Finding the Best Recruitment Agency For Your Business

It can be said that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to what makes a hiring firm the best recruitment agency is. Every company is different in terms of industry, scale, client base, and so on. So, uniformity, for the most part, goes out the window. However, there are some common goals that most recruitment agencies try to achieve, including us here at Pure Staffing Solutions.

In our pursuit of becoming one of the top recruitment agencies in Canada, we have identified some of these common goals. It is our mission to strive towards these goals every day in order to achieve that ideal standard, then again, perfection is something you chase, not acquire. This blog will try to give you a holistic perspective of what these ideals are.

Table of Contents

1) Knows the Client's Company

You will know you have found the best recruitment agency is when they know the client’s company in all the ways that matter. They should have a solid understanding of the industry and your company’s standing therein. This will help in determining the scope of their goals moving forward, and the kind of candidates that you need to grow your business.

It can quite quickly become obvious if they don’t have this understanding as it will show in the time they have taken in meeting the top brass. To understand a company, you need to see it from the point of view of the management, because who knows more about the company than the people who run it?

2) Having a Clear Sense of Direction and Purpose

A recruitment agency united is a recruitment firm bound for growth and optimal results. As one of the leading Canadian hiring agencies, we know the value of having a common company vision. It gives everyone something to work towards.

Each company will have its own vision or end goal. It could be to be the best in their niche, it could be to become a recruiter known for the highest success rate when it comes to employee placements or something of that sort. Whatever the vision, the ideal hiring firm should have a clear sense of direction and purpose. These activities are just steps taken in achieving that if you think about it.

3) Recruitment and Retention Rates

One good indicator of an ideal hiring firm is its numbers. Look at how many candidates they hire for their clients in a given timeframe, this could be in a financial quarter or in one financial year. However, you should also look at the retention rates of employees that were placed by that firm. This gives you a good idea as a prospective client of the quality of their staffing services and you can gauge whether it is up to your standards.

4) How Many Questions Do They Ask?

Similar to our earlier point about understanding your company, you need to see how many questions the recruitment agency asks your company. In this sense, how keen are they on gathering all the intel on your business and understanding the inner workings? Only if they do this can any recruitment firm truly understand what it is you need.

It is a good sign if they don’t pressure you to make rushed decisions and instead set a respectable pace to understand it and get your feedback with each step. If they are committed to the cause, then they will go the extra mile in understanding these needs.

5) They are Industry Experts

At the end of the day, the only way to find the right candidate for the job is to have a strong grasp of the industry. This knowledge should extend to an understanding of competitive strategies to attract the cream of the crop while still keeping you within budget. This would naturally also extend to better vetting and screening given that the recruiters know exactly what the job requires in a given industry. Better placements means better work quality and this translates to possibly better chances at long-term employee retention. It’s a ripple effect.

“Hiring the right people takes time, the right questions, and a healthy dose of curiosity.“ – Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group

6) They Stick to the Plan and Deliver

Anyone who has ever applied for a job knows that each and every company has its own hiring processes. It could consist of a number of different tests and interviews or it could be as simple as having a look at your CV over a nice talk. It all depends on the company really. The best recruitment agency is one that respects this process and carries this forward even in their recruitment efforts on behalf of the company. They should not skip the mandated steps during the vetting process. Those guidelines were put in place for a reason and are meant to meet some aspect of the company’s employment standards.

7) How Do They Handle Post-Hiring Responsibilities?

A proper staffing agency should have a touch-and-go policy when it comes to post-hire services. A hiring firm will check in with you at regular and reasonable intervals in order to know the status of your latest hires. This allows for ample time and elbow room when it comes to making adjustments for the process down the road. It demonstrates a willingness to improve and progress as an agency while also providing much-needed customer-care-like services to the client.

8) Presenting Things As They Are

A good recruitment firm will always uphold a high degree of ethical standards when it comes to its operations. For instance, if they are screening candidates for a specific role, they won’t pad that person’s resume in hopes of hitting their numbers for that month.

They keep up the search and push for the best of the best for that role. The recruitment firm also should take it a step further to thoroughly inform and prepare the candidates for the roles and responsibilities that they would face in the job. There should be no grey areas when the candidate shows up for the first day of work. This is a sign of a good hire.

9) They Are Persistent

You want a recruiter who not only fills your ranks with the best candidates but one who doesn’t stop until the job is done the right way. The ideal recruiting agency will have a team of experts who work relentlessly to get you the candidate you want for that role. They won’t just fill the role with a random person and call it a day. A good way to judge this is by looking at the retention rate of the employees they place.

“You need to have a collaborative hiring process.“ – Steve Jobs, Former CEO of Apple

10) They Take the Weight off Your Shoulders

When push comes to shove, you want the best recruitment agency; one that just takes the weight off your shoulders. That is the point after all isn’t it? You hire them to do the hiring so you can divert company efforts to other areas. The ‘ideal’ hiring firm will take on all the tedious responsibilities and execute them in such a way that it lets you just sit back and handle your own business the way you intended. This is the kind of service that we here are Pure Staffing Solutions believe in and what we bring to the table as a Canadian Staffing Company.