Working with direct hire recruiting agencies can seem a bit daunting at times – bringing in an outside source means you have to put in extra time and effort to get an external team on board with your goals and vision for a specific position.
You can easily reduce this headache with an agency kickoff call (here at BountyJobs we call it an intake session) to get all of your agencies in one place so you don’t have to answer the same questions more than once.
While you’re likely to answer common questions about experience, education, and salary requirements, you’ll probably end up screening a lot more candidates than you’d like if you don’t go into a bit more detail with your explanations.
Below are some questions you should answer for your direct hire recruiting agencies to save your time spent working with them, and therefore, your recruiting budget.
How do you define progressive company culture?
Get specific about employer branding.
Employer brand is going to be a huge focus when it comes to attracting top talent in 2016. According to a Glassdoor survey, 76% of applicants want details on what makes the company an attractive place to work.
It’s easy to give responses like, “we have a progressive mindset,” “we believe in our employee success,” and “we work in a great atmosphere that’s team oriented.”
Instead, dive a bit deeper into exactly what it’s like to work for your organization.
Discuss employee perks like free food or sick days, company outings, or how different teams are goaled with your recruiting agency. This will help them provide you with candidates who have not only the right skills, but are a good fit for your company culture.
What do you really mean by “technologically savvy?”
Drill down on specific skill sets.
In the same way that it’s easy to get specific about company values, it can be easy to get specific about certain skills that might not be immediately relevant to a specific position.
One common example is looking for a candidate who is “technology savvy.” Does this mean you’re simply looking for someone who can work a mobile device, or do you want someone who is savvy about technological trends and is always the first to embrace the latest and greatest technologies?
Try being specific about exact actions you’d like your future employees to be able to perform when describing secondary skills.
For example, if you’re looking for someone who feels comfortable presenting in front of large groups of people, this is vital information to provide your recruiting agencies before they begin their search. Make this information prevalent instead of just listing a bullet item that says “communicates well.”
Is having the degree or certification enough, or are you looking for other academic experience?
Understand if the minimum education requirements are the whole story.
There’s a lot more that goes into getting a degree than just completing classes – and in a world where students are starting to build their own curriculums, it can be difficult to define exactly what type of education you might be looking for.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, a clear majority of undergraduates are at least minimally nontraditional, and have been since the 80s. ValuEd claims that nontraditional students are the new traditional students.
Simply stating, “needs Bachelor Degree in Business,” or any other type of degree, is not enough detail for recruiters to find your perfect candidate quickly.
Are you looking with someone who went through a traditional educational path, participated in certain extracurricular activities or accomplished certain achievements during their academic career? Communicate these to your agencies from the start.
How do you define a “team player?”
Make soft skills part of the agency screening process.
Similar to hard skills such as technology and computer programs, soft skills like teamwork, ethics and motivation can be hard to define – but they’re vital to the candidate selection process.
Before you even speak with your agencies, talk to the hiring manager about the type of person they’re hoping will fill this role. Are they looking for a social person with tons of energy, or are they looking for a focused worker who values speed when it comes to their work?
Communicate specific soft skills and characteristics to your recruiting agencies after speaking directly with the hiring manager.
This will help ensure the candidates you screen are not only a fit with the company culture, but for the team they’ll be working with on a daily basis.
Are you more interested in a candidate’s impression of your brand or your interview process?
Get specific about candidate feedback needs.
Candidates aren’t the only ones who want feedback during the hiring process – when you’re working with recruiting agencies, you want feedback from the candidate as well.
What are you hoping your direct hire recruiting agencies will best be able to project on behalf of your organization? You might be looking to strengthen your company brand or streamline your interview process – what did your most recent interviewee think?
Recruiting agencies can help provide you with honest feedback about your organization’s candidate experience.
Communicating the information you’re looking to receive from your candidates to your recruiting agencies ahead of time will help external recruiters better prepare them for interacting with members of your organization.
Our marketplace makes it possible for you to answer all of these questions one time, in one place, with technology that makes those answers easily referenceable for your recruiting agencies – check it out.
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