Why Businesses Benefit from a Great Relationship with their Recruitment Agency
Driving value from your recruitment partner
The success of any company relies on its talent.
Hiring the right people allows a business to grow and be successful year after year. So how can businesses ensure they have access to the right people, at the right time?
One aspect of a successful recruitment strategy, something I encourage with all my clients, is building a relationship with a recruiter that can anticipate your hiring needs. All too often recruitment agencies are approached last minute with previous attempts to hire having failed, many agencies will succeed and fill the role but there are longer-term benefits to not relying last minute on a recruiter.
Anticipate your talent needs
In my opinion, this is the most valuable aspect of a recruitment partnership. For it to work, it requires the client to share talent acquisition plans or general business growth plans and to keep lines of communication open. An established recruiter will interact with a large and diverse network of talent, if a solid relationship has been developed, when new top-tier candidates come onto their radar it can be beneficial if they introduce them speculatively to their current clients. This strategy is extremely valuable giving businesses access to a consistent pipeline of relevant talent that they might not otherwise have seen.
Find out about competitors
In addition to a candidate network, a recruiter will also have a large network of clients often in a similar industry. This puts them in a unique position to be able to give constructive feedback on a range of employment or hiring factors. These might include the hiring process, the level of feedback a candidate receives after an interview, company culture or benefits and how these compare to competitors. A recruiter who feels there is a level of mutual benefit and trust in a relationship should feel confident to feedback new ideas or ways to improve the candidate experience and help win the best talent for their clients.
Use recruiters to amplify your brand
A good Recruitment Consultant will wear many hats, one of which is advocating the brand or business they are recruiting for. If a Consultant is invested in a client, their ability to sell and promote the organisation will be far more genuine than that of a company who doesn’t see the value in building a relationship with the recruiter. This investment in the client recruiter relationship often results in the Consultant being able to steer a top tier candidate away from competitors and to consider an opportunity with their clients.
Katie Jackson is the Director of Kindred Recruitment, a London based marketing recruitment agency supporting clients across the UK source sales, marketing and customer service professionals. If you are looking for talent acquisition advice or would like to discuss a vacancy, please call 020 3742 2266.