Finding top talent isn’t always something employers have the time or
resources to do as well as they’d like.
In today’s market, the low unemployment
rate is making it even tougher to obtain the
experience, skills and professionalism
required for many positions. There may
come a time when companies that have
never utilized the service of a recruiter will
find themselves seeking out that partnership to support their hiring needs on core
and skilled positions.
“The days when you could place an ad
and get 30 qualified people are gone,” says
Kim Kilgoar, direct-hire recruiter at
Spherion. “Now, it’s necessary to leverage
referrals, strong networking and direct
recruiting.”
Smart Business spoke to Kilgoar about
what business managers need to know
when working with a direct-hire recruiter.
What should an employer look for in a direct-hire recruiter?
There are several components, one of the
most important being experience. In addition, you may want to find a recruiter that
is associated with an agency that can support the recruitment of multiple skill sets.
Also, I feel it’s worthwhile to find a
recruiter who displays stability within his
or her own career — not just within
recruiting. I encourage companies to ask to
meet their recruiter or at least request to
see the prospective recruiter’s resume.
It’s also important for an employer to
know where a recruiter obtains his or her
candidates. Many recruiters rely solely on
Internet job boards. They have their place,
but job boards should be merely one tool in
the workbench. You’ll want to dig deeper
and inquire about the recruiter’s networks.
I appreciate it when clients ask me that,
and I’m always happy to describe the
organizations I’m involved in or the committees I chair.
How engaged should a recruiter be with an
employer during the recruiting process?
Since I refer to myself as a partner to my
clients, my involvement is just that, a partnership. With all new clients or new locations, a recruiter should visit the site and get a taste for the culture and environment.
It’s imperative to meet hiring managers and
‘report-to’ contacts.
Once all introductory work has been
completed, the candidate submission
process begins. The recruiter should submit only the top candidates, incorporating
heavy notes along with their resumes.
Clients need to stay informed about the
candidate’s work history, test scores,
behavioral and traditional interview
results, and references. The next step is to
get the interviews scheduled, a process the
recruiter should handle. He or she can also
extend an offer on the client’s behalf and
continue to follow up with both the client
and candidate. It is so important that both
the candidate and client receive feedback.
I tell my clients all the time that I make
those follow-up calls to protect their and
my investment.
What happens if a new employee isn’t working out?
A direct-hire fee agreement should offer a
guarantee. In the rare case an arrangement
doesn’t work out, our first step is to investigate the circumstances. Often, we find
there has been a miscommunication about
some aspect of the job, and these gaps can
frequently be bridged to everyone’s satisfaction. If the situation can’t be remedied in
that manner, the search starts over. It’s very
important to take action the moment a
potential problem surfaces and to stay with
it until it is resolved to the employer’s satisfaction.
How does direct-hire differ from temp-to-hire?
Temp-to-hire is a ‘try before you buy’ concept that enables an employer to hire a
worker on a temporary basis for a negotiated period of time. Based upon the
employee’s work performance, they can be
hired by the client for a negotiated fee.
However, temp-to-hire candidates recognize the risk of not being hired permanently by the client and therefore often continue to search for a permanent position during this temp-hire period. In many cases,
companies are forced to start all over again
if a temp-hire candidate finds and accepts
another permanent position.
So, in today’s market, temp-to-hire may
no longer be the most effective solution.
With the unemployment rate so low, most
good, skilled people are currently working
or they are looking for a permanent position. If I recruit a great candidate from
another company, chances are he or she is
not going to leave his or her job for a tempto-hire situation. Direct-hire also broadens
the talent pool that I can recruit in for my
clients, allowing me to find industry-specific, skilled candidates who may be currently employed. They may even be from the
same industry or a competitor and therefore able to bring skills and experience,
which enable them to make an immediate
contribution.
Anything else an employer should consider?
The bottom line is to ask yourself, ‘Is our
agency recruiter reducing turnover and filling open job orders on my timetable, are
they engaged in our work force objectives,
and am I truly getting a return on my
investment?’ If you can’t overwhelmingly
say ‘yes’ to these questions, it’s probably
time to re-evaluate your current recruiter.
KIM KILGOAR is a direct-hire recruiter with Spherion in Atlanta.
Reach her at (770) 423-0397 or [email protected].
