Have you ever considered hiring a recruiting agency to source a high-impact or hard-to-find employee? Our friends at Software Advice have a few guidelines to help you weed out the wrong type of recruiters.
1. What is the internal turnover rate at your recruiting firm?
If an agency can’t source their own internal talent effectively, how do you think they’ll perform for you? High recruiter turnover signifies that they don’t vet their own employees thoroughly, and your results might be hit-or-miss.
2. What is the turnover rate of your past placements?
This questions speaks even more directly to the quality of their work. If their past placements are sticking around on the job, then the recruiter is probably finding the right hire. You don’t want to spend the money for a new hire who isn’t going to be the right fit.
3. What is your sourcing strategy?
Anyone can post a listing to job boards – if you’re outsourcing that, you’re doing it wrong. Since 90% of the talent pool is not actively looking for a job, you need a recruiter with good research and networking skills.
4. How do you determine if a candidate fits the culture of the client?
What you want to find out is how the recruiter will size up your own organization, and if they can ask useful questions of the candidate to assess cultural fit. If the recruiter gives you a vague answer, then they will probably only have a shallow understanding of your needs and what you’re looking for.
Dave Cannon is a social entrepreneur based in the Pacific Northwest and contributor to Bplans.com. After attending the BYU Marriott school he co-founded and raised over $100,000 for FindProz.com, a microenterprise e-commerce platform.
