According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, staffing growth in the last 12 months has been nearly 6%. But why should you use a staffing agency to find candidates when you have an HR team? It may not be the right call on every hiring decision, but often it can make sense to supplement your recruiting efforts with the resources and networks of an external recruitment agency. Here are some reasons you might want to consider working with a staffing firm and how recruiters can add value to your company’s human capital strategy.
1. Agency Recruiters are Specialists
Your HR team has the insurmountable task of being experts in every vertical, hiring at every level, and keeping the company workforce at peak performance. When the well-oiled machine that is your corporate Human Resources team is given a very difficult, niche role to fill and requires a specific skill set, a specific personality and with niche industry experience, this may be a time when the effort needed to do a search like this just may not be possible. Agency Recruiters typically have a very niche specialty, they may focus on a certain industry, skill set or specialty, and will often have an extensive database of candidates within this niche that are both passive or actively in the market, which means that they can come to the aid of HR quickly and effectively to supplement recruiting efforts and help save time and money for the company.
2. Passive Candidates
Sure, throwing an add on the internet can be a great net for grabbing active candidates, but as your HR team can tell you, the quality of candidates is not always the best. Agency recruiters are constantly calling into companies, talking with passive candidates, maintaining their network and building relationships with these passive candidates. In fact, while you are telling Agency Recruiters the parameters of your jobs, they are often thinking of the people who could be a great fit and would love to hear about the opportunity, regardless of their employment status.
3. Time is Money
When you are looking to hire a top performer, time is money. In high performance companies, an open position can often cause a high amount of burden on other employees while they work longer hours, contributing to lower morale and can eventually effect the culture of the company. According to John Rossheim, journalist and Monster.com contributor, a poorly managed recruitment process can cost 6 figures in lost revenue, not to mention the “the HR department and the hiring manager barely speaking to each other” When you work with an Agency, you bring in an entire team of recruiters, their networks, relationships and tenacity to identify the right candidate for the job quickly, which will take the burden off of the rest of your team. This type of recruiting effort often brings a top performer into your company adding tremendous value as well.
4. Avoid the Wrong Hire
Just like leaving a position unfilled can cost money, hiring the wrong candidate can be extremely costly. Besides the cost associated with a new hiring process, the costs associated with recovering from weeks or months of work done the wrong way can be immeasurable, though in a survey by Career Builder, 27% of US companies put the cost of a bad hire at $50,000.00 if you want an estimate! So next time you think about hiring “almost” the right fit, make sure you can afford it! After all, many agencies work for contingency, so there is often no risk to review and interview their candidates to determine if you are making the best hiring decision.
5. Keep Your Finger on “The Pulse” of The Market
Since most staffing firms do have a specialty, they are also often familiar with the market within their niche and can provide and excellent resource into market conditions, pay scales for similar roles, and even help you understand the skill sets needed for the job you are trying to fill.
When crunched for time or in a special staffing situation, don’t hesitate to reach out to a staffing firm to help find the best candidates in niche skill sets. With the right recruiting partner, you may be pleasantly surprised at the quality of candidates, speed to fill and performance of your new hire!
Matthew is the VP of Business and Talent Acquisition with CPA By Choice and its subsidiary Staffing By Choice, a Human Capital Solutions firm headquartered in Miami, FL. When midsized companies are in need of part time, temporary or project based CFO services for a transformation, M&A scenarios or need financial and accounting management of any kind, they look to CPA By Choice. When seeking out permanent Human Capital Solutions in accounting, finance, investment banking, sales, admin or operations management, Staffing By Choice has the resources to identify and place top performers. Feel free to leave your comments below and connect with Matthew on LinkedIn.
