Many businesses choose to opt to work in exclusive partnerships, for example this could look like an external agency partnership or a brand collaboration, and can play to a business’ advantage!
I want to delve in to the benefits of an exclusive recruitment partnership a little further:
• Reduced cost
• Better hires
• Talent pipelining
Time and time again, I see companies panic when someone hands in their notice, or they win a new client and suddenly have 10 new roles to fill. The hiring managers will reach out reactively to multiple recruitment agencies thinking this will increase their chance of finding that unicorn. In reality, they spend more time briefing out multiple agencies (most likely topline and not detailed enough to be useful), as well as increased time spent sifting through shortlisted candidates. More often than not, the recruitment agencies will experience overlap and some candidates will be approached multiple times for the same role, making the business appear that they are spamming the market and desperate to find their next hire. Not cool.
Instead, companies need to be proactive and realistic. It is good business practice to prepare themselves for the inevitable changes in staffing situations where people leave unexpectedly or when a project is won. One way to do this is building an exclusive partnership with a specialist recruitment agency.
Reduced Costs
A good recruitment agency, or one which values integral and long lasting relationships, should be looking to make you their exclusive client. It is also sometimes possible to negotiate lower rates if you are able to work exclusively. If a recruitment agency knows they are the only one working on the role then it makes sense for them to reduce their fees as their likelihood of a placement could increase.
By working with one agency (or one or two specific recruiters within the agency), they will know your business extremely well, having set aside time to get to know you, your team and the business and building out an open and honest relationship. This will shape the recruitment process moving forward to ensure that the recruiter will always be putting their exclusive clients first.
Better hires
For hiring that is successful, you can’t just choose the quickest process to fill a vacant role, you need to ensure that quality candidates are put in front of you and these candidates are selected for their best fit in terms of skills as well as culture and personality. By using a specialist recruiter who you have developed a strong partnership with, they should already have gained an in depth knowledge of your organisation and culture, as well as the best way of talking about your business to potential employees and the types of people that would and wouldn’t work within your business. Therefore a lower chance of a bad hire!
Remember that a bad hire, has in some cases, cost a business 150% of that candidate’s annual salary. A lot more than the average recruitment fee. Conversely a top performer has been shown to yield up to 67% more productivity and profit.
Talent Pipelining
As we can see, hiring has shown to take time, and the best candidates are not always ready to move to their next job exactly when you need them. An exclusive relationship with a recruitment agency will mean they always put you first and will have you in mind throughout all the conversations they have in market. Not just thinking about the roles you have today but those you may have coming up in the future too. They will be working proactively in the market, building up a list of people who they know could fit in to the company culture and the vales of the business. This is the best way you will be able to engage with those passive candidates who may not make the move then, but could make the move in to the business at a later date.
Confidentiality of the business can also be maintained, keeping the organisation structure, hiring plans and business growth strategies within a tighter circle, which in a competitive market, can be a useful advantage!
My key takeaway is to be proactive in your hiring and find a trusted specialist recruitment agency who you gel with. The benefits of this partnership are far reaching and serve to support a successful and scalable business.
