Selecting the best online recruitment company Advice featured in:
Selecting the best online recruitment company Job advertising in newspapers and other print media is pretty much dead and the tight economic environment has called into question the value of fees charged by traditional recruitment agencies. But as companies have turned to the internet to source candidates they have been disillusioned by the low quantity of good applications and staggering quantity of bad ones. Enter the online recruiter, the next logical transition, and one that has already transformed the recruitment industry by offering dramatically reduced fees (often less than 200) and removing much of the pain and inefficiency of advertising on job sites directly. These online recruitment companies already have access to all the best job sites and will advertise your vacancy, filter candidates and manage all the response for a much lower fee than going direct to the online job sites themselves. This helps because you no longer need to guess which job boards are the most appropriate at any one point in time, because the online recruitment company should advertise on them all. As they buy thousands of job advertisements, you benefit from their buying power. Your inbox is never flooded with irrelevant CVs and you don t have to field incoming calls. Best of all, because these companies are so affordable you can dip your toe in the talent pool and test the temperature. If you are in any doubt about the growing popularity of online recruitment boards, consider this: even well-known traditional agencies are trying to enter the market by attempting to compete with some of the incumbent cheaper options now available. Or search for the industry online and you ll find long lists of UK fixed fee recruiters and job boards. Of course, like many new industries, price, service and ability vary wildly and there are a number of packages that appear to be a great deal but offer little value. Here is our guide to choosing the right fixed fee recruiter for you. Step 1: compare pricing policies Obviously, your first point of comparison will be price. You must be certain of what type of service you are buying so that you can accurately compare between recruiters. However, you should also ask some searching questions about the way recruiters structure their pricing. Some points you should bear in mind are: Some agencies charges are calculated on the job s salary, despite there being no more work involved! We would recommend a supplier who charges the same fee regardless of the salary offered. Some charge based on a cost per head, while others allow you to hire everyone that the advert finds. 2
Recruitment Guide Many offer a seemingly lower price, but be careful as they upsell lots of hidden costs and bundles. The best option is to find a supplier with no hidden extras. How many people have that skill? How many of those are proactively looking for work at the moment? Some suppliers suggest you don t pay anything until the job is filled. This potentially offers great peace of mind, but there is often a sting in the tail of this offer as they later charge extra unless you gave them exclusivity. Be sure to read the small print when signing up with a recruiter. As a side note to pricing, ensure you are not fooled by the employer branding add-on. Some companies sell branding for companies to earn extra commission. They may try to convince you that branding generates a better response, but often have no evidence to support this. If you are willing to pay a premium for branding, expect calls from candidates and sales people throughout your day. Also note that candidates expect a response from all employers and failure to do so will damage your employer brand. How many of those are in our geographical area? How many of those would consider our remuneration package? Finally: How many of those would join the company? If your expectations are too high and/or remuneration too low you are likely to be disappointed. Now is the time to reconsider your options, which include: Being more realistic about the type of person you can recruit: for example, can you offer training? Identifying the maximum salary you would offer for the perfect candidate. Step 2: establish realistic recruitment requirements Ensure your expectations are realistic. As you consider the type of person you need to recruit ask yourself: Questioning whether advertising the role is relevant or if you should really be using a headhunter. Note: you should never use a headhunter if you are not offering a competitive remuneration package. 3
