Have you started to plan your recruitment strategy for 2020 yet? Does it include reviewing whether you could benefit from additional recruitment support?

We recognise that engaging a recruitment agency is an investment. That is why we are proud to say that every year, more than a thousand of our region’s richly diverse organisations invest in working with us. In many cases, this collaboration is a result of the business having identified a particular need for additional expertise. Because we regularly ask our clients for feedback on working with us, we get a great insight into what these needs are, what they were expecting us to deliver which they didn’t think they would be able to do in house, and the reasons why they trusted us as their agency of choice.

We’ve used this feedback to compile the top five priorities clients were looking for. Could any of these benefit your business and hiring needs in 2020?

Quality of candidates

The number one priority was the quality of potential candidates. This isn’t surprising as the current recruitment market has made both finding and competing for high-calibre candidates tough. Our consultants are experts in their different disciplines and the local market and they have invested time in developing and maintaining a strong network of contacts. This dedicated focus connects us to the best people and enables us to source high-quality and ‘hard to find’ candidates. This is an area where we feel we can really add value and save our clients time and money in the long run. With four offices located across the Eastern region, our reach, networks and insights extend beyond this and we have a strong track-record of also attracting talent from outside the region. To support our ability to source candidates from our extensive referral network, we have also invested significantly in a wide range of candidate attraction technology. This has provided us with the best systems to find and engage with potential candidates who may not be actively job hunting. 

Knowledge of candidates

Again, it doesn’t surprise us that this was second on the priority list. After all, what would be the point of working with a recruitment agency if you only get sent a load of CVs with no additional insight? We recognise that our clients have chosen to work with us because they want the benefit of our experience, knowledge and support. We are one of only a few recruitment agencies to use competency-based interviews  in conjunction with expert biological interviewing to assess potential candidates before even providing a shortlist of people. We consider this best practice in helping us to make great matches. It enables us to see beyond the candidates who just talk the talk or look the part on paper. In addition, we have all the resources and expertise in place to provide further insight into candidates via psychometric profiling. Before we put people forward, we want to discover whether they have the right attributes, attitudes and values to be a great fit in the long term.

Professionalism and friendliness of consultants

We put people first and our focus has always been on establishing long-term client and candidate relationships and making great matches. Joseph O’Sullivan, our senior manager in our Norwich office, summed it up when asked what was most important to him when working with clients and candidates. He said: ‘I’ve found that a focus on relationships, integrity and personalities are the key’. In his recent Q&A article he goes on to say how he has developed some great, long-standing relationships and how he loves being able to make a positive impact on people’s careers, their lives and their businesses. All our consultants aim to be both professional and approachable, allowing them the opportunity to become trusted advisors to our clients.

Knowledge of local market

A good recruitment consultant will have their finger on the pulse of the industry they specialise in, and the local recruitment market. Our specialist sector knowledge is another key reason why companies chose to work with us. For example, one piece of fantastic feedback our Director Caroline Batchelor received was: “Caroline is known in the area for knowing everyone there is to know in HR, so I trusted Caroline to find the right person for our HR Team.” As well as helping to find suitable candidates, our specialist knowledge can help our clients to understand how they can stand out and compete in attracting the best talent. We can advise on everything from the jobs being advertised by competitors, through to any shifting trends in salaries or benefits packages.

Fulfilment of roles within timescale

When our clients are faced with a need to fill a skills gap quickly, we pull out the stops to help them without cutting corners. Our specialist knowledge means we are in a better position to find suitable people quickly, for example our consultants will have access to people who may not consciously be looking for a job. Plus, we can ensure the process runs as quickly and efficiently as possible throughout by doing the leg work. We can also help with temporary or interim recruitment to fulfil any immediate needs. We have developed a network of highly experienced temps, freelancers and consultants, which we can place with organisations on a short-term basis to provide a temporary injection of skills, resources and specialist knowledge.

We are proud to say that our feedback also revealed that 97% of our clients rated us as good or excellent and would use us again. If you would like to find out more about how we could support you and your organisation in 2020, contact your local Pure office.