Recruitment Agencies - Partner or Pest?
Like most HR professionals, I've had positive and negative experiences in dealing with recruitment agencies.
To save on costs, we first try and fill a vacant role in-house. If we're unsuccessful, we then turn to recruitment agencies to assist us finding the ideal candidate.
Even when we're not looking for candidates, it seems I get at least one call a day from a recruitment agency seeking to assist us --- and when I post an ad up, oh boy, the real bombardment begins. My phone rings off the hook! Most understand that we prefer to recruit in-house first or directly through ads, but there have been some that just don't get the message. Persistence is something I admire in job applicant, but it can be pretty annoying to come across an agency that just doesn't seem to understand or want to accept that no means no!
Having said all that, there are times when the in-house and advertising approaches just don't work, so we have a list of preferred suppliers who are great to deal with and have placed some stellar staff in our business. What makes them easy to deal with?
- They seem to have a good understanding of our business/industry,
- They often provide some valuable insight into job market
- They're just nice, patient people to deal with.
- Oh yes, and they don't try to shove a candidate (who in their mind is perfect) down our throats.