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What are the advantages of using an RPO or in simple terms using an outsourced company to do your recruitment for you? And what are the benefits of working in this way? 
 
We get asked a lot why a business should use a company, such as Emerald Starfish, to outsource recruitment on a fixed, retained agreement. It is a fair question and our answer is… we believe there are significant advantages to using a retained recruitment model or RPO. We think there are 8 main advantaages: 
 
1. A consistent process: 
An outsourced recruiter will have an established, defined process already in place. Using their proven and effective techniques it will save you a lot of time trying to establish these yourself, making it easier for you and your hiring managers to follow progress and understand how the process is developing at any given time across one or multiple departments. 
Competition for candidates is currently high. There are lots of job opportunities for great candidates currently. How can you persuade the right candidate to take your role over the others that they will be interviewing for? It also starts with your first impressions… 
 
Why should you send out a candidate pack? 
 
This information is sent out at the start of the recruitment process. Ideally, when you are confirming the first stage interviews. This is an often-missed opportunity to start to sell your company to your candidates and will also reduce the length of time spent at interview telling them about the organisation. It means that you get more time to spend; asking the candidates about themselves and their suitability for the role. 
 
What company information should you include? 
Our guest blog by Lindsey Marriott, co-founder at Specific Learning & Coaching Ltd, tells us the importance of culture within an organisation and why you should be surveying the culture of your organisation writes: 
 
The culture of any organisation has a direct impact on commercial performance. Big statement…but there is a wealth of data to show that great employee engagement, creating a cohesive, positive and empowered team is the key driver to improving that performance and helps to reduce absenteeism, attrition, improve presenteeism, productivity and customer satisfaction. 
 
So -what’s the difference between a culture survey and an employee engagement survey? 
 
In reality, nothing…it’s the collective team including senior and other managers throughout the business that create the culture – so gauging what they think and how they feel is the first step to understanding your business culture 
If you are looking at recruiting in 2022 do you understand the market that you are entering? 2021 has been volatile within the world of recruitment with the market being candidate-driven, rather than employer-driven. What are the top challenges can you expect to face if you want to increase your workforce in 2022? 
 
1. A Candidate Driven Market 
 
Candidates are still in the driving seat as we enter 2022; this means that they are in control. Candidates are likely to be considering several job offers and will have the pick of the roles. As an employer, this can be frustrating as candidates may accept your offer, only to turn it down later, or take a while to decide – again, as they are waiting to consider all their options. Make sure you offer quickly and spend time talking through the whole package with them. What can you do to make sure that they accept your offer over others they may have? 
 
Recent data shows that 33% of the workforce leave their job before they have crossed the half-year mark. Whilst this can be an opportunity to capture key talent in the marketplace it is also a challenge for employers who want to retain their existing workforce. Retention starts at day 1 of the onboarding process (if not before), so how can you maximise your recruitment investment, reduce the impact of staff turnover and benefit from the existing talent that ultimately owns your customer experience CX? 
 
Our guest blog by Charlotte Green, Founder at Specific Learning & Coaching Ltd, a specialist learning agency that use The Specific Method, which is a blend of insight, training, coaching and mentoring to develop leaders explains what you can do to improve your retention levels and become known as a ‘great place to work’ through implementing a successful employee onboarding process. 
 
Make sure you effectively introduce new employees to the Company Purpose, Mission, Vision and Values 
 
Implementing standardised operational checklists and templated documents as simple as it sounds, enables key people to follow a process through the cross-functional areas of your business and offers important support and a step-by-step approach that is clear and easy to understand. Imagine the overload of information within the 3 6 and 12 week period. 
In the current market, Candidates are King. They have the choice of positions and as an employer, you need to woo them. In the past recruitment has been very much a formal structured process, often without character and personality. 
 
60% of UK companies use an assessment centre process as part of their recruitment. It gives you a more objective view of candidates and can include more work-based assessments to give a better indication as to which candidate will be the best for the role. Assessment centres are accepted as being fairer than a standard interview process as more information is collected on each candidate. 
 
If you are using assessment centres, how can you use them to convey your values and the culture of the company to effectively sell your job opportunity over other roles that they may be applying for? 
 
 
With the current unlocking across the UK, we have seen an increase in the number of vacancies that we are working on. If you are deciding to run your own recruitment projects without using an external supplier, how can you avoid making the most common mistakes in recruitment and miss bringing in the best people for your positions? 
 
Mistake number 1: Focussing on qualifications and experience rather than relevant skills 
 
There have been some really big changes to the recruitment market over the pandemic with some sectors all but having disappeared whereas others have continued to thrive. If you can be clear as to the skills that you want to bring into your company then make sure that you are sifting candidates based on this rather experience. There are really big advantages to bringing in skills from a different area as these candidates will bring a fresh perspective to your business. For example, someone from the travel industry could bring a whole new view on customer services and client management to financial services. 
 
 
 
 
 
The candidate pool is quiet at the moment, if you are choosing to run your recruitment projects yourself how can you make sure that your adverts are not being skipped over by potential candidates. You want to try and ensure that all candidates who are suitable and fit within the role apply – whilst not overly encouraging those that aren’t suitable and have just “clicked to apply” as if they are shopping on Amazon. 
 
What are the top 3 things that you should be doing to make your adverts more attractive? 
 
The candidate market is tough currently. There are not lots of candidates all desperate for their next role as some employers may expect. We are seeing a discerning candidate pool with clear requirements as to what they are looking for from their next role and their next employer. So, if you are recruiting currently what do you need to show potential applicants to make them interested in you? 
 
 
1. Stability 
We have all felt it over the last fourteen months. No one can look too far into the future and know what will be happening next with the pandemic. Yet for many of us, change does not sit comfortably. Most candidates, if they are looking for their next position will be looking for a company that is going to offer them stability. Make sure that your promotional literature reflects this – talk about your heritage and your plans for the future. 
 
2. Flexibility 
This is the number one requirement for candidates. They don’t necessarily want to work from home permanently or full time, but they do want to be offered flexibility within the workplace. Look at your policies around home working. What can you offer candidates – more flexible hours? a hybrid model of working from home as well as the office? You will lose out on candidates if you are still adopting a rigid 9 – 5, office working environment. If you are being flexible – shout about it! Candidates want to know – it will help to make their decision to apply to you easier. 
 
 
Being at the forefront of recruitment and active in the current market we are seeing some interesting and surprising candidate behaviours. None more so than the activity that we are seeing from candidates en masse currently. 
For many, it will seem surprising that rather than seeing a large active candidate pool, it is the opposite. Applications per job are down and the number of quality candidates is also lower than expected. So, if you are recruiting – what can you expect to see? 
 
1. Indecisive candidates 
Quality candidates will be holding job offers from more than one employer, and in a change to previous behaviours, more candidates are accepting more than one offer and then taking time over their decision as to which one they will finally take. To help them decide to take your role, make sure that you are keeping close to them and helping them with any outstanding questions that they need answering to help them with the decision-making process. It’s not about rubbishing any other offers they may have but about showing them how you will support them and offer them stability as they are forming their first impressions – values that have come to the forefront for many candidates during this time. 
 
 

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