#17: Advantages you can gain by working with an external expert
Thijmen Meijer
31 October 2024
Working with recruitment experts offers unique advantages, from expansive talent networks to faster, more cost-effective hiring, helping your business find the right fit, fast.
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"Find the best possible additions to your most important asset: the people."
Finding and attracting the right talent is more challenging than ever. Cutting through the noise of endless employer brand campaigns, analysing talent market trends, and making expert data-based decisions, or just as well as finding the right talent and then convincing them to join your organisation, to make them believe in your mission and goals - these are tasks that require expertise, dedication, and a reliable partner. Also now more than ever you should be ensuring that your new colleagues are not only skilled to do their everyday tasks, but also align with your organisation's culture and long-term goals. While internal HR teams often play a critical role in talent acquisition, partnering with an external expert can offer many advantages that enhance the recruitment process and deliver better outcomes. Let’s take a look at 4 reasons:
1. The power of networks
External experts, such as recruitment consultants or agencies, have extensive networks and databases of candidates, including passive jobseekers who might not be visible to in-house teams. You don’t want to miss out on these pools of talent that might remain hidden and unreachable if you would like to access them only through employer branding campaign efforts of your own. Talent and recruitment professionals spend their careers building relationships within specific industries, giving them unparalleled access to top-tier talent that companies may otherwise overlook. By leveraging these networks, businesses can significantly expand their candidate reach and tap into highly specialised or hard-to-find skill sets.
2. Specialisation
Another key advantage of working with external partners or firms. Building an internal team that is highly specialised in multiple sectors and regions requires a lot of investment and effort, that might not see a return - especially for organisations of smaller size. Through engaging with an expert partner, you will bring this knowledge, specialisation, and expertise right into your teams, and with the right provider, seamlessly integrate them into your already existing workflows and processes. At the same time, external experts also bring their objectivity and fresh perspective. Internal teams are often deeply embedded in the company culture, which - although very important - can sometimes result in unconscious biases or a narrow view of what makes a candidate a good fit. External recruiters, on the other hand, bring an impartial approach to the hiring process. They evaluate candidates based on the specific skills, experience, and potential they can offer the company, free from these preconceptions. This objectivity can lead to more diverse hiring, enabling companies to bring in individuals with new ideas and approaches that may not have been considered before.
External experts, such as recruitment consultants or agencies, have extensive networks and databases of candidates, including passive jobseekers who might not be visible to in-house teams. You don’t want to miss out on these pools of talent that might remain hidden and unreachable if you would like to access them only through employer branding campaign efforts of your own. Talent and recruitment professionals spend their careers building relationships within specific industries, giving them unparalleled access to top-tier talent that companies may otherwise overlook. By leveraging these networks, businesses can significantly expand their candidate reach and tap into highly specialised or hard-to-find skill sets.
2. Specialisation
Another key advantage of working with external partners or firms. Building an internal team that is highly specialised in multiple sectors and regions requires a lot of investment and effort, that might not see a return - especially for organisations of smaller size. Through engaging with an expert partner, you will bring this knowledge, specialisation, and expertise right into your teams, and with the right provider, seamlessly integrate them into your already existing workflows and processes. At the same time, external experts also bring their objectivity and fresh perspective. Internal teams are often deeply embedded in the company culture, which - although very important - can sometimes result in unconscious biases or a narrow view of what makes a candidate a good fit. External recruiters, on the other hand, bring an impartial approach to the hiring process. They evaluate candidates based on the specific skills, experience, and potential they can offer the company, free from these preconceptions. This objectivity can lead to more diverse hiring, enabling companies to bring in individuals with new ideas and approaches that may not have been considered before.
