Top Tips For Choosing the Best Recruitment Agency to Partner With

When an employee hands in their notice, has to take time off for a holiday, maternity leave, illness or simply retires, this can be a stressful and challenging time for a business or individual. Finding suitable temporary or permanent staff can be a daunting and time-consuming task and, unfortunately, due to some hiring managers or companies being ‘burnt’ by turning to recruiters in the past, there can be a reluctance to use recruitment agencies full stop.

However, we feel it is so important for companies and individuals not be put off by using agencies when looking to recruit members of staff and encourage employers to pair with recruitment agencies to ensure that, when the time comes to recruit, they are partnered with an agency that truly understands their company, their needs and their culture.

As a team, we at Lily Shippen have partnered with a range of clients spanning many different industries who will always turn to us should they have any secretarial recruitment needs, be it for the odd day or week's holiday cover, or to recruit for permanent members of staff to join their team.

We have put together some tips on how to choose the best-suited recruitment agency to partner with in order to fill your employment needs.

Specialism

When recruiting for a specific type of role, it is always worth while researching whether their are agencies who specialise in that particular field. Working with a specialist agency over a general agency has a number of advantages, such as the fact that they will have a better understanding of the role and the type of skill set required for the position that you are recruiting for. Specialist agencies are also more likely to have a wide database of suitable candidates already at their fingertips. Furthermore, a niche agency is also more likely to send over a higher quality of CVs than those you may receive through direct job applications or general agencies. This is due to the fact that they properly screen their candidates and take time to learn about their previous and current roles, what skills they can bring and also what their expectations are when looking for a new position.

Reviews and Previous Partnerships

When researching a suitable recruitment agency to work with it is important that employers look at whether the company have any reviews/testimonials or if you can see what other companies they have previously partnered with. This helps to shed some light on reputation and credibility of the company, the type of service that is available and the calibre of client they are used to working alongside. If an agency has glowing reviews both from the candidate and client side, then this is usually a sign that you are on to a winner! 

Company Values

Another key aspect to research when looking to partner with a recruitment agency is whether they have a company values page. This can really help you to understand the agency’s mission statement, their commitment, their ethics, how they operate and what their key objectives are when working with candidates and clients alike. If a company does display its values on its website, read through them and see how they align with your own personal and company values.

Social Media Channels

A sign that an agency goes the extra mile, is when they actively keep in touch with their network by posting regular updates on their social media channels. This can be by offering advice and support or generally celebrating and being passionate about the field in which they recruit. Look for an agency that goes above and beyond for their clients and candidates, such as offering workshops for their candidates or extra features or guarantees for their clients, like psychometric testing or a free replacement should a candidate they place with you leave within six months.

Ask Your Peers 

When looking for a suitable agency to partner with, it can be as simple as asking around your network of peers. There is a high possibility that hiring managers within your network have heard about the agency you are looking into partnering with, or they may have even worked with them previously and, as such, they can give you an honest insight into what they have heard or experienced. Recruiters and agencies often have a strong social presence, be it on LinkedIn or other social platforms, so asking around can give you a huge amount of information into the agency’s reputation and whether or not other companies would recommend them or use their services again in the future. We at Lily Shippen are lucky to have received a great deal of work through referrals from companies or individuals that have worked with us previously, which just shows that reputation is key when looking to partner with an agency.

We believe these are the key factors to consider when looking to partner with a recruitment agency. However, if in doubt, and you have the time, why not ask the agency to pitch their services to you either by inviting them into the office or over the phone. This will allow the agency to showcase what value they feel they can bring, as well as providing more information about what they can offer you with regards to knowledge, calibre of candidates, the current market, or any extra measures that could be of interest. A strong performance shows that they have done their homework and that they are committed to providing you with the most suitable and talented candidates for the job at hand!

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash.

Lily Shippen is a specialist Recruitment Agency that focuses on placing the best administrative, secretarial, PA, EA, reception and office support professionals into a range of sectors in Manchester, Leeds and London, on a temporary, permanent and fixed-term contract basis.