Should You Hire a Recruiter?
When should you hire a recruiter? It can be a difficult decision to hire an agency outside of your organization to assist with recruiting. However, a professional recruiter can save you time, fill positions when needed, and zero in on the best candidate for the role. There is a cost, but often the cost of paying a recruiter is less than the expense of placing employment ads, taking phone calls, answering emails, and screening resumes. Finding a candidate that fits the position and culture can be expensive, and there’s the cost associated with leaving a position vacant. Spending money to save money is good business.
A professional recruiter can be as valuable as other professionals your organization relies upon. Most organizations retain attorneys, accountants, trainers, and others because each fills a need for the business. Retaining a professional recruiter is no different. Professional recruiters fill a need.
How to Determine if You Need a Recruiter
There are many considerations, but the following questions will lead you in the right direction. You should ask these three questions before considering whether you need a recruiter to help you fill your recruiting needs.
How quickly do you need to fill the role? You should consider a recruiter when you need to fill the position quickly and don't have someone completely dedicated to doing the search internally. A recruiter may have access to far more candidates than you might find to fit the position you need to fill.
Do we have the internal manpower to help search for people? What is your organization’s level of recruiting expertise? You may have people within your organization that are competent recruiters, but it’s hard to match the professionalism of someone who recruits every day.
Will this search take away from other duties for me or my staff? You should weigh the pros and cons of taking someone away from their current responsibilities to dedicate time for recruiting as compared to retaining a recruiter.
So, Should You Hire a Recruiter?
If you need to fill a position quickly, if the vacancy costs the organization time and money, then a recruiter can more than pay for themselves. When taking someone away from their responsibilities to spend time vetting candidates becomes inefficient, or when filling a position is urgent a recruiter may be your most cost effective choice.
Randy Clark is the Director of Communications at TKO Graphix, where he blogs for TKO Graphix Brandwire. Randy is passionate about social media, leadership development, and flower gardening. He’s the proud father of two educators; he has four amazing grandchildren, and a wife who dedicates her time to helping others. Randy is the author of How to Stay Ahead of Your Business Blog Forever and The New Manager’s Workbook: A Crash Course in Effective Management.