Working with a recruiter can be a great way to streamline your hiring process. You can save yourself and your staff a lot of headaches—poring through resumes, scheduling interviews, all while trying to keep the whole process within a reasonable timeframe—if you work with a recruiter. It’s not easy, especially if these aren’t tasks you’re used to doing regularly. This can actually be a real art—best left to the professionals. Here are some tips on how your company can start working with one.
Why a recruiter?
Sure, you can collect applications on your own through job postings, referrals, social media, or advertisements. And spend your days trapped at career days and job fairs. Then go through the tedious process of interviewing, conducting backgrounds checks, and contacting references. Or a recruiter can do most of those tasks for you, giving you the chance to focus on your actual job. Recruiters seek out applicants, screen them, and conduct interviews before sending the best ones your way.
Set a strategy
Before you start working with a recruiter, know what positions you’re hiring for. Meet with human resources, department managers, and team leaders to figure what skills, qualifications, and experiences you need. What does an ideal candidate look like? A recruiter can hold your hand through this process, but no one knows your company as well as you do.
Communicate frequently
Have an honest conversation with a recruiter to lay out your hiring needs. Specify whether you’re looking for contract work, part-time or full-time hires. Be upfront about your company culture so he can find candidates who are good fits.
Sit back and let the recruiter work
It’s time for the recruiter to start collecting resumes and conducting interviews! Right off the bat, they have access to a much wider pool of pre-screened candidates than you do. You can focus on your job trusting that the recruiter can aggressively hunt for talent. 
Recruiters have a wide reach, and they won’t waste your time with candidates who don’t match your criteria.
Identifying the best candidates
Once your recruiter has made a list of viable candidates, he can sift through resumes and weed out the bad ones. Eventually, he’ll narrow down the list to about 10 to 15 candidates. Then begins the process of telephone screening and face-to-face interviewing. This is when it’s important to share your thoughts and opinions on each one and make sure you or the recruiter is providing them with feedback. If you dawdle and a great candidate doesn’t hear back, he might lose interest and accept a job with a competitor. So be prompt with your feedback. Trust the detailed, ideal candidate you outlined at the beginning of the process and measure each of your prospects with that gold standard.
For more information on how to partner with a staffing agency to build a talented and dedicated team, check out our website at https://www.chiefofstaffkc.com/employers/.
Blog written by Erin Greenhalgh