In Poland, we have nearly 8,000 registered employment agencies, personnel consultancies and employment intermediaries. Competition in the market is considerable. However, is every agency able to perform professional recruitment for us? Unfortunately, no. The reasons that lead to the decision to change recruitment service providers are indeed many. From the financial issue to the lack of implementation of mandated recruitment processes. It is useful to know the standards and guidelines for selecting the right cooperation partner. Let’s take a look at the most common signals that indicate it’s time to find a new recruiting partner.
Outsourcing of recruitment processes – RPO
The competitive labor market, affects the difficulty of finding and hiring the perfect candidate, but also the problem of finding the right partner to work with, wanting to benefit from high quality services. More and more companies are turning to recruitment agencies to support their internal HR departments and help recruit experienced professionals.
Why work with agencies and why outsourcing recruitment processes is becoming more common? This is the key to maximizing recruitment resources and minimizing costs. At Talent Place, we recruit more than 700 candidates annually, and at least 30% of the costs are saved by our clients.
The condition, however, is transparent cooperation based on partnership. Direct and sincere communication and the exchange of knowledge and mutual trust allow the best results to be achieved.
We don’t operate on a 100% success fee model. We offer candidates on an exclusive basis, so that our success rate is higher than that of traditional recruitment agencies. In 2022, we achieved a result of 76% of completed recruitment projects with employment, where the market average is between 30-50%.
Factors of ineffective cooperation
There are a lot of components that affect the hindered cooperation. Complex recruitment processes, the long time to receive candidate approval, the difficulty of getting feedback from managers, or restrictions in compensation regulations sometimes make recruitment processes inefficient. Recruitment challenges and difficulties in attracting suitable candidates do not make it easy to succeed. What signals might indicate that it’s time to change the recruitment agency we work with?
- No results
The time to close the recruitment process may depend on the complexity of the position and the competencies sought, as well as the availability of candidates in the area. However, if the process is already taking a long time and the agency is not recommending any candidates, it’s probably high time to consider whether our current supplier has the competence and power to lead the process for us. Talent Place effectively reaches out to candidates and delivers a set of recommendations in as little as 7 days. Since we operate on a prepaid basis, we do not leave clients without recommendations of candidates that match their expectations.
When choosing an agency, it is worth paying special attention to the experience and competence of their employees. The agency itself may have a rich portfolio of clients, but does the recruiter who executes the process for us have sufficient knowledge of our industry, has he or she conducted similar recruitments for the position, and does he or she have the necessary tools and support? Guided by the choice of an agency, let’s pay attention to whether it has specialized recruiters in our industry. The Talent Place community includes more than 200 experienced experts in their respective industries with access to an active candidate database.
An important consideration in selecting an agency should be how the agency will evaluate our recruitment project.
It is very important to assess the feasibility of a given project before starting cooperation. A feasibility study is the first stage of any service at Talent Place, i.e. evaluation of the feasibility of the project and identification of potential difficulties and possible solutions. Project evaluation is also an estimation of the time in which the agency will present us with a certain number of candidates who meet our guidelines, as well as the candidate base itself.
- Communication disorders
An extremely important element of cooperation is communication. As principals, we have the right to outline our expectations regarding the frequency and content of the feedback provided by the agency. At the stage of building a cooperation plan, the agency is able to promise us really a lot. It is worth writing down all the promised results, and then account for them accordingly. Our principle is to base cooperation on a fair price and a balance between cost and value delivered.
Communication is also about properly understanding our needs. Understanding our organizational culture and industry specifics. If we get the sense that the recruiter on the agency side doesn’t quite feel our needs, it could mean that he or she ultimately won’t get us the right candidates. In this case, it is worth taking care to get to know the person who will work directly with us and see if we are on the same wavelength. Our RPO service ensures that the client is introduced to selected recruiters who fit the project, and onboarding is carried out to properly introduce the client and RPO recruiters to the cooperation and specifics of the project.
If we are touching on the topic of communication here, it is also worth remembering that the agency is our intermediary in communicating with the candidate. Therefore, it is good to ensure the highest possible standards of the agency and the candidate experience itself. This will positively affect our image as an employer. Our community operates on a talent pooling method, where recruitment is done through relationships and building an informed candidate base.
- Failure to meet standards
Nowadays, we expect the highest quality at every turn. What does this quality mean to us? A modern and effective agency should use the best tools. With a candidate market, it is necessary to actively seek them out and take the initiative in contacting them. Let’s make sure that our recruiting partner takes actions that we can’t do ourselves. Sourcing, crowdstaffing, x-ray search, talent pooling, recruitment marketing, personalized contact – these are now indicative of quality work. Make sure that such tools are used by your recruitment agency in its operations. At Talent Place, we focus on innovative solutions, using crowdstaffing and talent pooling with access to a database of over 900,000. active candidates, which allows us to close projects in 3 weeks on average.
- Inadequate price
There are two forms of agency remuneration. The most common form is success fee – i.e. payment is made only after the candidate sourced by the agency is hired. There are also companies operating on the basis of retainer – they charge an initial fee and then a fee for obtaining a candidate. Such agencies are more expensive and always incur a cost, even when no hiring ultimately occurs, but they have a much higher quality of work. With a prepaid fee, the agency can focus fully on the client’s project and engage in deep market penetration in search of the ideal candidate from day one. Choosing an agency that operates on a success fee basis can often be a false economy for us. The costs of ineffective recruitment are enormous, and if we choose a partner incorrectly, we additionally lose valuable time. As soon as an agency realizes that a project is difficult it often abandons it. Also, it does not offer candidates on an exclusive basis by which it offers many of its clients the same candidate reducing the chance of its clients to successfully complete the cooperation.
Cooperate responsibly
Recruitment agencies provide the ability to deliver the best candidates, but at the same time carry a high risk of unprofessionalism and communication problems. If your company uses recruitment process outsourcing services or you are just looking to work with an external company, you need a proper assessment and the right approach to avoid wasting time and unnecessary costs.
