From the course: Hiring a Recruiting Firm
Process
- You can find yourself totally confused when you work with more than one recruiting firm because they all operate very differently. Imagine how much time you would save if you understood what you could expect from them and what they needed from you to recruit the talent you would hire. The key to success is to have a frank conversation and set reasonable expectations. Keep in mind that changing customer needs and new technologies have caused recruiting firms to dramatically change the way they work, and the processes they use differ depending on their niche and the segment of the profession they work. Firms who only place high level executives will have a much different process from firms who place light industrial temp workers. Recruiting firms who place IT contractors will have a very different process from someone who places secretaries. The process can also differ if you provide a contract to hire position versus a straight contract position, or a temp to hire versus a straight temp opportunity. Before you choose a recruiting firm, ask them for a detailed written list of what they're going to do for you and how they'll do it. You want to know what you can expect. Then, ask the firm for a written list of what they need from you in order to surface talent you'll hire. As a recruiting firm, we normally request three interviewing times and specific target date to fill when we get a requisition. We also want to know what problem exists as a result of the vacancy in order to test the sense of urgency to hire. We've learned that timing is critical in the recruiting process. We provide new clients with written expectations, what they can expect from us, and what we need from them to attract the talent they will hire. A new client told us he wanted to interview at least 10 candidates and would hire when he found the right person. He also shared that he normally screened out at least 90% of the resumes submitted by recruiting firms. It was difficult for us to prove the benefit to him of only interviewing our top three candidates, but he finally agreed. We also explained how starting too early or too late in the hiring process could cause us to lose top talent, so he also gave us a target date to hire. He was stunned when he interviewed three candidates and wanted to hire two of them. He never hired so fast and was thrilled he didn't have to screen multiple resumes. As a result, he hired someone 10 days before his target date. Do your homework, take the time to identify recruiting firms that are willing to share their process with you up front. Pay special attention to how their process benefits you. Getting written expectations from a recruiting firm helps you not only identify who to work with, but also lets you know who will provide you with the best results.
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