In this blog, we’re talking about why companies work with recruiters and how recruiters (the good ones) can make a really positive difference to your company and your hiring process.

1. Recruiters' ONLY job is recruiting

Seems obvious, right? But with your staff being the core of your business and its success, you want to make sure that you are making the best decision possible whenever you can. And if you want a job doing to the highest standard possible, you hire a specialist, right?

If you don’t have an internal team taking care of your recruitment, it’s an extremely difficult task for your HR or Operations department to take on, especially if you don’t have someone in that department with recruitment training. And if you do have an internal recruitment team, be mindful that if they are managing all hiring requirements across your business, they will not be able to specialise in hiring candidates from specific markets or build a unique network with these individuals. It’s also likely they’ll have other responsibilities aside from hiring new talent for your business.

When you engage a recruiter on your hiring assignment, you’ll be working with someone who dedicates 100% of their time, day in and day out, to providing recruitment services and developing their own personal skills in this area.

2. We have specialist knowledge of the field we are recruiting in.

As mentioned above, if your internal team are dealing with a wide variety of roles across your whole business, they will not be able to specialise within a niche area of the market.

Specialist recruiters, on the other hand, are continuously speaking with professionals in their niche market. Even when you are not actively hiring, that recruiter’s network is growing and changing alongside the market and the career development of their best contacts. They can spot market trends, understand what salaries relate to which skill levels and identify the different players in each market.

If you take Chroma as an example, we are a niche recruitment agency that specialises in three markets: Tech & Digital, Engineering and Care. Having dedicated consultants in each area means that they have the time to learn the “language” of the market. They will know what you mean when you ask about Git, React or SolidWorks, and will be able to identify the ‘essential’ vs ‘desirable’ skills required to do the job you are talking about, so they can present you with relevant candidates within a specified budget.

So when you come to hire, and you choose to do it with a recruiter, the market knowledge you need, and potentially even your ideal hire is no more than a phone call away.

3. We invest in recruitment tools

Gaining access to the UK’s top job boards and professional networks can be an expensive task, and is unlikely to give a good return on investment unless your hiring requirements are very plentiful, and your people have been properly trained in how to use them.

When you engage with a good recruiter, they will come equipped with access to these platforms and an in-depth knowledge of how to use them effectively to find the most relevant individuals for your hiring requirement.

And not only do recruiters use those tools every day, but the best ones will constantly be looking to improve the way they use those tools, and seek out new ones when they come on the market, to make sure they can do their job better every day.

4. We can help you save time 

We know that making a new hire can be a time-consuming process, which can go on for months in cases where you need a high level of skills or knowledge in a particular area. It’s never just as simple as ‘finding the right person’ when you need to sift through a pile of CVs, get your desired candidates on the phone, and then navigate everyone’s schedules to make a face-to-face or video interview happen – let alone an offer of employment!

Using a recruitment agency takes all these tasks off your desk, enabling you to focus on your day job, without having to stress about the hiring process.

Taking 30 minutes out of your day to meet with a good recruiter will enable you to give them all the information they’ll need on both the skills you are looking for and the culture and ethos of your company. That recruiter will then be able to take the other hours of legwork away from you, and ensure that a tailored shortlist of candidates who have the skills to do the job, and the values to work with your organisation, will land on your desk (or, in this day and age, in your inbox!).

Good recruiters will also be treating their candidates in the same way: taking the time to meet them, understand their skills, their priorities and the company culture that would best suit them. We rarely leave anything to chance.

5. It's free to give us a chance

With Chroma Recruitment, it costs you nothing to review the CVs we’re sending or to interview your priority candidates. And it’s free to have an open and transparent conversation about your hiring requirements and how they compare to the market.

Even though you might look for the same skillsets, you may look for completely different personalisities. Or your company culture may be different, your team culture may be different, your location, your career progression, and so on. Many things set your company apart and would make someone choose you over someone else in the market.

You’ll only be charged on the start date of your new hire, at which point you’ll be sure that they are worth it!

6. Qualification, qualification, qualification and more qualification

As mentioned above, one of a recruiter’s main priorities is to take the time to get to know your company and our candidates. Part of this involves digging deeper than just a professional’s skills or work history, to really understand what it is that drives them in their career and what an organisation would need to offer in order to keep them engaged and allow them to achieve their maximum potential.

When we’ve had the chance to understand who your company is and what they do, we’ll be able to identify which of our candidates would best match that environment, and be able to communicate it to them as well as one of your most valued employees (and these are not our words!). And we do the same thing when speaking to you about our candidates, too.

Creating matches like this is a win-win for both parties: you get a candidate who will thrive in your business and be able to offer a huge amount of value, and the person you hire will be motivated to reach their career goals and long-term ambitions.

7. We work with your competitors (and that's a good thing for you)

The last thing to keep in mind when making the decision whether or not to work with a recruitment agency is that we work with your competitors.

While we never share private information about one specific company to another, we are able to provide you with a benchmark of the salaries, benefits or flexible options that competitors within your market or sector are offering. This can help you make sure that what you’re offering fits not only with your company culture and budget, but also keeps you in line with (or ahead of!) the companies you frequently compete with for talent.

You might ask, ‘Well, if you work for them, why would you send us the good candidates?’.

Because even though you might look for the same skill sets, you may look for completely different personalities. Or your company culture may be different, your team culture may be different, your location, your career progression, and so on. There are many things that set your company apart and would make someone choose you over someone else in the market.

That’s why we can’t stress enough how important it is for us not only to put forward candidates based on their skills, but also on their personalities, career ambitions, and lifestyle.