Vacant positions, particularly highly specialized positions or those important to business operations, can be detrimental to businesses. They can cause a loss of customers, innovation, and revenue. When employers need to fill a position quickly, they can benefit from using direct hire agencies to save time and fill their vacancy sooner.
Here are three ways you can save time by working with direct hire agencies:
Sourcing
When you work with a direct hire agency, you will usually save time sourcing candidates. Agency recruiters spend 39% of their time searching for candidates, so they have some tried-and-true sources, as well as some niche sites that produce high-quality candidates. Specialist recruiters, in particular, have access to more industry-specific or role-specific sources, such as professional associations and niche websites.
They also have extensive candidate databases they’ve been nurturing, so they have candidates ready to go at a moment’s notice. This all helps you get quality candidates faster than if you had sourced them yourself.
Screening
Direct hire agency candidates also come pre-screened, saving you additional time, so you can get right into the interview phase. Agency recruiters will call each of your candidates to ensure they meet the minimum qualifications and would be a good culture fit for your organization.
They’ll also help you sell your opportunity to get more top candidates interested in interviewing. Again, specialist recruitment agencies can be advantageous because they have a thorough understanding of the role and/or your industry, so they’ll have a better idea of what questions to ask to properly screen each candidate. This allows you to begin interviews sooner than you could without a direct hire agency.
Closing
Agency recruiters not only help you sell your opportunity, they also help you negotiate offers with your top choice candidates, so you can close them. They keep your candidates engaged throughout the recruitment process to maintain their interest and learn what it would take for them to accept an offer.
They know your candidate’s motivations, current compensation and feedback about your opportunity, as well as important market data, which can help you present the strongest possible offer. Rather than spending extra time in negotiations, or losing a candidate to a bad offer and having to go back to square one, you will be able to make offers your candidates can’t refuse.
Conclusion
Working with a direct hire agency saves you time during the sourcing, screening and closing phases so you can focus on getting to know each candidate through the interview process and hire the best one.
While hiring for business critical positions will naturally take longer than hiring for other positions within your company, a direct hire agency will usually help you fill them faster than you could on your own.
How do your direct hire agencies help you save time during the recruitment process? Let us know with a comment!
