In today’s extremely competitive business environment, it is essential for any business to critically analyse where it stands in relation to its strategic goals. By failing to do so, they may be gradually deviating from the desired goals over a period of time, ultimately finding themselves in a situation where they are not likely to achieve the desired goals at all. Among such capability gaps of an organization, shortage of skilled resources is a major area for consideration. This happens because creating a world class team of individuals and high performing work teams takes time, training costs and patience and commitment from the company’s senior management. This is where in many cases, they resort to the help and guidance of an external recruitment agency to bridge this particular capability gap.

But just how effectively are these agencies assisting these companies and its business leaders to bridge the capability gaps concerned? According to a recent survey in 2015 named “Talent Acquisition 360” conducted by CIELO Inc. USA involving 700 Global organizations and their business leaders, there seem to be significant gaps in delivering certain key expectations. The results are useful in highlighting where recruitment consultants seem to fall short of meeting the expectations of business leaders today. From 12 key result areas examined, the below 04 significant gap areas existed.

1) Provide Strategic Thinking to shape business decisions (current expectation gap level is 35%) – It is a well-known fact that recruitment consultants need to have insights about what capabilities new talent can potentially bring in to the organization. Effectively communicating these insights to business leaders is a very useful tool for them to formulate appropriate business strategies. The fact that there is a 35% gap between management expectation and what is delivered is a key shortcoming that needs to be bridged.

2) Delivering Quality hires with consistency (current expectation gap level is 33%) - While it is of paramount importance for a recruitment agency to deliver superior quality talent, the consistence with which is does so, differentiates the great recruiters from the others. The reason for such consistency is because world-class recruitment agencies maintain a strong pipeline of high quality candidates at any given time to fulfil the needs of their clients. As such they never have to forward to a client, a candidate which does not entirely meet their high standards. Excellence is deeply embedded in the recruitment agencies culture and is a non- negotiable attribute.

3) Having the agility to meet changing demands (current expectation gap level is 32%) – World class recruitment agencies have in their possession a meticulously built and robust data base of talents with a range of potential candidates across diverse skills, job levels and geographical segments. When required to source new talent under pressure, they can draw from this database with relative ease without compromising quality or cultural fit for the client organization.

4) Simplifying the Recruitment Process (current expectation gap level is 31%) – Great recruitment agencies simplify the process of recruitment and the steps involved as well as the speed of acquiring the right talent. This applies both to the candidates as well as the client organizations which require them. Also they never forget to make the recruitment process a pleasurable one for all parties concerned.

According to business and industry research website www.ibisworld.com.au, there are close to 7,000 recruitment agencies in Australia today. Therefore the key question that arises for business leaders would be how to select and engage a great recruitment agency which has understood and addressed the above areas and who can successfully bridge the gaps while being cost effective at the same time. What is ideally suited to them would be a recruitment agency which is ready to provide them a “solution” rather than just offer a product or a service at a premium price with a popular brand name. The following brief questions may also assist in this selection process:

• The extent to which they successfully balance the usage of modern technology and the much needed “human element” of recruitment. The latter aspect is of great importance as recruitment is all to do with “human capital”.

• Their industry expertise (i.e. how many years have they been in the Industry and to what extent are they experts or thought leaders in the sectors they operate in)

• The job related expertise & diverse nature of the candidates which they provide.

• What pricing mechanisms do they have on offer and the level of transparency do they offer you in quoting a price for you and how efficiently this process is carried out.

• The level of flexibility they offer in the recruitment process itself, and the professionalism of the staff in key positions as well as the senior managers involved.

• To which extent of on-going support they are willing to provide once you have engaged them as recruitment consultants?. Is it necessarily a case of “hire and forget” or are they willing to regularly communicate with you as the client as well as interact with the new employee to guide them through the initial phase of employment where necessary?

Global organizations such as Google, Apple and Microsoft who rely very much on their human capital to deliver their strategic goals is a good example of just how important it is to have the right pool of talent on your team. Engaging the right recruitment consultants is a big step in the right direction of creating such a talent pool for your organization.

Talk to one of our experienced business consultants today at Execom Personnel and see how we can be a key strategic partner for your business for the future.

Disclaimer

Execom Personnel as the Authors and facilitators of the contents published on this information blog are not responsible for the results of any actions on the basis of information contained there, nor for any errors or omissions. Furthermore, Execom Personnel expressly disclaims all and any liability to any person or entity in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by such person or entity in reliance in whole or part of the contents of this publication. Further as laws change frequently, all readers, users and viewers are advised to undertake their own research or to seek expert professional advice to keep abreast of any developments in the topics discussed, especially the ones covering the areas of law and taxation.

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