Successfully outsourcing recruitment: how do you do it?
Naturally, (the HR department or the recruiter of) a company will first recruit for a vacancy itself. But, suppose it turns out that it is not so easy to succeed, then agency(ies) could be engaged. Agencies abound. As HR, how do you find the right one?
Selecting an agency
Well, many an agency trying to sell its service (search / W&S) often build beautiful vistas here. It makes the choice all the more difficult.
Choices
The important questions then are:
- Are we going to hire one or more agencies?
- Will we continue to search ourselves?
- Which agency or agencies are we going to hire?
Considerations
Our (xentys) approach is to maximize the chance of success. Needless to say, we are also speaking from our own interest here: we want to maximize the chance of success for our client, and therefore for ourselves.
One or more agencies
If an agency is engaged, the client expects above-average candidates. After all, it is paid for this service. Then for heavier positions (above €50 to €60K salary) it becomes less and less convenient to work with multiple agencies:
- It also often affects the quality of communication between agency and client, who must divide time and attention between multiple agencies
- Agencies then approach the same candidates too often, which creates a messy impression with those candidates and does not increase confidence in the company with the job posting.
- All of this has a major impact on the probability of success for the agency. Many an agency, including xentys, are going to assess the probability of success (for themselves and for the client) and adjust the effort accordingly.
Continue to search yourself as well?
This leaves the question of whether the client himself should also keep looking. It is important that the client realizes that he is in fact the competitor of the agency or agencies. In that case, we have no choice but to approach the job market without disclosing our client. This definitely makes our search more difficult, as it becomes more difficult to entice people to respond.
Which agency(ies)?
When choosing an agency, that agency must inspire confidence:
- the recruiter knows the field (discipline) within which he recruits from his own experience and
- knows the labor market
- a personal click with the recruiter is also essential.
Less good communication?
What does that mean: less good communication between agency and client?
- Contact only by phone and email (not face to face)
A less clear specification of the vacant job profile, without many details
But also slow response, which in a difficult job market just has a bad effect. - Especially if it concerns good candidates. They often do not wait
- But also: less sympathetic communication, which affects cooperation. After all, it is human work.
And now?
Well, cooperation has been established with (preferably) one agency or with several agencies and so the decision has been made to outsource the vacancy.
Now how to optimize the chances of success?
Keep expectations realistic
First of all, it is important to keep expectations realistic. Even that agency will have to look for suitable candidates who are available at that time, resp. want to make a transfer, want to work at the location where the company is located and that based on the terms of employment in the vacant position. In short, that takes time. Give the agency that time.
The job profile
The level of detail of the job profile of the vacancy is super important for the agency to write a recruiting job profile, and thus entice the right man/woman to make this switch. Therefore, it is necessary for us (xentys) to speak to the hiring manager (the manager who has the vacancy) and learn from him/her himself/herself what the situation is in the department and in his/her field of work, where his/her priorities for the position lie, what challenges there are, and most importantly, who the hiring manager himself/herself is. And, fair is fair, for us it is also important because it allows us to leave the confidence that we are able to find the right candidates for the vacancy. And, that ensures that our candidates are taken seriously, even if they have a somewhat unexpected profile.
Good communication
This is a two-way street. Both parties proactively inform each other about relevant progress and developments. It is important that the client informs the agency about changes in the job profile or if there are other developments that affect the search.
And so …
This is how we prefer to work with our clients and become successful together:
- A close relationship, preferably 1-on-1
- A trusting relationship with the end client (both HR and hiring manager)
so that we can tell the story of the company and the position well, and thus entice people to respond. - With clients who allow us to work this way, collaboration goes great and we get the best results (sorry, placements).
Are you joining us?
If you have any questions based on this blog, please contact: maarten.smitsvanoyen@xentys.nl
