There is no question that recruitment is a long, difficult and expensive process. Most recruitment is carried out by companies internally, but in some cases, it can be more cost effective to use external service providers. Finding exactly the right person for a job is not an easy task, especially when you’re looking for very specific skills or experience. A headhunter (or a recruitment firm) can be a valuable ally in these situations. However, outsourcing all or part of your recruitment process can be scary, especially when it comes to choosing the right service provider from the multitude in the market…

The key to success: your consultant

The first choice to be made is the consultant you are going to work with. More important than the firm for which they work is their ability to understand exactly what you are looking for, your context and your specific requirements, and to match these with potential candidates. This is what reassures you that the job is being done properly.

Obviously, the consultant you choose must provide references demonstrating their expertise in finding and assessing profiles similar to those you are hoping to attract to your company. Be careful not to go for consultants who are too specialised (in terms of business sector or geographical area), and who could therefore be trapped by their existing network and clients: it would be difficult for them to select a candidate previously hired by another of their clients.

Lastly, the relationship that develops between the various contacts within your company and the consultant is of prime importance. Recruitment is a long-term process, so make sure you can work closely with that partner, not only in terms of how well you get along but also as regards transparency. Also, remember that the consultant you choose will be representing your company, makes the first contact with the candidate and will convey the first image that the candidate receives before agreeing to meet with the company.

A tailored service: from profile definition to appointment

Your needs must be clearly understood, so make sure you ask your consultant for a feedback report on the initial information they have received (company activity and history, recruitment context and specific requirement, job description and required profile, etc.), enclosed with their contract of appointment.

Your consultant should send you the information they have obtained about the pool of professionals they are going to meet as part of the assignment. The profile being sought may change during the recruitment process to reflect the profiles of the candidates available on the market. It is therefore necessary to agree in advance which profile criteria are non-negotiable, but also the deadlines to be met by each of the parties.

Once the project begins, regular updates will enable you to monitor the progress of the recruitment up to the point when the new employee starts work within your company. Whether the recruitment process has been a success is determined over the long term. Your consultant will want to keep in touch with the candidate beyond the first few months after their appointment to make sure everything is going well and prevent any problems from arising.

Some small things that count

Other indicators you should be taken into account, depending on your expectations:
– Service providers handling large volumes of assignments will have difficulty adapting their processes to all of them and thus offering you the finesse of a tailored service;
– The recruitment firm’s prices will tell you something about both the standard of service they offer (recruitment takes time and time is money, as the old adage says) and the resources deployed in the recruitment process (advertising of vacancies, CV libraries, headhunting, etc.).

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