What can a recruitment agency do for you?

How Recruitment Agencies Operate

If an agency is used to recruit staff for a role, they are provided with a job specification, other relevant company and cultural information, and what the salary expectations would be.

A fee is negotiated at this stage for permanent placements – sometimes a flat fee, sometimes a % of the salary package.

For permanent roles the fees can vary from 6% to up to 30% of salary package, depending on market sector, volume of placements, difficulty of finding the suitable candidate, exclusivity and preferred supplier agreements. It is not uncommon for companies to use more than one agency to work on open positions.

Permanent Positions

Recruiting for a permanent position can take anything from a week to several months to fill depending on the position, location, and availability of applicants. Four weeks is probably the standard.

Also the successful candidate may still be employed and may have to give up to a months notice, so you need to be realistic regards time frames when looking to employ permanent staff.

When given a new role the agency would advertise the position, while at the same time reviewing candidates they already have on their database.

In terms of advertising this may be local, regional or major newspapers and the big growth area for job advertising is the internet. Often for a newspaper ad, especially for display ads, a recruitment company would look for the company to cover the cost of the ad. On the internet there are many job search sites, some of the major general ones being www.seek.com.au, www.mycareer.com.au, and there are also industry specialist sites covering areas such as medical, arts, community welfare, and information technology.

The cost of advertising on web sites is substantially less than advertising in major newspapers- and the ad is available for applicants to access for up to a month. The choice of type of advertising that is most appropriate for a position would be dependent on the role, industry sector, location etc. For a local accounts role in a small business the local paper is probably the best, for a National Sales Manager role even for a regional town location you would use combination of internet, major newspaper and local paper.

From their applicants an agency would initially telephone screen and then shortlist for interview. Face to face interviews are then the norm. Interviews may include technical tests, using specific question provided by clients and generally gaining a background of the skills and work experiences of candidates, confirming why people left roles, checking on education, and citing results where relevant and overall assessing suitability for the current role.

From the interview process an agency would probably select a smaller group of candidates to present to the client. This would take the form of a written summary gained from the interview process and some form of resume. From those the client would select candidates for them to interview and the agency is involved in coordinating those interviews, providing references if required at this stage, providing feedback both for the client and candidate after the interview process.

If the client selects a candidate to offer the role to, the agency is generally responsible for negotiating salaries and organizing signing of contracts, job offers etc.

After the position has been formally filled an agency should follow up with the client and candidate about the start time of the role, and continue to confirm that the candidate settles into the role over the next few months.

Most permanent placements come with some form of guarantee period. Most agencies offer some form of guarantee – anything from 4 weeks to 3 months depending on what is negotiated and the level of the position.

Why Use an Agency

1. Time

The reality of running a business means that managers/owners are time poor. Sometimes it may be a time restraint to handle a recruitment situation in a professional manner. What would you do if you were inundated with 50 phone calls and 100 written applications? You may be better off concentrating on areas where you can generate more income from the business and bring in an external expert to provide assistance to find staff. The fee may seem over the top from many small business owners minds – but when you look at what it really costs to train and develop staff, and you think about the ones that you may have chosen wrongly in the past where you have wasted time, energy and dollars – your time with an agency may be well spent.

Don't forget to negotiate on the fees; it is a very competitive market in some areas.

2. What is your real skill?

Not everyone is a good judge of people or can run structured processes. In a recruitment agency you should expect the staff to have undergone training & or had broad experience in the processes of recruitment and assessing people. Their skills may seem subtle and not necessarily obvious to you, but when you interview so many people you build up strong people awareness and various assessment skills. That is what you are paying them for- their people assessment skills and knowledge of a structured process that has a successful track record.

3. Difficult Skill Sets

A recruitment company has generally more resources at its call to search for staff with particular skill sets than business managers may have. This would include their own current databases, possibly partner organisations, certainly internet web searches and being able to directly approach companies or individuals in the market. It would be very difficult for you to call your competitor to “poach” a staff member, but using an agency can make headhunting a feasible alternative for finding staff.

4. Independent Party

In some small companies, and possibly some towns it could be advantageous to have an independent person involved in the selection of staff. This could overcome issues such as too personal an involvement with applicants, family issues etc. Also using an agency in the negotiation of salaries can be a useful resource for a small company, who do not feel they are competent in that area, or do not want to get into possible confrontational situations.

Also you may not want it known that a new position is for your company, and you can use an agency to keep a level of anonymity in the process, up to a certain stage.

5. Keeping Yourself Informed of the Market

By building a relationship with a particular agency or consultant you should find it is an opportunity to get extra service and information from them. This information could include such things as market salary rates, what skills are abundant, being kept informed of the job market, changes in demand and technology shortages.  A relationship with an agency can mean you get notified about excellent new candidates on the market, even if you are not formally looking, but the agency understands your business, growth plans etc and may feel there is a good match there.

6. Legal and Statutory Responsibilities

There are many legislative areas that a small company may not be aware of regards the processes of employing and interviewing candidates. Generally speaking, using an agency should provide and protect you with a combination of advice and assistance in these areas.  Examples can include what you can and can't ask a candidate in application forms and the interview process, and what issues are covered by equal opportunities legislation, award information, contract details, unfair dismissals issues etc.

Summary

The recruitment agency that is right for you is one who will take the time to understand your business, be able to respond within sensible time frames, will not waste your time with resumes for the sake of it, be open to looking outside the square and be flexible in the services they can offer. A strong relationship can mean gains on both sides – it is in their interest to see you grow, and in your interest to get stable, strong and suitable staff to help you grow. Use them as a resource and advisory service, and you may be surprised by the long term benefits. 

Lois from 'Lois Jamieson Recruitment'. email:  lois@ljr.com.au