Recruitment Guide Step 3: get recommendations Word of mouth, recommendations, testimonials and case studies are an important way of establishing the quality of a recruitment service. Ask to speak to previous or current clients, particularly those who are recruiting for similar roles and/or at the same volume as you need. Step 4: consider the service factors Job board coverage Not all suppliers cover the same number of job boards for the same duration. You need to find a recruiter that will generate the best response possible for your budget. We found a supplier who says that they will advertise on one of the UK s best job boards so you should always check what online coverage your money will buy. We would recommend that you check each supplier s credentials. Look for them on the sites they say they are on. If you can t find them, move on. Probably the most complicated variable is campaign length. In our experience, seven days is never long enough and 28 days is a minimum requirement. Unfortunately, some lesser quality suppliers advertise a 28 day campaign, but in practice they advertise on one site for seven days, then another site for another seven days and so on, until 28 days has been reached. Only the bigger flat-fee recruiters appear to have the buying power capable of negotiating true 28-day campaigns, so bear this in mind when comparing packages. Application management To save your inbox being suffocated with applications, it is very important you are given an online portal to access your applications. Ask for a demonstration before you commit as some software systems look as if they require an instruction manual! Ensure that your online portal shows every application, because some suppliers only show the ones they want you to see, possibly so they can promote some of the applicants your advert generated to other clients. A very limited number of suppliers have the ability to send out application forms and refer candidates to online career sites. If you are able to find suppliers who offer this be aware most candidates do not complete them. Most job hunters these days are used to submitting or storing their CVs on job boards, so make sure that your recruitment activities are aligned with this trend. Application filtering Most online recruiters should include some form of filtering and there are two distinct types automated and hand-filtering. Automated filtering is very advanced nowadays, looking for keywords in the candidate s CV to determine relevance. Hand filtering is, of course, conducted by a person but we recommend you speak with the recruiter to outline your selection criteria. If you don t feel confident in their ability to filter (some are very inexperienced), find someone else. Be very careful of companies who outsource hand-filtering abroad as the quality is typically awful, due to their lack of vocabulary skills and local knowledge we ve even heard from Indian outsourcing companies that it s illegal to discriminate based on a candidate s geographical location, when the truth is they can t tell the difference between Birmingham and Brighton! Guarantees Be very careful of any guarantees, either given 4
Recruitment Guide verbally by a sales person or in writing. No one can really offer a guarantee because they are selling advertising and cannot control market conditions. Most of the guarantees are for a minimum number of CVs and mention nothing about quality. If you do not receive the minimum requirements, most will simply re-advertise the job. Often the cost of re-advertising is factored into a higher initial price, and if it didn t work the first time why would it achieve better results a second time? Step 5: embrace new technology Excitingly, new technology, such as video interviewing, is also being incorporated into recruitment methods. Obviously, this is designed to help you see the candidate without even meeting them. All recruiters can cite examples of when they have invited candidates to an interview and instantly knew when meeting them they were not an appropriate fit. Video interviewing is designed to remove this inefficiency. By asking all applicants the same questions, their responses are captured using their webcam or mobile phone for you to watch at your convenience. This means you are spending more time concentrating on the right candidates. Summary: Like any other service industry, you must take some time to seek out a reputable company. You can achieve this by: Reviewing enough case studies and real testimonials (where names are given) to give you a proper sense of the company s customer service levels. Checking the volumes of similar roles that they already advertise on job boards. Getting information directly from the recruiter on how they think they can meet your requirements. Asking a lot of questions, particularly if you need to recruit in volume or for specialist posts. Online recruitment is definitely the main player in candidate attraction these days. By being prepared, you can use its advantages and minimise its risks to deliver an effective recruitment campaign for your organisation. 5
A list of other guides that may be of interest: Ten tips to improve the success of your online recruitment advertising Create effective job description and person specification for better hiring Why and how to respond to applicants Screening CVs and shortlist candidates for interview Conducting telephone interviews Legal requirements of shortlisting Effective interview techniques Illegal interview questions Making a job offer Effective reference checking Inducting employees Secrets to online recruitment success Selecting the best flat fee recruitment company Have some questions? Please call: 01732 617 460 hello@recruitmentgenius.com Recruitment Genius 2013-2017. These guides are not intended to be, and should not be relied on as, professional or legal advice, and clients should verify independently any statements made in them and rely on their own judgement when adopting any suggestions or ideas in them. Recruitment Genius does not assume any liability in relation to such guides.