There are a few things to consider when deciding whether to deploy in-house recruitment or to use an agency.
What you need to think about:
Seniority level and Experience required?
The more junior the role you’re hiring for, the more likely you can recruit this role using in-house time and resources. But as you look for more senior candidates, you may want outside help from a recruitment agency. As there’s more riding on making the right hire.
Skillset required?
Ask yourself whether you know enough about the skillset required for the job you’re hiring for. If you don’t, you might want to look to a specialist recruitment agency to help you find the perfect candidate.
Candidate market landscape?
If you’re looking for a junior-level candidate with a year’s experience and basic coding ability, then the market is good enough. However, the market is quite different if you’re looking for, a VP of software development who understands data science and has several years of experience in a specific industry.
When should you use in-house resources for recruiting?
Here’s why it can be worthwhile to recruit in-house:
You know your business better than recruiters
It’s easier for you to know the difference between the right and the wrong candidate. Recruiters can’t know your company’s workings or its culture as well as you can.
It’s a better experience for the candidate
When you recruit in-house, you decide how you communicate the role, how you sell the company and how you talk to the candidate. A better experience for the candidate means a better chance of getting the person you want.
Recruiters can complicate the process
When you’re ready to make your candidate an offer, you may want a direct person-to-person line of communication, but a recruiter can be an extra layer that makes things slightly more complex.
It develops your skillset
Recruiting and using in-house resources to hire candidates gives you a new set of skills.
When should I use an agency for recruiting?
If you’re looking for a specific individual with a reasonable level of seniority and skill, then using a specialist agency can be invaluable. Here’s why:
Greater market Knowledge
If you have an agency that truly understands a candidate’s market better than you do, they can add a huge amount of value to the process. Not only will they have a grasp of the market and requirements, but they’ll also have existing relationships with great candidates.
More stand-out performers
While there are many fantastic recruiters working in both specialist recruitment and in-house environments, external recruiters tend to get the lion’s share of the stand-out performers, primarily because of the greater rewards on offer. So, if you want the best recruiters in their field working on your hires, there is a good chance you will find them working at an agency.
Greater reach
Identifying a strong list of candidates for any given role is only half of the battle. The next problem comes when reaching out to those top 10% of senior-level executives. External recruiters have the advantage here because they have the opportunity to cultivate genuine relationships with candidates, meaning they can approach them and discuss roles openly.
Speed
This is the biggest plus point for businesses. Rather than driving applications yourself, if you have a recruiter with existing relationships and applicants at their fingertips, they can move much more quickly than your organisation will.
So, what next?
While this article has put internal and external recruiters against each other, the truth is that these two parties will often achieve the best results by working together.