Recruiting Agency Myths vs. Facts: 4 Reasons to Outsource Your Next Talent Search
February 29, 2024
Whether you need a traditional manager for a permanent role, a new executive for your boardroom, or short-term consultants for an important project, searching for the perfect professional for your team can quickly become overwhelming.
The hiring process can also be time consuming and costly. To locate and hire qualified candidates, you need to create a job post, collect applications, screen and sort resumes, conduct interviews, and negotiate an offer to your preferred candidate. This process can last weeks or months—and it doesn’t guarantee you’ll find or hire the best person for your job.
Despite these challenges, common misconceptions surrounding the role of recruiters and the effectiveness of outsourcing the hiring process often prevent companies from seeking the support of recruiting services. That’s why we’re debunking some common recruitment agency myths and misconceptions. Read on to learn what it’s really like to work with an experienced group of recruiters to build and grow your team.
Myth 1: Recruitment agencies don’t understand our industry
Companies often assume that recruiters spend all their time on job boards searching for candidates who tick the boxes on a list of skills and qualities the company is seeking without any real understanding of their industry. While a common misconception, the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Recruiters often focus on a specific industry or field, and they have a deep knowledge of the various roles and the specific skills required.
In fact, many recruiters have worked in the industry themselves. This insider knowledge helps them find candidates with the right background and experience, giving you access to a pool of highly qualified candidates from the start. Specialized recruiters also keep up with the latest industry trends and developments so they can help companies tap into talent with cutting-edge skills to grow their business. While internal hiring teams might struggle to locate candidates with difficult-to-find skill sets, recruiters have access to networks of skilled professionals they can tap into quickly, finding quality candidates in less time.
At CRB, we specialize in sourcing talent for the technology and marketing sectors, with a focus on meeting the unique needs of companies in higher education and education technology, finance, travel and leisure, and the consumer apparel industry. This specialized focus along with our ability to support short and long-term hiring needs from consultants to executive talent ensures we can meet the needs of our clients and find them top talent that fits their specific industry.
Myth 2: Using an agency will slow down our hiring process
The business world is a busy place, and organizations need to find talent fast to fill gaps and grow their team without disrupting workflows. It’s no surprise then that time to hire is a major priority for HR teams across industries. Unfortunately, companies often believe that working with a recruiting agency will slow down their hiring process. With the increase in job boards and social networks which allow businesses to reach candidates directly, why work with a recruiter who will complicate the process?
The opposite is actually true. An effective recruiting agency can streamline hiring, closing any gaps in your recruitment process while allowing you to hire top talent quickly. Not only will specialized recruiters find industry specific talent faster, but they’ll also handle all the application screening and sorting, ensuring that only the most qualified candidates reach the next stage. Additionally, once you’ve identified a short list of candidates, the agency will manage candidate communications and next steps, scheduling interviews while keeping everyone informed about the process.
With a recruitment agency focused on hiring for your business, you’ll save valuable time and energy while increasing your chances of making a great hire quickly.
Myth 3: Working with a recruitment agency is too expensive
We hear this one a lot. While there is a cost to working with a recruitment agency, there are also lots of overlooked benefits that easily outweigh any expense.
First, it’s important to consider the costs of doing a candidate search yourself. How will you source the skilled candidates you’re looking for? Do you have too many candidates to review or not enough quality applicants to fill your open roles? How many hours per week will you have to spend reviewing resumes and contacting applicants?
Now, what if you got all that time back by outsourcing your hiring to a recruiting agency? Instead of wasting time and energy on recruitment and hiring, you could focus on growing your business and completing important tasks that improve your bottom line.
In addition to the costs in lost time and energy, it’s crucial to consider the opportunity and replacement costs of hiring. The longer a position remains vacant, the greater the gap in productivity. This can lead to decreased work output, missed deadlines, and lost business opportunities.
Similarly, consider the cost associated with replacing an employee who doesn’t work out. Not only will you have to repeat the recruitment process and pay the costs of redoing your candidate search, you’ll also be short-staffed again, leading to additional opportunity costs and challenges for the whole team.
Given these downsides, working with a recruiter can actually save you money. You’ll be able to find and hire quality talent quickly, with minimal impact to your business and bottom line. Working with a recruitment agency also allows you to choose the engagement type that is best for your business. From hiring a short-term consultant to help with a big project or testing out a new employee before hiring them long-term, recruitment agencies can offer a hiring model that fits your needs.
Myth 4: Recruiters send any available candidates they have
It can be frustrating to get a flood of applications from candidates who don’t meet the qualifications for your role. Unfortunately, companies tend to assume the same is true of recruiting agencies. While some agencies may focus on quantity over quality, at CRB our goal is to find the right person for your role.
That’s why we go above and beyond to build relationships with our clients so we can truly understand what matters to your business and find candidates that are a great fit. Our streamlined process ensures we understand the ‘why’ behind your hiring request and our award-winning internal database helps us find talent with the skills you’re looking for.
At the same time, we also work closely with our candidates to learn about what motivates them and what they’re looking for. Once we have a quality match who meets all your criteria, we support you through the interview process, debriefing with both clients and candidates to make sure the match is a great fit. The end result is improved employee retention and a positive outcome for your business. Even after the recruitment process is complete, we stick around and remain fully dedicated to supporting your business needs.