3. Cost-effectiveness
Working with an external recruitment expert can also be a cost-effective solution. While there may be an upfront investment in partnering with an agency or consultant, this often pales in comparison to the costs associated with building up your own talent acquisition team, training them, providing them with long-term career paths and growth opportunities, specialising them and then retaining them for many years to come. At the same time, an external recruitment team, that also integrates seamlessly into your own HR and recruitment function, can not only reduce time-to-hire, ensure better alignment between candidates and company needs, but also help avoid the costly mistake of hiring someone who may not be the right fit, or investing time and resources into someone that might leave to your competitor after a certain amount of time. Research from the Center for American Progress suggests that the cost of replacing an employee can be as high as 213% of the employee's annual salary for highly educated executive positions. By leveraging external expertise, which focuses on better cultural and skill alignment, companies can reduce turnover rates and avoid these high replacement costs. For companies with specialised talent needs, this approach can be especially valuable, as external experts can quickly zero in on the right candidates without the added costs of long-term recruitment efforts.
4. Get great results, fast
Finally, one of the most compelling reasons to work with an external expert in recruitment is their ability to deliver faster results. Recruitment specialists are skilled in quickly identifying the right candidates based on their experience with similar roles and industries, as well as their previously mentioned invaluable network and connections. They know where to look, how to assess candidates effectively, and what strategies work best to attract top talent. They also constantly keep themselves up to date with the latest tech and trends. With their expertise, businesses can shorten the hiring process significantly, ensuring they secure the best talent before their competitors do.Not to mention the candidate site of it all. Long hiring processes can discourage candidates, and motivate them to explore other opportunities in the meantime. In fact, when candidates have multiple offers, 70% say a seamless recruitment experience (including speed) is a deciding factor in choosing where to work. This makes it even more important to streamline and optimize time-to-hire, ensuring a smooth, speedy, and efficient process that attracts and retains the best talent.
Working with an external recruitment expert can also be a cost-effective solution. While there may be an upfront investment in partnering with an agency or consultant, this often pales in comparison to the costs associated with building up your own talent acquisition team, training them, providing them with long-term career paths and growth opportunities, specialising them and then retaining them for many years to come. At the same time, an external recruitment team, that also integrates seamlessly into your own HR and recruitment function, can not only reduce time-to-hire, ensure better alignment between candidates and company needs, but also help avoid the costly mistake of hiring someone who may not be the right fit, or investing time and resources into someone that might leave to your competitor after a certain amount of time. Research from the Center for American Progress suggests that the cost of replacing an employee can be as high as 213% of the employee's annual salary for highly educated executive positions. By leveraging external expertise, which focuses on better cultural and skill alignment, companies can reduce turnover rates and avoid these high replacement costs. For companies with specialised talent needs, this approach can be especially valuable, as external experts can quickly zero in on the right candidates without the added costs of long-term recruitment efforts.
4. Get great results, fast
Finally, one of the most compelling reasons to work with an external expert in recruitment is their ability to deliver faster results. Recruitment specialists are skilled in quickly identifying the right candidates based on their experience with similar roles and industries, as well as their previously mentioned invaluable network and connections. They know where to look, how to assess candidates effectively, and what strategies work best to attract top talent. They also constantly keep themselves up to date with the latest tech and trends. With their expertise, businesses can shorten the hiring process significantly, ensuring they secure the best talent before their competitors do.Not to mention the candidate site of it all. Long hiring processes can discourage candidates, and motivate them to explore other opportunities in the meantime. In fact, when candidates have multiple offers, 70% say a seamless recruitment experience (including speed) is a deciding factor in choosing where to work. This makes it even more important to streamline and optimize time-to-hire, ensuring a smooth, speedy, and efficient process that attracts and retains the best talent.
We, at Meijer &Co, really pride ourselves in how we seamlessly blend into your organisational structure, bringing you the best of our network of contacts. Our years of experience in multiple industries and the level of expertise that we gathered over the years allow you to focus on your organisational and strategic goals, while we bring you the skills and talent insights that you need to make the best decisions for your current and future workforce needs. We are crazy about tech - and that is why you will always find us using the latest and greatest in our sourcing and talent engagement techniques. From accessing a wider talent pool, and network of contacts, to bringing specialization the latest tech, as well as, reducing costs, and speeding up the hiring process, partnering with us, Meijer &Co, can play a crucial role in helping your business build stronger, more dynamic teams, and find the best possible additions to your most important asset: the people.
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