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Using a Specialist Recruiter to Find Talent

Posted on June 2019

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โ€‹Sourcing the right talent at the right time can prove arduous for any company. But the process becomes even more challenging when you work within a niche industry or sector. In these situations, a specialist recruiter can help find the perfect candidate for a hard to fillย theย role.

There are several benefits a specialist recruiter can offer when looking to find niche talent:

Specialist Expertise

Using a specialist agency brings more structure to the recruitment process. They have extensive experience in filling roles in niche sectors. This means that they have often carved out the most efficient methods and benchmarks for this process. Which can be particularly effective in situations of sudden growth - where a business might not have the resources or expertize to effectively fill the positions quickly. Specialist recruiters often have experience working onย time-critical hiringย requirements and where to source top talent quickly.

Outlook

A leading recruiter is also likely to have an in-depth understanding of the talent in the market. They know how the skills available match up to wider industry trends. Drawing on their market knowledge, specialist recruiters can act as a candidate generator. They can also act as a true recruitment partner, offering advice on key trends and market changes. They can see how these trends impact the talent pool in the market and can potentially impact your organization. In essence, a specialist recruiter is well placed to see the โ€˜bigger pictureโ€™. They can help guide clients throughout the hiring process.

Cost

A key benefit of working with a recruiter is their ability to cut down the time to hire and the resulting opportunity cost. Devoting the resources of an in-house team to a niche or hard to fillย vacancyย can be enormously time-consuming and costly to the business. In these circumstances, working with a specialist recruitment partner can save you time. It can also save resources from the beginning of the recruitment process.

A recruiter will often help you from the start, working with you to develop the candidateย brief. They can then shortlist candidates and cherry-pick talent based on your feedback. This significantly reduces the time to hire for your business, as you will only interview candidates that meet your requirements. Allowing a specialist recruiter to execute these first steps in the recruitment process can take the burden off your own in-house team.

Time

โ€™Time is moneyโ€™ or so the old adage goes. The hiring process, across sourcing, shortlisting, and interviewing, comes at a hefty time expense. Passing this task to an expert can often help shorten the โ€˜time costโ€™ of this process. This is because theyย can sift through the applications with the benefit of in-depth knowledge of the market at their disposal.ย This is particularly useful if you need to fill a position urgently.

Studies show that employees can generate three to five times their annual salary in the form of revenue. Bearing this in mind, leaving a vacancy open for a longer period of time can cause a significant expense to the company in the form of lost potential revenue. While some may be hesitant to incur the expense of working with a recruitment firm, often this cost is far less than the opportunity cost of leaving the position unfilled for a longer period of time.

Extended Reach

When it comes to candidates, itโ€™s not just about finding someone with the right skill set. Itโ€™s also about finding a good fit for your corporate culture as well. A specialist recruiter who understands your business needs and goals can find a candidate who fits perfectly in your team and organizational culture. Which this will lead to higher retention rates and productivity.

Because recruiters work on behalf of multiple businesses, they often have a better overview of the industry and its talent pool over an in-house recruitment team. Drawing on their access to a passive talent pool, recruiters can often increase the calibre of talent by sourcing candidates who werenโ€™t actively looking for jobs but who may be the right candidate for your organization. Agencies often have long-standing relationships with candidates and can leverage their extensive networks in order to connect you with a wider range of talent.

Expert recruiters spend the majority of their time (ideally 80-90%) building a passive and active network of candidates for potential future opportunities. For specialist roles, in particular, candidates with the relevant expertise and mindset can be difficult to source. Recruiters have the benefit of experience and knowledge of candidates who have been progressing through their careers. They can draw from this โ€˜bankโ€™ of talent to help fill urgent roles. Specialist agencies can cast a wider net โ€“ looking for candidates who might not have considered a particular sector or company before but could be the perfect fit. This extended reach into the talent pool could very well be the extra step you need to fill the position.

Building your Employer Value Proposition

Itโ€™s vital that todayโ€™s businesses cultivate their employer brand. Treating candidates like customers and crafting a recruitment journey that is consistent and communicative will avoid negative candidate experiences. While larger businesses devote significant time and attention to their employer brand.ย Negative candidate experience could affect your hiring reputation in the future.ย SMEs typically donโ€™t have the time or budget to invest in this area, which is why a recruitment agency can work so well for SMEs in particular.

In the STEM recruitment market where unemployment is less than 2%, high calibre candidates usually have multipleย jobsย offers to consider when looking to join a new organization. In order to ensure that a candidate chooses your company over your competitors, it is essential to develop a strong employer value proposition and communicate this throughout the hiring process. A specialist recruiter can help you to โ€œsellโ€ your company to the candidate, communicating the benefits of the opportunity, and appealing to key motivators such as long-term progression, company culture, and compensation. A specialist recruiter can be a huge advantage in making sure you not only attract but also secure talent, by strengthening your employer brand and convincing candidates to pick your organization as their next employer.

As a true partner in the hiring process, specialist recruiters can use their understanding of your business goals and objectives, as well as their in-depth market knowledge and extensive candidate networks to help you find the right talent for your organization. They are able to do this quickly and efficiently; saving your business time and money.

Selby Jennings offers this level of service to our clients, allowing us to successfully build long-lasting relationships with our clients and candidates. To learn more about how we can support your niche hiring requirements, get in touch with Selby Jennings today.

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About Us

Selby Jennings is a leading specialist recruitment agency for banking and financial services. For more than 15 years, we have given clients and candidates peace of mind that the recruitment process is in expert hands. Our continual investment in best-in-class technologies and consultant training enables us to recruit with speed, precision and accuracy. Today, Selby Jennings provides contingency and retained search recruitment across 11 offices in 6 countries.ย Contact usย to find out how Selby Jennings can help you.

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