Companies are always on the lookout for that perfect candidate. But when the time comes to find and evaluate talent, they’re faced with two distinct options: Hiring through in-house efforts, or using an external recruitment partner to do most of the heavy lifting. Each approach has its benefits, which are worth understanding in detail. By choosing the right strategy for your particular type of talent search, your business can discover and recruit highly qualified candidates both effectively and efficiently.
Strengths of an in-house team
If you’re using your own HR team to locate talent, they’ll know firsthand what works in your company and what doesn’t. Your HR officer is familiar with the ins and outs of your company culture, and what it’s like working for you. With a keen eye, they’ll be able to determine whether a given candidate is suitable for their potential role, and they’ll also have a sense of your more nuanced hiring needs, such as the required skills and proficiencies for a particular position.
Your HR head should likewise be familiar with your company’s personnel development processes, including training structures, employee engagement programmes, and labour relations strategies, to further ensure a good fit for new hires.
The aforementioned benefits of in-house recruitment are all valid, and many companies moreover feel that they are compelling enough to settle the discussion.
This would be a mistake, however. External recruitment specialists also bring major advantages to the table, as we will see below. Taken together, the benefits generated by the right team of recruitment consultants can significantly outweigh the appeal of the in-house approach.
Strengths of a recruitment agency
As you may expect, professional recruiters have their own knack for finding and securing new talent. Because they focus entirely on hiring, they usually invest in specialised software while also building connections across the business community. They even have the resources to help with workforce planning, as well as your company’s branding and even its training and development efforts.
Here we’ll look more deeply into three main perks of working with an outsourced recruitment partner, and show why they often serve as a better alternative over the DIY approach.
Flexibility
Outsourcing part or all of your recruitment process can unlock a high degree of flexibility, all while freeing up your existing staff for other tasks. Agencies can help with your workforce planning, analysing internal and external data to determine how well the talent pool can provide for your company’s current and upcoming vacancies. This information can give you an edge on future hiring efforts, by calculating estimated hiring times and onboarding schedules.
Professional recruiters offer flexibility in messaging and outreach as well. Effective hiring involves a multi-pronged advertising approach across multiple channels; however, not all companies can afford to keep a range of specialists who are dedicated to attracting candidates and enhancing employer branding across several types of media. An adept recruiter can convey and promote your organisation’s values to potential candidates, serving as an extension of your brand.
Small and medium-sized organisations can also save a lot of money by using an external recruiter. You can decide to use an outsourced service partner only when you need them during specific hiring periods, eliminating the need to continuously pay for an HR employee when your recruitment needs are on the low side.
Access to niche talent
Agencies that have been in the business long enough should have a large database of talent, spanning many industries and specialties, which can save you a lot of time and effort when looking for a specific type of candidate. Even if the agency may not currently have the ideal candidate in their database, they can often reach out to their network or even to other recruitment partners for promising leads.
Even if your internal HR office is able to find the same potential candidates online, the recruitment agency could still have an advantage. They may already have information in hand that would otherwise be impossible for your HR officer to obtain, such as each candidate’s current salary, or their past client interactions and track records. Additionally, the agency may have been in contact already with the candidate, and have maintained a good relationship with them — which can be of enormous help when persuading them to join your company.
Cost savings
Another benefit of outsourced recruitment is that agencies have more experience and better access to online tools. CRM software that would otherwise cost a hefty sum to subscribe to, is routinely used by professional recruiters.
Your in-house recruiter may not know all the ins and outs of LinkedIn, SeekOut, iCIMS Talent Cloud, or Xing, as each requires skill and practice to use effectively. Moreover, using LinkedIn Recruiter requires users to pay a monthly fee, and their InMail service can also rack up costs quickly. By using an agency, you won’t need to pay extra for all this.
The time factor is another important point here, as it translates to cost. Having access to the aforementioned tools will increase efficiency while eliminating the need for your internal HR employee to learn to use each programme or respond to each candidate, which would otherwise take up a lot of time. Not will they need to be trained on specific search algorithms or filters, or even the limitations of using HR tools.
Making the right choice
An efficient hiring process communicates to potential candidates that your company is well-managed and respects the time and effort that applicants invest. When candidates have a positive experience throughout the recruitment process, they are more inclined to perceive your company favourably and contemplate future job opportunities with you.
As a leading recruitment specialist, Highfield communicates with candidates all over the world every day. Our extensive talent network makes it convenient for our clients to find the best candidate, in the least amount of time. Clients who use our services have access to our fifty years of experience in the recruitment field, and that experience translates to better outcomes.
We cover all of your recruitment needs, from helping with your branding and workforce planning, to extending your talent pool, and especially to saving you time and money in the long run. Leave the heavy lifting to us, and let your HR staff deal with other tasks — of which they surely have plenty.
Need help finding top talent for key roles? Get in touch at https://thehighfieldcompany.com/contact-us/
Author: Toby Ball, Managing Director, The Highfield Company
