Are Recruiting Firms Still Relevant?

With the unemployment rate at approximately 40% (as of May 2022), why would any Human Resources professional use a recruiting firm to find qualified candidates? It should be easy with so many applicants available and with Applicant Tracking Systems handling much of the sourcing grunt work.

Many small and midsize companies have limited Human Resources staff, whose time is taken up with their day-to-day responsibilities, along with resolving that day’s crisis.  That doesn’t leave much time for recruiting chores, even if their company has in-house recruiters. After all, most departments with job vacancies continue to produce, so those vacancies must not be that critical.

What about your Applicant Tracking System? Wasn’t that supposed to make life a lot easier for recruiters?  ATS presumably weeds out unqualified candidates, but it may also be ruling out very qualified candidates who just didn’t use the proper buzz words in their resume and keeping unqualified candidates that are ATS savvy. So, yes, an ATS will handle hundreds of job applications but is it effective?

Why Do You Need a Recruiting Firm?

First and foremost, to save the company money. Time is a factor. Time is money, right?

• First, sourcing candidates takes time.  Creating posts on various job seeker sites and multiple social media platforms AND monitoring responses is time-consuming. So, unless an in-house pool of candidates is ready, this is a necessary evil.
• Human Resources staff can be more effective without handling the calls/texts/emails from applicants who want to know their status or who avoided the ATS by sending a resume directly to the company. Your staff’s time is needed for more important work.
• In-house recruiters (if your company is large enough to have them) can save time going through the hundreds of applications deemed qualified by your ATS to find the ones that are “truly” qualified. Who likes doing duplicate work?
• What about the Human Resources Manager’s time? Even with in-house recruiters, the manager’s time will be required for some tasks/decisions. 
• Avoid the frustration of dealing with candidates deemed as qualified, pre-screened over the phone/Skype, and set up for interviews (maybe multiple interviews by different department heads) who don’t bother to show up. Really? That time consumed by staff is wasted, and management’s schedule is filled with interviews that won’t occur.
• Will the job candidate fit into your corporate culture? There is only so much that can be done to determine this personality aspect before placing a candidate. An applicant may have the perfect skills and experience needed to fill your vacancy, but you may find (at this late stage) will not be a good cultural fit for the department.
• Ensure confidentiality.  An underperforming executive may need to be replaced, or a top manager is retiring, and there is a critical need to keep this information confidential.  It’s difficult, if not impossible, to keep some things confidential in a small or mid-size company.

What Can TalentInsight Do for You?

• Simply stated, we save the company time and money. By outsourcing your recruiting tasks to TalentInsight, we free up your time (and your staff’s) to do more important work. We are experienced in finding the right candidate for the job. That’s all we do. All day. Every day.
• First, TalentInsight works with you to fully understand the open position’s needs, responsibilities, and requirements.  In addition, we want to understand your company’s culture to find the perfect candidate.
• Our database of vetted, experienced professionals may already hold the perfect candidate. If not, we work through our extensive network to find your purple squirrel. That includes recruiting a currently employed individual not searching for a new opportunity.
• TalentInsight eliminates the aggravation of dealing with “no shows”.  We ensure that our candidates are qualified, interested in the position, and ready to start work.
• Sensitive position changes are kept out of the gossip mill. We ensure confidentiality for all our clients.
• TalentInsight’s fees will save you money. Calculate your company’s cost per hire (time spent on tedious recruiting tasks that you, your staff, and management spend on filling your vacancy), then add in the money lost by having the position vacant. Compare those costs with TalentInsight’s fee schedule, and you will see that the cost of using our firm is well worth it.
• Finding the right person is our only priority. Plus, we work on a commission basis; we get paid when the applicant is hired; if we don’t find anyone, we don’t get paid.

At TalentInsight, we help our clients respond swiftly, smartly, and creatively to changing market conditions. We apply our knowledge and experience to help brands and businesses turn staffing and recruiting challenges into growth opportunities. Let our experienced recruiters find the perfect match for your open position. Contact us today.