized recruiter can educate you on the must-have skills for the position, identify top candidates and trim days or even weeks off the process.
Monster, CareerBuilder, LinkedIn and other job search platforms have made finding candidates much easier. However, these tend to be “active” candidates who are already looking for a job and committed to making a career change. This can be a great pool of candidates, but it may not be enough to find the best fit for a particular opening. Many times, the ideal candidate is only passively looking and doesn’t want to reveal their desire to leave their current role by advertising their intentions, but they will tell a recruiter they trust about their goals and aspirations. This is crucial for high-level jobs, where there is a much smaller pool of available jobs and qualified candidates.
Not every opening requires a fulltime hire. Staffing firms can identify qualified contractors that add a flexible resource to a short-term or part-time project. Temporary or project-based hires can help when budgets are tight, headcount is too high or the workload only increases for a limited time.
Negotiating is often the hardest part of the recruiting process, particularly for candidates; they want a fair salary and they don’t want to price themselves out of the running. By working through a recruiter, candidates can be honest and feel they are getting a fair compensation package. In addition, recruiters can often vet details about a candidate’s background that they might otherwise be hesitant to tell potential employers, such as health concerns, relocation challenges or career aspirations. By becoming a sounding board for both clients’ and candidates’ concerns, recruiters can act as an impartial resource throughout the hiring process.
To minimize the costs of a prolonged and inefficient candidate search, consider contracting an outside recruiter that knows the packaging industry. Our specialized recruiting team at Adept Talent has a background in engineering, so they’re familiar with the array of projects, skillsets and unique challenges encountered within the industry. They have a vetted pipeline of candidates with a diversity of expertise, which allows them to provide a concise pool of qualified candidates quickly, significantly increasing the likelihood of a successful placement. Whether you’re in need of specific expertise or a complete packaging department, our team can provide the right resources, right when you need them.
Access to Premier Talent
The biggest reason companies decide to work with recruiting firms is to get access to top talent and hire people they can’t find on their own. This might sound redundant when considering that some companies have internal recruiting teams, but remember, an internal team might be filling multiple positions within the organization and often doesn’t have time to build a network of candidates for every role. A recruiter is constantly looking for top talent and assessing their availability. For specialized recruiters, knowing the key skills and attributes that make someone an attractive candidate in a particular field or discipline is their livelihood.