So, what are the benefits of outsourcing a part of the selection process? There are many views and motives that could be taken into account when asking or answering this question. As the reader of this article, you definitely have your own motive for doing so, but from the following lines you might get a better view into the matter of advantages that arise from a cooperation with an employment agency.
Of course, the owner of a small or medium-size company, who primarily needs to alleviate the burden of certain activities with which they are not familiar, will gain a different benefit from a cooperation with an recruitment agency than an HR manager of a big company. Some of the advantages are specifically related to certain segments, but others concern all. Let’s first have a short look at them, and then talk about them in more detail:
- Save the cost of sacrificed opportunities by concentrating on your core business
- Everyone is an expert on something and will do a better job in ‘their area’ than a non-skilled person
- Everyone is an expert on something and will do a better job in ‘their area’ than a non-skilled person.
- If you’re looking for a needle in a haystack (i.e. specialists or extremely clever people who don’t just spring up like mushrooms after rain), it’s the right time to ask a head-hunter for help
- A personnel consultant is also an advisor who is familiar with the situation in the market and can compare the quality of candidates through benchmarking
- Another advantage is the professional consultant’s knowledge of the labour market – they can compare the client’s working conditions with the competition, the given area or the market reality
There are more advantages, but the above mentioned ones best reflect the basis and the added bonus, that can be gained by a company which decides to cooperate with a personnel consultant or recruitment agency.
Some companies cooperate with employment agencies regularly, others only ask for help when they are at their wits’ end, or when they want to be sure that they will make the right choice. Some don’t have time for a selection process, others are seeking proficiency. The reasons differ, but no matter what brings the manager (owner) of a company to cooperate with an employment agency – any primary motive – the added bonus they can gain is more than what it may seem like at a glance. Let’s have a closer look at it.
To look at it very simply: you have your core business – something that you do and that creates a value, for which you are paid (whether paid as a company or the owner of a company by customers, or as a manager/director in form of a salary). The essential part is, that if you are about to look for a new employee – i.e. to carry our the whole selection process yourself – and you’re not an expert (or don’t have an expert) at it, you have to devote a lot of time to it. Time, which could be spent creating something valuable.
To do something for which you don’t have a clear system or a collection of processes which you at least passably understand, means that you have to create the system or improvise. The creation of a system – even a simple, but functional one – without experience or know-how usually takes a lot of time (thinking it through, designing it, putting the finishing touches to it…). When it comes to know-how, there are many sources in the market that you can use but, as usual, when doing something new, you need to find your feet in it first. On the other hand, improvising – or doing a makeshift job – usually results in a low quality outcome.
In these cases, the solution is outsourcing – i.e. hiring a personnel consultant or recruitment agency, which is in command of the needed system. This way, you can make sure that the selection will be carried out with adequate proficiency and care.
You’ve surely been in a situation where you just couldn’t find a suitable employee. You tried everything you could think of, but even after months of searching you hadn’t managed to find the right person. Are you saying you don’t know what I’m talking about? In that case you must be either very clever or very lucky. Or your requirements are very low… But in case you are indeed familiar with the described situation, what you need is a reliable employment agency. Because it is these agencies that are at home in the labour market, that know the paths and have figured out ways of finding, contacting and motivating people. This is due to the fact that consultants are people who make themselves part of a network (by creating and keeping useful contacts) and who can outstandingly manage the search and selection process, and recommend great candidates.
If you choose your partner for hunting new employees well, you can further profit from the advisory services that a great consultant can provide. One of the main benefits is that the consultant works with many people, whom they meet at interviews, which results in several things:
- They know the difference in quality between people in various occupations, and can identify the best ones
- They can get in touch even with those people who are not currently looking for a job, and offer them a place in your company
- They know the labour market, the industry, the salaries… ask them, and they will surely provide you with interesting and essential information