Using external recruitment services to help source talent for your business should be an exercise in efficiency – saving you time and money in both the hiring process and ultimately in the calibre of talent that you hire and retain. But there is often hesitation in the client market today when it comes to using external recruitment services. Recruiters can be perceived as expensive, inconsistent and, in the very worst cases, shady.

Honestly, recruiters have no one to blame but themselves for these perceptions. Like a marketing 101 failure, we believe it is a shortfall of recruitment agencies that they don’t clearly articulate what clients should expect when they engage their services.

So here is a shortlist of What To Expect When You Engage A Recruiter.

Terms of business

When you choose to engage a recruiter, the first thing you should be provided with is a Terms of Business document. This is a clear document that serves as a contract between client and recruiter. It should outline expected timeframes, pricing structure, processes of confidentiality, guarantee of placement conditions and any additional services a recruiter offers. Read it carefully and question items that don’t work for you.

Clarity around payment and placement guarantee

The terms of business from your recruiter should detail how the recruiter’s fee will works. Generally, these fees are tiered against salary rate and set at a percentage of the role’s salary. You should expect not to pay a penny unless your recruiter presents the perfect candidate for the job.

Along with their fees, all recruiters offer a placement guarantee – meaning that if the placed candidate doesn’t work out within an agreed period, a credit note, refund or free replacement will be guaranteed. Retrenchments and change to job description usually make void this guarantee.

A request for a detailed brief and a face to face meeting wherever possible

Your recruiter will want the most detailed job description available, along with a face to face meeting to get to know you, your business, your offices and culture. If you spend any time at all on the process of engaging a recruiter, spend it doing this. The better the understanding your recruiter has of your business and the role, the better the value you’ll get.

A suitable candidate list within an agreed timeframe

Depending on the complexity of your job brief, expect your recruiter to come back to you literally asap with a shortlist of suitable candidates. In best circumstances, active candidates from your recruiter’s base will be put forward on the spot. Working through the recruiter’s passive database, connecting with talent to get them intrigued about the job and screening them, takes a little more time. The timeframe can vary greatly according to the specific market as talent shortages will impact supply and seasonal events can delay candidate’s responses – for e.g., the Melbourne Cup can effectively shut down the market in Melbourne around race day.

Expect your recruiter to meet every candidate face-to-face before presenting them to you – if they haven’t, they’re cutting crucial corners. The shortlist should include the reasons your recruiter recommends the candidate for the role, along with the candidate’s CV, visa stipulations, salary expectations, availability for start and availability for interview.

Timely and efficient communication – by the most accessible medium for you

A simple one, but your recruiter should take the time to ask you for your preferred method and channel of contact, and to always reach you this way. A lot of recruiters work with automated online systems for presenting candidates and streamlining communication. They are great, but it you’re a “text me” type of person, stipulate that to your recruiter.

The admin taken care of

Another huge benefit of outsourcing your recruitment means that the admin of hiring new talent can be passed on to your recruiter. This means the management of CVs, liaising with HR for contracts, setting up the meeting times and interviews and, in some cases, Visas & Psychometric testing can be handballed to your recruiter.

Good follow up

Expect that your recruiter will check in after every interaction between candidate and yourself. They will check in with both the candidate and yourself to ensure that feedback is aligned. They will provide honest feedback to both parties. And they will continue to check in post placement, not just until the agreed guarantee expires, but consistently. Volume of placed candidates is no longer the key metric for successful recruiters. Instead tenure of placed candidates is of much greater value as it inevitably means a good relationship has been forged by your recruiter on both fronts, and as the client, you’ve got the greatest possible value from your recruitment fee.

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Recruiters have the capacity to support your business beyond talent acquisition. At SCC Talent we are often involved in bigger picture business partnership with our clients. From devising team structures and developing role descriptions, to providing specialist industry insights, to pairing businesses together for growth, our expertise is not limited to sourcing candidates.

If you’re looking for straightforward and quality recruitment support, please get in touch with the SCC Talent team today.