When looking to create a new team, enhance a current one or simply replace a key hire, the world of recruitment can be difficult to navigate if you have very specific needs.
We believe that finding the right recruitment partner for your business is an essential part of the process to the right hire.
1. Industry knowledge
In many businesses the HR team may have agreed terms with recruiters who are broad and can cover most aspects of the business's recruitment needs. Whilst this is beneficial at times those roles that require specific technical expertise, especially those in niche industries will find this does not work for them. Choosing a recruitment partner who has a niche specialism in your sector is imperative to recruiting your role right first time. That specialism should be easy to demonstrate when you do your initial research into making that decision on who to partner with and further demonstrated in your preliminary conversations with the consultancy.
2. Reputation
It’s easy to have a view on recruitment, this comes with your own experience and that you will hear through colleagues. Take some time to look at what brands the recruitment consultancy can demonstrate they work with (not just a list) and ask them to explain their relationship. Another important facet is their tenure; how long have they been doing what they do and can they evidence success?
3. Quality of the database and outreach
What level of proactive candidate search should you expect from your chosen recruitment partner and can you be sure that they are working hard enough on your behalf? Many recruitment consultants will work from their databases of those candidates actively looking for roles, but what if the ideal person you need for your role isn’t currently active in their search? At FourthLine, not only do we have an unrivalled network in risk and compliance candidates we also proactively profile ideal individuals and create an inventory of those ready for your digest.
4. Quality of the recruiter
The relationship between you and the recruitment consultant is very important and the understanding they have of your business will often make the difference in them finding the right candidates. Add to that the role that the consultant plays in easing your administrative workload should not be underestimated, especially when the number of initially suitable candidates looks high. A good recruitment consultant will do enough preliminary work to create the best shortlist for your role, allowing you to not waste time on candidates who are unsuitable.
5. Level of service and fees
Be sure you know what you are paying for, if there is no placement then presumably no fee. However, consider what time that will have cost you to conclude that there was no one suitable in the shortlist. Similarly, what percentage recruitment fee are you paying if all you are getting is a quick database search and shortlist? Is that worthy of the fee? Ask the consultancy to explain their approach, what they do proactively and what additional costs there may be for your business.
6. Are they a good employer?
Recruitment can be a hard industry to work in yet there are many notable examples of consultancies getting the approach right. Check out your recruitment partner – do their values fit with yours, do they value their employees and what is the culture like? Working with a consultancy that fits with your business ethos will cement the collaboration further.
7. Rapport and trust
Ultimately any business partnership needs to be built on trust; trust that the consultant working on your behalf can represent your business with authority and trust that they will do their very best to find the right candidate for the role. If your homework on reputation, quality of recruiter and values of the business have been done correctly then you should be able to build a high performing partnership.
FourthLine are a specialist risk and compliance boutique recruitment consultancy offering contingent, retained and interim and contractor solutions. FourthLine work flexibly to find the best solution to your resourcing needs. In the last six years over 500 finance regulated businesses have engaged with us to recruit risk and compliance experts.
