One of the most important responsibilities of management is recruiting quality candidates. Both small businesses that don’t have the time or experience to do it right and large businesses seeking experts or a large number of new hires tend to need help. A common solution is hiring a human resources or HR recruiting agency. But in order to find the right one to partner with your organization, there are some important questions that should be answered.
Here are five things you should consider when hiring a human resource recruiting agency:
1. How Long have they Been Recruiting?
One of the ironies of human resources is that recruiting is a high turnover business. The average recruiter is in the job 18 to 36 months. You don’t want to work with a recruiting firm that just opened up or recruiters who are brand new to the field. Given the importance of finding quality talent, you don’t want to work with a steady stream of new recruiters, each of whom has to be briefed on your requirements. Ask them about how long they’ve been working in the profession and how long they’ve been with the current firm.
2. How Many People do you Recruit for the Type of Jobs you’re Filling?
You should also ask how many roles they fill in your particular niche. The ideal answer is three to six. This means they’re successful enough to find a steady stream of candidates. A higher number may mean they’re approaching burn out or not fully vetting candidates. What matters here is if they’re filling roles like those you need to be filled. For example, their ability to hire medical professionals is irrelevant when you need technical experts in your organization. A good human resources recruiting agency will have a track record of quickly finding good candidates in your field.
3. Are you Meeting Quality Candidates?
This is a question to ask your team once the recruiting firm has started sending you candidates for interviews. Are they sending candidates with the required skills and a steady career progression? Or are they sending you people who have jumped around a lot, lack must-have skills and can’t explain gaps on their resume? Also, ask yourself if they’re a good match with your company’s needs. It doesn’t help you to interview people who need a relocation package when that isn’t in the budget. Talk about how well the candidates did, discussing how their experience is relevant to the job. If the job candidates don’t know anything about the job and aren’t prepared to prove their qualifications, this means the HR recruiting firm isn’t doing a good job.
4. Are Reference Checks Being Done?
Good recruiters will do reference checks before you meet candidates. Once you start meeting candidates and vetting them, determine whether or not they’re passing your own background and reference checks. Is the recruiter sending people who don’t actually have college degrees, industry credentials or clean criminal records? If so, you should consider finding another HR recruiting agency. What if you hire them and they turn out not to be a fit? This is what a replacement guarantee is supposed to do. A red flag is when the recruiting agency won’t provide a replacement guarantee if the new hire quits.
Conclusion.
Human resources is vital to every organization, and you can’t afford to make mistakes. Have a list of questions to ask recruiting agencies before you hire them and while you’re working with them so that you ensure that they’re a match.
