What to Discuss in an Agency Kickoff Meeting

An agency kickoff meeting can help you build a strong relationship with your agency recruiters so they can deliver the best possible results.

To get the most of your meeting, make sure to discuss the following topics:

1. Discuss your business. Share information about your company, your industry and your competitors to give context for your open role. In order for your agency recruiter to source the right candidates, and sell them on your opportunity, they need to understand what your company does.
2. Review the job description in detail. Go through your job description with your agency recruiter to make sure they understand exactly what you’re looking for in a candidate. Differentiate between must-haves and nice-to-haves so they know how to prioritize skills, qualifications, education and experience.
3. Share the company culture. Help your agency recruiters understand what it’s like to work at your company, so they can relay that information to your candidates. This not only helps them screen candidates for fit, it helps them sell your opportunity to potential candidates.
4. Review companies you want (and do not want) them to source from. Agency recruiters often poach candidates directly from your competitors, or look for candidates who have worked for your competitors in the past. Some companies may be better to poach from, perhaps because they have a similar culture or great training programs, and others may be off limits, due to things like business partnerships. At the very least, list the companies where you’ve found great hires in the past, as well as those you’d prefer not to poach from.
5. Set candidate experience expectations. Your agency recruiters are an extension of your brand, and should be treating your candidates the way that you would treat them. Make sure that they will respond to candidates in a timely manner, and provide feedback to those that won’t be moving to the next step in your recruitment process.
6. Discuss timing. Finally, discuss timing so that you’re both on the same page. You may have your own expectations, but your agency recruiter can let you know if those are realistic.

   Discuss how long it will be before they submit their first round of candidates, when you will begin interviewing, how long interviews will take, and when you’d like to have the position filled. Make sure to tell your agency recruiter when you have an open position that is critical to the company, so they can make it a priority to fill as quickly as possible.

Once you have the agency kickoff meeting, don’t stop there – it should be the first communication of many. Your agency recruiter may have additional questions as they dive in to sourcing, and you should respond to those questions as quickly as possible so they can begin sending you great candidates.

Following candidate submission, provide feedback to your agencies about which candidates you want to see more like, and which weren’t a great fit. Be specific about what you liked or didn’t like about each candidate so your agency recruiter can fine-tune their search.

Finally, provide feedback to your agency recruiter at each stage of the recruitment process so they can continue sourcing candidates that more closely align with your ideal candidate, and so that they can learn for the next assignment.