Recruiting new staff can take up a lot of time – and quite a lot of money. Even if you attempt to do so independently, there is no guarantee that you will find the right fit straight away. 

An employee who isn’t a good fit for an organisation will be disinterested, unmotivated and will often leave within a few months – meaning that all the time and money spent will have been for nothing. 

Often employers need additional support when recruiting new employees. A recruitment agency can help to mitigate some of these challenges. By outsourcing recruitment efforts, a company can obtain quality staff without having to stress over every detail of the process – they can focus on the more important elements of the recruitment process, such as the interview stages.

Recruitment agencies work with businesses and individuals – granting them access to a large talent pool. Recruitment firms often contact and qualify job seekers from a range of job boards such as JobServe and CV Library which means that they have a variety of talent on hand at any given moment. CV-Library currently holds over 6 million CVs from quality candidates across the UK.

Not only are recruitment firms able to provide a wider pool of applicants, but they more often than not provide the highest-quality applicants for the role, saving the business valuable time, especially when you’re trying to fill a gap, or multiple gaps, for a large scale project.

Recruitment firms act as an intermediary between the employer and the contractor/candidate – this allows candidates to get a better feel for the role and what an employer has to offer. It also allows firms to understand what a candidate is looking for, for example, day rate or salary expectations.

Ideal candidates are not always looking for work but would be interested if the right opportunity arose. Recruitment specialists have access to an extensive network of people and know where to find individuals. They take the time to get to know these individuals – this allows them to get a feel for what they are like as a person – not just as a contractor.

When advertising job roles, employers often fail to find prospective employees who are up-to-scratch. This could be for a multitude of reasons, but among the most common is poor marketing – staff that could be a perfect fit fail to see the role in the first place.

Recruitment specialists are well-trained in how to advertise a role effectively. They typically not only market online on job boards and job sites but also through various social media platforms. Another way in which recruiters find applicants is through outreach.

They directly reach out to potential applicants, typically through social media channels such as LinkedIn – many businesses would not have the time or resources to do this. A lot of recruitment firms have consultants that specialise within certain parts of a specific industry, for example IT roles within a government environment.

Recruiters are incredibly knowledgeable about current employment and remuneration trends. They will know what the average day rate is within your industry and what kind of benefits people expect as standard – this can help employers establish a baseline rate.

By working with a contracting recruitment agency, you are taking advantage of relationships that said agency has built with a long list of potential employers.

By leveraging these relationships as a contractor, you can discuss the employer/client with the recruitment agency that you’re working with and see what kind of project they’re working on, what kind of budget they have to play with, are there any possibilities for a long-term relationship, can you push for a higher daily rate, etc.

Recruitment agencies often conduct initial phone call interviews on behalf of the business in need of talent. This can help to narrow down the list of applicants and ensure that nobody is put forward for the role that would be unsuitable. 

Recruitment agencies can also carry out background checks, which saves the employer’s HR department from having to do so. Agencies have more time to get to know candidates and find out about their skill set in a non-intrusive, open and honest manner.

All of these things combined help to provide additional screening and help to ensure that everybody that gets through to the final stage is of high calibre.

With contracting work, the talent pool that you are looking at may span across different countries, or through candidates with varying levels of expertise.

These factors make the recruitment process of finding a contractor for your project or BAU (Business As Usual) a lot more time consuming and risky, especially if you are recruiting for a big client or high-worth project.

Using a recruitment firm is one of the fastest ways to fill open positions in a business.

Recruitment firms have access to software and systems, for example CRMs such as Hubspot and Vincere, specially designed to help locate skilled people, meaning that they can find prospects a lot easier than a business would be able to do by itself.

CRM systems allow better customer segmentation, retention and speedier communication between a candidate and organisation / client and organisation.

Recruitment specialists spend their whole day filling vacancies for businesses and, as such, have a very in-depth understanding of the job market – both locally and nationally. They understand employer needs – whilst also understanding candidates’ expectations.

This puts them in the perfect position to quickly and efficiently fill vacancies – keeping both parties satisfied in the process.

Using a recruitment agency for contracting positions is a tried and tested method to find valuable candidates More than 80% of the value of the industry is generated through temporary and contract placements, rather than permanent.

With temporary recruitment leading the way for recruitment agencies in terms of job placements, it’s in the recruitment agencies’ best interest to ensure that you are receiving the best quality candidates possible and achieving your goals through them.

Some recruiting companies specify within an industry, such as IT/Technology, Hospitality, Legal, meaning that they not only have an understanding of the job market at both a local and national level, they also know how this information specifically applies to you and your business.

This also means that recruitment consultants have a clear understanding of the specific requirements of the role, and the technical skills required.

This industry-specific knowledge also places them in a unique position to identify transferable skills. These transferable skills could be missed by a business, causing them to miss out on a potentially exceptional candidate.

Using a recruitment firm simplifies the recruitment process; for both employers and candidates. Agencies strive to provide their clients with the most qualified candidates as quickly as possible.

These candidates are often screened to determine whether or not they would be a good fit for the company as well as the role itself.

Sector-specific recruitment firms possess vast amounts of industry experience and provide access to candidates of the highest calibre through their extensive network of industry professionals.

Whether you need an in-house team working on filling your vacancies or a whole project delivered, we have you covered.

All of our clients have their own dedicated Account Management team, including an Account Director, Service Delivery Manager, Account Manager and Administrator. You can be confident that you will always reach the point of contact you need, and we can guarantee our team is 100% up to speed and fully accountable to each client.

Here at Lucid, we pride ourselves on our recruitment consultants and the quality of the services we offer. Get in contact with us today if you are looking for a reliable, honest and professional employment service: 01908 690 000.

Written by Lucid Support