Recruiting – Why does the industry exist? What do recruiters do that makes them valuable?
What do recruiters actually do?
At some point, if you want to grow your small business, you will have to hire people. Making the right hire can be huge! The wrong one can be devastating. But finding the right people can be difficult. If you have done it on your own, you know that hiring the best possible person can add hours to an already long day. When you do eventually make a hire, the negotiation process can be messy and you might second guess your decision, wondering if there was someone better out there. However, there is an easier path- A recruiter.
Thoughts one might have about the idea of recruiting:
“Heck to the no! Recruiters are obnoxious people and no one likes that guy!”
“Of course this guy is going to tell me to use a recruiter – he is one!”
Fair enough. This thought is not completely wrong. It’s true there are some bad recruiters, but there are also bad lawyers and doctors. Every profession has bad apples. Yes, I am a recruiter and of course I’m going to tell you to use one, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!
What do good recruiters actually do?
Time Saver
Imagine all that goes into a job search. There are a lot of tedious little tasks that slow you down. A good recruiter is going to do this for you and will be able to do it on a much bigger scale. Take candidate sourcing, for example. A small biz owner may be able to sift through 100 inbound resumes in a week, most of which will be totally unrelated to the position. A recruiter can sift through a database of thousands of candidates and quickly come up with a few hundred resumes that actually fit the job description. Beyond that, the recruiter will then take the time to call potential candidates. They will do an initial screening and send only the best candidates to you. Ultimately, you will probably look at 5-10 vetted candidates that are interested in your job. Even if the recruiter did nothing else, you went from the hassle of dealing with hundreds of random resumes to looking at 5-10 resumes of people who are capable of doing the job and are interested in it. Countless hours have been saved, allowing you to spend intentional time with each of these candidates to fill the position needed.
Trusted Advisor
This is where a good recruiter really shines! Recruiters tend to specialize in an industry. I focus exclusively on Food and Dairy manufacturing management roles. Recruiters specialize for a number of reasons. One of which is so that we can provide specific information about a particular industry job market. A recruiter can help set appropriate compensation ranges, advise on what skills are in highest demand, and also make recommendations about which candidates might be the best fit for an organization. There can be a lot of unknowns throughout the hiring process and a good recruiter will provide answers. Remember, the recruiter is working with potential candidates throughout the hiring process and has the bandwidth to build strong rapport with those candidates. That candidate/recruiter relationship is important to make sure that everyone is on the same page and everyone is going to get what they want. Not only will the candidate receive quick communication and feedback through the recruiter, but the company will also be able to ask additional questions through the recruiter as the process continues. This relationship as a trusted advisor helps when it comes to making a final decision and presenting an offer. This is when a trusted advisor becomes the deal maker.
Deal Maker
Hiring someone can get messy. There are very few times in life when money and people are involved and it isn’t a little contentious. Thankfully, you are using a recruiter. A good recruiter can turn into a deal maker because their goal is to make sure that everyone is happy. They help everyone right-size their expectations and get at the heart of what people really want. Think about it this way – if you create some tension during offer negotiations it can make for a very awkward first day of work for you and the candidate. That’s not how you want to start off with a new employee. You want to be excited and you want your brand new employee to stick around and be excited too. A recruiter can help make sure that everyone leaves happy. In fact, a recruiter can sometimes eliminate the need for negotiations all together by prepping both parties before an offer is even made. Working with a recruiter whose job is to hire people day in and day out can eliminate a lot of headache and heartache when it comes to making the final offer.
I’m not saying that by hiring a recruiter you will have all your dreams come true. You do need to find the right one. Like I said, every profession has their bad apples. However, if you find the right recruiter, he or she can really help you move the business forward. I had a great client once with operations in a small rural town. It is a place that wouldn’t be on many people’s radar. In fact, it had been on no one’s radar. Also, this was a highly confidential search. We were replacing a site director for a large manufacturing site. This means you can’t advertise the job posting to begin with, so all the lead generation has to be outbound. That is not always easy, but with a database that has been fine-tuned over the years and processes that help surface top performing candidates we were able to find the right person to move my client’s business forward. Not only that, but we easily put a deal together and got the new employee relocated. Best part, all my client had to do was give me a call and interview the guy, I took care of the rest.
So when making your next hire, think hard. What can a good recruiter do for you?
Written by : Israel Quintal
Founder of IQ Consulting Group, Brand Owner of STS Repair, and Franchise Owner of Tech Bar with a B.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Merida Institute of Technology, M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from The University of Memphis, and has a Certificate in Entrepreneurship Essentials from Harvard Business School Online.
