When does it make sense to use a recruiter to find the right experienced professional?

Although I’m tempted to say, “Whenever you’re searching for an experienced professional,” I understand that, for various reasons, sometimes you prefer to go it alone. So, when does it make the most sense?

Start by asking yourself a few questions:

• How much time would we need to recruit on our own?
• What is the value of that staff time?
• How much money would we spend on advertising to do a search?
• Do we have the connections necessary to search for this professional?
• How would we assess the candidates’ skills, temperaments and compatibility?

Your answers can help you decide whether to embark on recruitment independently or to contact a professional recruiting agency.

If you have never engaged a recruiting company, you may not have a complete picture of what we can do for you. Recruiting a professional—finding, screening, assessing, interviewing and negotiating with solid candidates—is an extremely detailed process when done properly. Turning the responsibility over to a recruiter greatly increases the likelihood of a successful placement.

We begin by taking the time to fully understand your company’s mission and culture to ensure that our candidates are a good match for your organization.

We then begin TriStarr’s rigorous, six-step candidate evaluation process. This enables us to find the highest-quality candidates and the right talent to ensure a good fit for your business. We assess for skills and knowledge, as well as personality and compatibility. These assessments result in our high placement success rate and, in the end, save our clients time and money.

A recent experience at TriStarr perfectly illustrates why using a professional recruiter makes good business sense. A local non-profit called, describing their search for a development director for the past six months with no success, despite contacts with more than 60 candidates.

We spoke with the executive director, asking about the position’s responsibilities, the organization’s culture and the qualities that other candidates were lacking. Agreeing to take on the search, we went to work—sifting through candidate after candidate and speaking to many people before finding the proverbial needle in the haystack.

We presented a candidate that was somewhat atypical and asked our client to “trust us—see this guy.” They did—and loved him.  Then we reviewed his behavioral and personality profiles with the client, identifying the various traits that indicated success in the role, as well as a few that did not. (No one is ever a 100% perfect fit.) We advised our client on how to work with and coach this candidate. Finally, we managed the offer process, ensuring that the organization knew what would be required for him to accept. We made the offer, and he accepted!

Timeline:

• Nov. 24 – Client formally engaged us.
• Dec. 1 – Client interviewed the candidate.
• Dec. 10 – Client made him an offer, and he accepted.
• Jan. 11 – Candidate started his new job.

We stand by our professional placements with our TriStarr Good People Guarantee. If our clients are dissatisfied with someone whom we have recruited within six months, our guarantee goes into effect. We will replace the person with another candidate at no charge, or provide you an agreed-upon, prorated refund.

We can make this guarantee because our clients rarely have the occasion to use it. Good people are hard to find, but we have the skills and processes to find ones that are a great fit nearly every time.