3 Crucial Considerations Every Employer Should Consider Before Hiring a Corporate Recruitment Agency

Being an employer isn’t easy in the present-day labor market, mainly because candidates have more leverage than they once did. Retaining good employees is now a more significant challenge than ever.

So, what exactly can business owners do to ensure that they land the best hires and overcome the various business and resourcing challenges and manage to retain high-quality candidates amid these challenging times?

The solution lies with leveraging corporate agency recruitment services!

But then again, finding the right recruiting partner can be a new challenge altogether.

You need not worry, though. We’ve got your back! Here are a few crucial considerations that can help employers find a corporate recruitment agency that understands their unique hiring needs and works on fulfilling their goals in a tailored fashion:

1. Ensure That the Agency Adheres to All Legal Requirements

The first and foremost step to ensuring that the corporate recruitment agency you choose will be the right partner is checking if the agency adheres to all legal requirements and understands its liabilities towards the contract.

One recent post highlights a few common legal breaches faced by employers and agencies. Some of those are:

• Employee misclassification – To get around various federal mandates, many employers and agencies classify certain employees as independent contractors or freelancers. This kind of activity is unlawful in most cases and can bring penalties down on both the employer and the corporate recruitment agency.
• Immigration issues – Some employers hire non-citizen or non-permanent workers who have various kinds of visas. Under such circumstances, both the employers and the recruitment agencies they partner with must take great care to meet federal immigration employment requirements. Any minor violation, even unintentional ones, can end up imparting severe fines and penalties to both parties involved.
• Professional contracts – Every time you bring on a new direct hire, you sign a contract with them. Disputes can arise around just about any contract. This is why both you and the staffing agency you choose need legal counsel to make sure all contracts are enforceable and that any potential violations are correctly handled.

Educating yourself about the potential legal pitfalls and ensuring you can keep your company clear of those is essential for any business owner looking at getting recruitment outsourced . That knowledge is crucial to preventing data breaches, avoiding hefty penalties, and keeping your company’s reputation intact over time.

2. Decide Whether You Need a Specialized or a General Recruitment Firm

The next crucial consideration to be mindful of when looking at partnering with a corporate recruitment agency is to decide whether your hiring needs and timeline demand a specialist recruiter or a general one is going to be about right.

These firms conduct market research and know their candidates down to the nitty-gritty with specialized professional staffing services. They have accrued experience working with a particular industry and are aware of what such professionals look for in a job. They can communicate and negotiate well with them enough to convince them to join your company, further optimizing your hiring process.

Anastacia Flores, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at CBS Interactive, in one of her recent interviews for LinkedIn’s Talent blog, explains how the best staffing agencies and recruiters are more likely to know where to find niche candidates :

“Once they’ve identified some prospects, specialized recruiters understand how to speak to them in a confident, knowledgeable way. This can not only help the recruiter avoid awkward Java/JavaScript-style mix-ups — which can be highly off-putting for candidates — but can give them a better sense of what those candidates really care about.”

Now, what if you need to hire someone from a different industry? This is where general recruiter agencies come in. These usually provide a wide range of staffing solutions. They can help you fill job vacancies and manage human resources in whatever field you’re looking at filling roles.

Within the same LinkedIn post, Ross Baron, Head of Recruiting for Western Europe at TikTok, presents a solid contrasting perspective on why generalist recruiters have a greater ability to be agile when the business needs it:

“Since specialist recruiters excel in one niche, they can’t work on other business areas where there is a peak or a sudden demand in hiring. Recruiters then are less productive. There needs to be greater flexibility in how we structure our recruitment teams in order to keep up with the changing hiring needs. And that means having recruiters and recruitment firms that all set up to develop multiple business areas, not just one. ”

One best practice for employers here would be to carefully assess their hiring needs and decide what type of recruitment company fulfills those requirements better. Doing this will not only help you understand what to expect, but it will also help all your shortlisted potential professional recruiting firms discern what kind of candidates you prefer in terms of work ethics, individual values, etc.

3. Do Your Due Diligence to Screen the Recommended Candidates

Lastly, it would be best to do your due diligence in screening the candidates that potential staffing firms or existing partners recommend.

This is especially important given the high turnover rates employers are witnessing right now.

According to the recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), a staggering 3-4.5 million employees quit their job each month in 2021 in the United States. Another statistical data compilation points out that nearly one-third of new hires left their jobs after only six months.

While you can’t always predict what the outcome will be when you hire a new candidate, you can certainly follow a few best practices on your part to mitigate the risk of a potential turnover.

For instance, asking yourself these questions after your agency partner shortlists a potential hire can help:

• Will this person match the company culture? 
• Will this person thrive in the work environment that you have? 
• Will this person get along well with the other employees? Are they team players?
• Is this person self-driven?
• What does their employment background tell you about their history?

Choosing the right professional staffing agency will take you a long way in ensuring only top candidates end up your routine and keep your company safe from the perils of ending up with a bad hire.

If you’re interested in making the right hires for your business, contact Recruiter.com today. You can utilizeRecruiter.com’s on-demand recruiting services to help you make better decisions. 

Our advanced talent subscription service and consulting solutions will deliver qualified candidates directly to your email. We also have on-demand recruiting services that will help you build a truly driven, result-oriented workforce in the long run.