When your business needs to fill a vacancy created by a departing employee; you have options. Your first option is to advertise, review resumes, interview, call references, negotiate salary and train an employee. If this sounds like too much work you can engage a recruitment agency.  A recruitment agency will handle each one of these steps and deliver a qualified, experienced candidate to your door. This method reduces search costs and eliminates the additional workload on current employees. Recruitment agencies help you focus on business while they focus on helping you be more successful.

When assessing the recruitment agency option there are three important things you should consider during your search.

Explore Their Expertise

Many recruitment agencies specialize in specific industries. If the responsibilities of your employees are primarily administrative, you want to find an agency that hires individuals with administrative backgrounds and offers specialized training in computer programs and general office duties. If your business is transportation related, you want an agency that sources continually in this industry to find candidates that are trained, and experienced.

Once you find an agency that works in your field, you should ask for references from other companies where they have placed permanent staff. Call the references, ask about the quality of the employees they have hired, the skills they possess and any additional training the employee required.  Your conversations with the references will help you know whether the agency sources quality candidates, and thoroughly investigates their skills and background.

Understand the Way They Function

The recruiting process of an agency should not be hidden from you. Ask the agency to explain each of their steps. A quality agency will conduct a thorough interview with you to determine the needs of your business, and speak with some of your employees regarding the work environment. The information they gather will be used by the recruiting firm to draft a job vacancy announcement, interview, and check candidate references. Ask how the agency reviews and judges resumes, and their processes for qualifying the best candidates for their clients.

Keep Your Eyes Open

The best way to judge a recruitment agency is to watch the employees who work full-time for the agency. Consider how well-trained and courteous their staff are. Ask questions about their involvement with your industry and how they feel their experience pertains to the recruitment task. When you call references, ask how they felt about their involvement with the agency recruiters. The people who work for the agency and the way they handle themselves will speak volumes on the quality of the recruitment agency and the success you will have working with them.

Many companies find engaging the right recruitment agency to be cost-effective and highly efficient way to manage their staffing process. They successfully identify an agency that’s right for them by keeping the above three points in mind.