One of the greatest indicators of business success is the expansion of your team with new recruits.
However, it goes without saying that, while exciting, hiring new employees can also be a time-consuming, lengthy, and sometimes exhausting process with several hurdles to overcome.
This is especially true for employing managers and other senior members of staff who will already have a plethora of other duties to carry out.
In these circumstances, working with an established recruitment agency can help you to leap cleanly over these hurdles and not only find strong potential candidates to join your team, but maybe even find you the perfect employee.
So, if you’re considering working with experienced recruitment agencies in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire or further afield but are wondering exactly how they can support you, read on…
6 common hiring hurdles you can overcome with recruitment agency support:
1. Writing, listing and promoting job advertisements that attract the candidates you want
Unfortunately, creating a successful job advert isn’t simply a case of outlining the demands of the role, candidate credentials and salary.
People now have shorter attention spans than ever before, and on average, it will take a candidate only 49.7 seconds to decide that a job isn’t right for them, and approximately 76.7 seconds to determine whether a listing fully matches their interests and skillset.
Therefore, writing instantly engaging, exciting and informative job ad content is essential for attracting a candidate to your vacancy. What’s more, your job ad will give a strong impression about your company ethos, so it’s essential that time, care and consideration is made throughout the process.
That’s not all, however; once the ad is written, it’s important to know which platforms/job boards/websites to share it on so that it a) gets in front of your ideal candidates, and b) offers you a good return on investment.
Promoting your advert beyond where it’s posted is also essential for success. This can be done effectively via social media channels for example, although again, this requires time, training and practice to get right.
How can a recruitment agency help?
The best recruitment agencies will already have the knowledge, skills and experience with which to write truly enticing job adverts for you. What’s more, many have dedicated websites and pages on which to post your job listing, which are frequently visited by top candidates.
At i2i Recruitment, for example, our recruitment consultants are renowned for writing fantastic adverts on our job page that capture the eyes and attentions of brilliant candidates. We also regularly share these job postings to our Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages, all of which have a large and active following!
As a result of this – alongside the impact of recommendations and word of mouth – our twelve-strong team of consultants are currently registering around 60 new candidates per week, and have a base of over 1,000 local candidates ready and waiting for their perfect role.
2. Having to sift through piles of CVs to find the right candidates
Today’s job market is highly competitive, and consequently, you will likely receive a high volume of CVs in response to your advert. Frustratingly, as many as 42% of the CVs you look at will not meet the requirements of the job, resulting in hours of lost time that you could be spending on other tasks.
On the flipside, when there is a lack of candidates and applications are minimal, it can be frustrating to have only a handful of CVs that also don’t hit the mark.
How can a recruitment agency help?
In a nutshell, an established recruitment agency will take on this this time-consuming task for you, scouring through every CV in detail to ensure it matches up to your requirements, and forwarding only the very best ones on to you to review.
This is a service we particularly pride ourselves on here at i2i Recruitment. We also recognise that behind every job specification is a company and behind every CV is an individual person with unique abilities and experiences. This knowledge is absolutely central to our recruitment process.
3. Arranging interviews at a time that suits all parties
Once you have found the right calibre of candidates, you’ll need to arrange interviews at times that not only suit you, but the most relevant people on your team as well as the candidates. Once again, this can be time consuming and difficult to manage amid any other responsibilities and priorities you may have.
How can a recruitment agency help?
Again, this is something that an expert recruitment agency will gladly take off your hands. At i2i Recruitment specifically, we take the time to get to know your company procedures and routines so that we can fit any interview appointments to suit you as well as the candidates you choose to see.
4. Bringing candidates in for interview, only to find they’re not exactly who you expected
Unfortunately, an astonishing 30% of people have been found to lie or “bend the truth” on their CV.
So, unless you have another (again, potentially time-consuming) stage of getting to know the candidate between them submitting their CV and coming in for an interview, it may only be at the interview stage that these falsehoods become apparent.
Again, this can leave you and your team feeling frustrated and, at worst, losing valuable funds and time.
How can a recruitment agency help?
The right recruitment agencies in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and other areas will offer candidate pre-screening service so that they can be sure the candidates you are interested in are perfectly suited to your requirements before you meet them.
In fact, this is a major part of our offering here for employers at i2i Recruitment!
We make it our prerogative to meet every candidate face-to-face and get to know the person behind the CV, as well as implementing a robust 20-point plan which ensures we match candidates to our clients’ businesses by personality, ability, experience and potential.
5. Preparing the successful candidate for their employment
Contrary to popular belief, the recruitment process doesn’t end once you have made a job offer to your ideal candidate. There is also the matter of confirming their start date, letting them know what they need to do to prepare, and so on. Once again, this can be a time- and headspace-consuming process.
How can a recruitment agency help?
Just as the recruitment process doesn’t end with the hire, the support of your agency also shouldn’t stop there. Instead, they will on take the “initiation” process for you, using their knowledge and understanding of your business to prepare the candidate effectively for their first day at the office.
6. Managing any bumps in the road following the hire
Although it is thankfully relatively uncommon (especially with recruitment agency support), there can be a few bumps in the road when employing a new recruit.
While some new employees may settle into the role and office culture right away, others may struggle. For example, your new hire might not be as engaged in your business as you’d initially hoped, or they might fit in with your team as quickly or as well as anticipated.
How can a recruitment agency help?
The best recruitment agencies will still be on hand to support you with any questions or concerns you may have following your new hire, and will also be able to speak to your new employee on your behalf to iron out any worries.
Should the worst come to the worst and the candidate decides that the role isn’t for them after all however, your chosen agency will have the means to find you a replacement as quickly, efficiently and effectively as possible.
At i2i Recruitment our services are FREE of charge until you find the person you want to hire! We understand the ongoing commitment therefore we offer all clients a 12-week rebate with the first 4 weeks at 100% REFUND!
We’ve also made it an integral part of our process to follow up with both employers and candidates up to a couple of months or more following a new hire, and keep all our communication channels open. This way, should any issues become apparent, they can be handled swiftly and appropriately!
Ready to partner with a recruitment agency and secure your next hire?
If so, our team at i2i Recruitment would be delighted to hear from you!
We are currently considered one of the best recruitment agencies in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire due to the personal, intensive approach we undertake that sets us apart from other agencies in the area. In fact, this approach is why we have our famous ratio of two interviews to one successful candidate!
If you would like to learn more about the unique and impactful recruitment services we can offer your business, please be sure to get in touch with us today.
