In a market heaving with recruitment agencies, it is easy to lose sight of what you should expect from recruiters. Below is a breakdown of the service a ‘good’ recruiter should provide:
The initial engagement – the initial call should involve a thorough description of the role, the person specification as well as the reason for the vacancy, what the company and department are like and what steps have been taken so far to fill the role. Discuss terms of business and fees carefully, these should be emailed over to you immediately for your reference.
Salary advice – Do make sure you ask about what you can expect to pay. No-one will know better than a recruiter that operates in that specific market. They should be honest with you; if you think you can get someone for £15k but the market dictates that you will need to be paying nearer £18K then they should tell you that from the offset. Ignoring salary advice will mean your pool of candidates is significantly smaller with lower quality candidates swimming in it!
Plan a meeting - This is so important, especially if you have never worked together before. It gives the recruiter a chance to see the site and department and most importantly find out about environment that the candidate will be working in. It also gives you a chance to find out what the recruiter intends to do for you, discuss fees and negotiate where needed (this should always be done prior to starting the resourcing process). The meeting should go over what was initially discussed on the phone, allowing the recruiter to gain an excellent understanding of the company, role and what you are looking for in a candidate.
Resourcing CVs – Ultimately the difference between a good recruiter and a bad one will be the CVs they generate and how they filter and screen them. I could write endlessly about what they shouldn’t do, but I think its best to stick to what they should do.
CVs should match your requirements, they may stretch your expectations on some elements, for example industry or qualification, but generally they should match the criteria that you have set. There are many ways to generate candidates, from existing databases to advertising, referrals and headhunting.
Suitable candidates - Candidates should have been met or at least telephone interviewed to asses their suitability and own aspirations. They should be legally compliant, so have their ID checked along with any visas. If they state work-specific qualifications, these should also be checked. It is essential that each role is run past the candidate before sending the CVs, a practice not often adhered too.
Arranging interviews – This should be done by the recruiter at the times you decide. Please do bear in mind though that they may be unable to based on the candidates availability, so try to offer some flexibility.
Interview feedback – Once you have met with the candidate(s) the recruiter should call you or indeed you them to discuss how the interview went and the candidate’s suitability. Generally they will have already spoken to the candidates to see what their thoughts were. They will let those that were unsuccessful know. If none of the candidates were suitable, the recruiter should challenge you as to why and what they can do to ensure the next round of options are relevant.
Offer process – The recruiter should take the offer in and go to the candidate with it. If the recruiter feels it is an unfair offer based on their skills or expectations, they should broach this with you and discuss any further options before going to the candidate with it. A low offer can mean losing the person you want. They should then offer the candidate, deal with any negotiations and get a start date sorted. They will then pass on the candidate’s personal details for the offer letter/contract to be sent to.
Pre-start – A recruiter should stay in touch with the candidate right up until start date and beyond. This is to ensure there are no last minute changes of mind and if there are they can be managed properly. They should also check in with both you and the candidate in the first few weeks to make sure you are both happy.
This is a brief outline of ‘best practice’ within recruitment, but to sum up a recruiter should work with integrity and honesty and essentially provide you with the best people available in the market for your vacancy.
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