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How to Hire Permanent Staff

Hiring permanent staff usually means a significant investment of the employer's time and money, and because of this you need to be as confident as possible that you are recruiting the right candidate so that you don't have to go through the whole process again six months later.

If you decide to manage the process of recruiting permanent staff in-house, you need to bear in mind the time implications. Attracting a high standard of suitable applicants means that your advert needs to be extremely well thought out and as specific to the role as possible. You then need to factor in time to review the resulting CVs which, depending on your advertising channel and the job climate, could amount to a significant number. All of this, in addition to contacting and arranging interview times with candidates can put some serious constraints on your time. Recruitment agencies, if well chosen, can save you a lot of time and have the means to source and screen higher quality candidates than you may attract from advertising in trade or national press.

Using an agency to hire permanent staff

Once briefed, the agency should start working on your behalf immediately, cutting down delays that are inherent in advertising for candidates. In most cases, the candidates put forward by an agency will already have been interviewed by one of its consultants who will have assessed their experience and be able to give you a clear breakdown of why they think the candidates they have selected are suitable for the role.

Another important benefit of recruiting candidates via an agency is that if for any reason the employee turns out to be unsuitable for the role or leaves shortly after being employed, the agency is obliged to offer you a refund.

Key factors for successful recruitment of permanent employees via an agency

Give as detailed a brief as possible to your consultant. The more senior the position, the more time you should invest in this - not only will it help considerably with the selection of quality candidates, it will also save unnecessary time on interviews with unsuitable candidates. Where possible, take the time to brief the consultant face to face.
If the agency is putting together a job advert on your behalf, make sure you have reviewed this before it is posted online or submitted to the selected publication/s. It should adhere to equal opportunities and diversity policies.
Review the CVs that the agency submits carefully. They should be appropriate to the role you are looking to fill, but don't just assume that this is the case. The first few CVs you receive may highlight that the original brief has been misunderstood.
Give a reasonable level of feedback to the agency after each interview. If the candidate is not suitable for the role, it is still important that you give an assessment of the interview to your consultant both as a courtesy to the candidate (they are also entitled to request this information) and to aid the consultant's search for more relevant candidates.
Once you have made a verbal offer via the agency, always follow this up with a letter on headed paper.
Usually, as part of their terms and conditions, the agency is obliged to carry out checks on the candidates references, but it is also advisable for the employer to verify these.

How to Select a Good Recruitment Agency | Agency Fees Explained | How to Work with a Recruitment Company