What value can a recruitment consultancy offer versus a direct advertising campaign?

In these days of job websites and social media, with platforms like Indeed, LinkedIn and even Facebook making it easier to post job adverts that get responses from potential candidates, why should hiring managers use a recruitment consultancy to secure new hires?

In this article we outline some of the key reasons businesses of any size should consider partnering with a recruitment consultancy over running their own direct recruitment campaign.

What’s more we spoke to some of our own clients to find out why they chose to use a recruitment consultancy rather than take the direct advertising route.

Time saving

While a direct advertising job campaign may on the face of it seem less of a financial outlay than using a recruitment consultancy; creating this campaign in-house is an important time investment given it represents the company brand, which takes busy managers and HR teams away from critical business support tasks. In business, time is money. A standard direct advertising hiring campaign can take as much as two days’ worth of time; with four hours of that time spent on administrative tasks alone, such as writing the job description and coordinating interview times between all parties.

On top of that you then have the time spent managing the high volume of CVs submitted. If you receive 100 applications; you’ll likely need to spend a minimum of ten minutes analysing each CV and covering email. And if you have to immediately reject a huge percentage of those when you find that many of the candidates are not suitable at all – you can start to see how the time can really add up.

“The benefit of a recruitment consultancy over direct advertising is that the recruitment consultancy will take time to fully understand the requirements and only deliver an applicant shortlist that is relevant to the role.”

Candidate attraction

When running a direct advertising recruitment campaign, employers will have very little control over the candidates that they attract, meaning there will be applicants who do not possess the skills required for the role who need to be filtered out, before you can even start looking at the more suitable candidates.

Not only will a recruiter do this time intensive part of the process for you; but through their wider advertising presence, extensive network reach (relationships with key student member societies) and market-specific knowledge they will be able to only present the candidates who meet your specific requirements.

Recruitment consultancies with a high consultant tenure means that not only do the consultants really understand the candidates in their market, it also means that this excellent candidate knowledge gives them the ability to approach potential candidates who may be the perfect fit for your role. Experienced consultants are able to assess the skills and cultural fit of candidates, all of which help businesses find the right person for their team.

“Here at CMA we meet every candidate – this means we can be sure of the suitability of our candidates before we put them forward to potential employers.” – Lynsey Walsh, Senior Consultant

In addition to working with active candidates, a recruiter offers continual job board visibility for 365 days per year – meaning that as soon as your job listing goes live it will be visible on all of the major jobs boards, as well as on the recruiter’s own website and social media channels; significantly increasing the potential reach of your current role. 

Value added process

Recruitment consulting will bring a value-added service; with important processes taken care of such as application reviews and conducting initial meetings, to really ensure that employers only see candidates who meet the key role criteria. A recruitment consultancy will also provide a clear and standardised CV with a candidate profile attached, written using the recruiter’s own insight from the meeting with the candidate. That unique profile insight can only be gained by a recruiter really getting to know the candidate.

In addition they will take a high number of tasks out of your hands with arranging interviews, briefing stakeholders and contacting applicants pre and post interview, managing offers and providing support during the transition period.

Some recruitment consultancies will even go further; offering on-site interviews (social distancing measures permitting), which means as an employer all you need to do is arrive at their offices at the agreed day and time and take a seat; everything else will be handled for you (sometimes lunch is provided too). The cost and time saving benefits for employers are innumerable.

“The CVs we receive have always been a good match for our business. They are submitted promptly and the candidates are a good fit for the team.”

Knowledge

A specialist recruitment consultancy will be able to offer expert industry insight and specific local knowledge of the job market – meaning they are best placed to provide honest and consultative advice to assist employers in achieving their goals.

As part of the package businesses can rely on their recruitment consultancy to handle offer management; providing insight into industry averages to ensure you can negotiate a fair and competitive salary offer.

The aftercare service ensures you are supported throughout the initial onboarding period with regular contact and feedback to allow a smooth transition of the successful candidate into their new role, team and the wider business.

“CMA has saved me considerable time over the years, nine times out of ten, they have identified the correct candidate from the outset, there hasn’t been an occasion yet where I have had to go to another agency to find the correct candidate.”

Read more: How to engage with your new employee and avoid the dreaded post-acceptance change of heart

While direct advertising may appear more cost effective on the face of it, once the workload involved is fully understood the apparent cost savings are rarely realised. By using a professional recruitment consultancy (rather than agency) you are reducing the chances of making a costly mistake. Hiring is expensive – especially when it goes wrong – with time spent on attraction, training and more. With a recruitment consultancy on board you can be sure of getting the right hire for your business without risk and with minimum effort on your part, allowing you to focus on proactive business-critical tasks.

Here at CMA we pride ourselves on our highly professional and experienced consultants and the quality of our candidates; in fact we pledge to meet every candidate. If you would like to find out more about how CMA could support you in your next hire, then speak to one of our expert consultants.