Are recruitment agencies worth it?
“Are recruitment agencies worth it?” It’s a question that both business leaders and candidates often ask. If you’re in a specific industry and you’ve tried a general recruitment agency before, you might have received patchy results.
But with specialist recruitment agencies, it’s a different story. Long association with an industry breeds a huge amount of knowledge. About that industry in general as well as specific businesses within it.
From a candidate’s point of view, that’s a huge resource:
You’ll get better placements with companies more suited to you and have a knowledgeable advocate acting on your behalf. For instance, as a specialist manufacturing and engineering recruitment agency, Ernest Gordon knows the businesses, has contacts, and knows how to sell what you have to offer.
From an organisation’s point of view, the situation is even better:
Why use a specialist recruitment agency?
1) Make sure you hire the right people
Even in manufacturing and engineering recruitment – industries where you might naturally expect hard skills to be make or break – we’re finding that increasing numbers of companies are understanding how important it is to find the right cultural fit when it comes to new hires too.
Whether a candidate has the right soft skills and is a good match for the rest of your team can be hard to judge. Especially if you’re looking over a huge field of dozens or even hundreds of applicants.
A specialist recruitment agency will take the time to learn what you’re looking for. For example, if we’ve already worked together, we’ll already have asked all about your company culture.
Doing this work means properly analysing what your company has to offer. In turn, this means we can sell the roles you have to candidates who are likely to be a great fit for you.
2) Know your recruiters are industry experts
If you’re advertising civil engineer jobs alongside structural engineer jobs, a generic recruitment agency might just see the word “engineer” and not look too closely into the differences.
That’s why it’s possible to get results that are a little patchy. If you’ve ever spoken to a recruiter and had the impression they weren’t quite following you on the technical aspects, this is probably why.
But specialist recruiters know the industry. They know about the relevant qualifications, positions, roles, and the kind of questions to ask at interview and selection.
This means the candidates you’ll have suggested are likely to be a great fit for the specific role.
3) Find unknown or passive candidates
Specialist recruitment agencies have access to a huge relevant talent pool. This means they can often suggest candidates that you or your HR team might not immediately think of as being a great fit for your business.
They also let you access the kind of talent that wouldn’t usually apply for a role with you or who don’t normally apply for any roles on their own.
With the current skills shortage, having access to this wider talent can be the difference between finding an average candidate and finding the perfect candidate for a role.
4) Perfect your messaging
If you ever struggle to express precisely what you’re looking for in terms of new talent in a job description or marketing, the right recruiter can help you.
They know how to update things like your interviewing and selection processes too, ensuring they will deliver the most suitable candidates for the engineering or manufacturing job roles you’re trying to fill.
5) Less hassle, less time, less money
The amount of time it takes to advertise to, assess, and choose candidates can soon end up racking up costs in terms of staffing hours and other expenses. Also, let’s face it, it is quite a bit of hassle.
Things get much more efficient and cost-effective with a recruitment agency taking care of things for you. Because they’ll be able to leverage their existing talent pool and industry knowledge to streamline and speed up the process.
Are recruitment agencies worth it?
You might struggle to get exactly the candidates you’re looking for if you’re in a specific industry and you use a general recruitment agency.
But the right recruiter can be a fantastic resource. Armed with specialist industry knowledge about everything from the key players to key qualifications, they’re able to take a lot of the stress, cost, and time investment out of your recruitment process.
Still not sure if a recruitment agency is worth it?
Let’s talk. Ernest Gordon is a specialist manufacturing and engineering recruitment company. We work with employers and candidates up and down the UK to create perfect matches.
Set up a cost and commitment-free chat with one of our advisors today. Let’s find out if we’re the way to find the job or candidate you’re looking for.