The role of a specialist agency in successful staffing cannot be under-estimated. A good agency will establish a rapport with HR and the hiring managers to understand exactly what type of person and skills they need, what they need them for and when they need them.
At PCR we typically aim to present no more than 2-5 candidates to an employer, all of whom are fully screened and able to do the job as understood. With our best clients one in every two candidates who go to interview will be offered the position, which saves time and ultimately money.
Our approach - Why a specialist is best
Judith Blair, Managing Director of PCR, explains why companies in competitive markets are increasingly turning back to specialist recruitment consultancies to solve their staffing problems.
Anyone in business knows that good staff are the key to success. The cost of getting staffing wrong can be huge and have a long term impact on a company's health. So, running alongside any solid financial business plan should be a staffing plan; as one cannot be achieved realistically without the other.
Internal HR departments are vital to get this planning process in place and running smoothly; but in today's competitive marketplace, good staff can be hard to find without some specialist help. And the best form of help is a switched-on and typically industry or/and technology sector focused recruitment consultancy.
But why should this be the case when on-line job boards, databases and relationships with a handful of generalist agencies appear to offer quick and easy access to the type of candidates any company might be searching for?
Pulling CVs off an on-line service, or pushing vacancies out to low-cost recruitment agencies might seem like a quick and easy solution for internal recruitment departments. However, there are a number of drawbacks to this which can prove much more costly in the medium to longer term than paying specialist agency fees.
- Industry statistics show that 28% of CVs contain doubtful information and that at least 8% of applicants should not be hired based on the facts contained on the CV. A specialist agency will perform detailed background checks on all applicants' CVs before putting them forward for consideration. Standard direct checks, industry knowledge and reference contacts can all be used to create a full and accurate profile of the individual and their skills.
- Many of the best candidates, especially in high level or more specialised technology roles, will not put their details onto a CV database or register with a generalist agency as they know they will be bombarded with irrelevant or inappropriate opportunities in their in-box.
- Good candidates prefer to have a personal relationship with a specialised agency that can understand their work and personal needs and that will be able to match them with their best clients as opportunities arise.
- A specialist consultant will work with the client to understand its staffing plan and look in advance for candidates who it knows may be available as the need arises. This contrasts to simply reacting to an immediate opportunity with candidates who are on the market at that moment in time.
- The best candidates come through referral and word of mouth. By concentrating on a specific business or technology sector, a specialist consultant will build a close, trusted network of contacts to create an invaluable database.
- A specialist will not only find candidates with the right skills, but because they understand the overall business needs as well as the specific role, they will find time to fully brief the candidate. This means that time is not wasted at the first interview finding out that the candidate whose CV looks perfect is in fact not a good fit with either the business or the team.
The role of a specialist agency in successful staffing cannot be under-estimated. A good agency will establish a rapport with HR and the hiring managers, to understand what they need and when. Through understanding the business of their clients, specialist consultants and recruiters often spot candidates whose skills may not appear perfect from the CV but by understanding the industry and talking to the candidate they will recognise potential that an employer, with limited time available for recruitment, might not. Through a full understanding of the client's business needs, the technology they are working with and the ability to communicate in their own 'language', the staffing process can be managed down to a rapid, efficient and pleasant experience - rather than a tedious trawl through multiple CVs.
At PCR we typically aim to present no more than 2-5 candidates to an employer, all of whom are fully screened as able to do the job as understood. With our best clients one in every two candidates who are selected for interview will be offered the position - a real saving of time, stress and money.
PCR is a specialist recruitment agency.