Debunking the top 5 myths about recruiters and staffing agencies

As a business owner on the hunt for top industry talent, it’s more important than ever to hire the right employee. After all, it’s that talent that will help the company grow. But if the goal is to have the best, why are business owners turning away from those that can find them? Simply put, business owners shy away from hiring recruiters because there are a lot of myths surrounding the industry. That’s why, in this post, we are taking those recruiting myths and debunking them so that stressed-out business owners can feel comfortable with hiring recruiters.

Myth: Recruiters are all the same and can place an employee in any role

Truth: Just like a basketball player specializes in a position, recruiters specialize in industry niches. And any good recruiter will know the ins and outs of the industry they specialize in. In fact, there is a good chance that recruiters will know more about the role and what you need more than you do.

The ultimate goal of a recruiter is to find the candidate that is perfect for the company, and to do that; they have to know what they are searching for. When recruiters meet with a client, they learn what you need that employee to do. From there, they take that information and find a candidate that meets a set of industry standards and who will thrive in that specific role. Contrary to popular belief, there isn’t just a basic set of skills that will work for every role. An executive assistant role in an oil and gas company can look vastly different than one working for a technology company. So, it is important for business owners to let their recruiter know what they need in order to have a successful job placement.

Myth: Hiring a recruiter or staffing agency is a waste of money

Truth: While it does cost to hire a recruiter, it is a solid investment if you choose a recruiter in your industry. The goal of a recruiter is to find the perfect fit for your company. When you hire the right employee, it often leads to reduced turnover. As we all know, employee turnover is expensive for companies. From training costs to tax implications, it costs business owners a lot of money to keep filling the same position over and over. If you’ve spent the money to onboard a new employee and they quit within a few months, you have wasted your money and resources.

There is also a time cost for high turnover. Think about when you hired your last employee. How much time did you or your other employees spend creating a job listing, sifting through resumes, first and second interviews, employee testing, and more? Not all businesses have a recruiting team, so executives and other team members usually conduct the hiring. This alone can cost you more money than hiring a recruiter. Why? When business owners and team members step outside of their roles to do recruiting, they are taking away from business growth. These employees must give up other tasks in order to hire.

So when you look at all of those costs, it is often less expensive to use a recruiting service to hire a new employee instead of hiring in-house.

Myth: Recruiters don’t care who they put in the role as long as it is filled

Truth: There is this misconception that recruiters often just pick a handful of people and hope the client will pick one so that they can head to the bank and cash that check. While it is likely that there are a few recruiters that do this, it doesn’t describe the industry as a whole.

When you are searching for a recruiter, make sure you look at what all is included in the service. Many recruiters offer a hiring guarantee. For example, Connect Assistant Resource specializes in recruiting executive assistants but understands that even though they strive to find businesses the best employees, sometimes things just don’t work out. That’s why our clients get a 90-day guarantee. If a candidate leaves the company due to termination or resignation within 90 days of being hired and substantiating documentation is provided, a new candidate will be provided at no additional cost.

Myth: Recruiters only find the candidates; businesses still have to do the interviewing

Truth: You wouldn’t do half of the job, so why would a recruiter? Even though recruiters are the “middle-men” in the hiring process, they do more than just search for potential candidates and pass them on to the client. They start the hiring process by crafting a job opening announcement, posting it, and reaching out to their network. Once the resumes and cover letters come rolling in, the real work begins.

Recruiters don’t just look at the skills listed on everyone’s resume and hit the forward button if they meet those expectations. To find clients the best employees, they dig much deeper. Most recruiters will go through the resumes and cover letters and pick a number of candidates from the pile. After that, they may call each candidate for a phone interview, send out questionnaires or exploratory surveys, and conduct formal interviews. They narrow down the number of initial candidates and send information about each person over to the client to vet. Some staffing agencies also provide background testing or industry training for the candidate once an offer is made. It’s important to see what each firm offers in its services before selecting a recruiter.

Myth: Business owners have to do the recruiting themselves

Truth: You never have to do the recruiting alone. In fact, we encourage all companies to use recruiting and staffing agencies when they hire their next employee. Here’s why:

Business owners or team members may not know the skills required to be successful in the role, but specialized recruiters do.
Hiring a new employee requires a lot of time. When business owners or team members focus on hiring, it takes away from the role they were hired for.
Recruiters do a lot of networking in order to have an ever-growing pool of potential candidates. That means they have quicker access to more people than businesses do.
When a recruiter or staffing agency with a successful track record places an employee, it is the best candidate for the role. Finding the right candidate reduces employee turnover.
There are a lot of hidden costs from having a vacant position, but other tasks and business issues can pop up and delay hiring. When you use a recruiter, those delays are nonexistent because they are not an employee of your company and are not affected by its changes.

Connect Assistant Resource recruits for support roles

Finding the right support hire is easier than ever when you hire a recruiter to do the searching for you. When it comes to hiring for a support role (such as executive assistants, personal assistants, office managers, or more), we are your specialized recruiter. For more information about our recruiting services, click here.