Here’s when working with an agency might not be the best idea:
Is the vacancy confirmed and budgeted for?
We often hear: ‘We need a senior developer ASAP, project launches in a week!’. And then it turns out that the project doesn’t start at all, because the bidding … was won by another company. So we lose time, nerves and trust. Recruiting for uncertain projects is the worst trap. Working with an agency on a Success Fee model? Tell them the truth if the vacancy is uncertain. Because there’s nothing worse than working ‘blind’ when you don’t know if a position will even open up.
If the role is not business-critical and you are unsure of the budget, think twice before engaging an agency. Maybe it’s time to think about it for a while longer? Agencies work for free until they are successful – and that doesn’t always end with a happy ending if something uncertain is at stake. As an agency, we can help you win a bid by providing the candidates you need, but it’s important that we know at the handover stage what the realistic chances are of successfully closing that recruitment with our work.
Do you really know who the business needs?
‘We need DevOps’. – No problem, but the devil is in the detail. In what technologies? What specifically will he or she be doing? More Dev, or more Ops? What soft skills are key? Sometimes technical teams have a vision, but don’t quite communicate it clearly. And that’s when the fog work starts. An agency can try all it wants, but if you don’t know who you’re really looking for from the start, you’re wasting your time – and your money. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t need to know absolutely everything, but a necessary list of competencies broken down into ‘must have’ and ‘nice to have’ is the minimum to make working with an agency of real benefit to you.
Pro tip: invite agency recruiters for a briefing directly with the hiring manager. You’ll avoid being the messenger and a good agency will make sure they get everything they need from you for a successful recruitment.
Are hiring managers prepared and available to process candidates?
You have an agency, you have candidates – and… suddenly the hiring manager disappears. Sound familiar? Unfortunately, it still happens that recruitment goes into low-priority mode. And that’s a tragedy because the best candidates disappear from the market faster than you think. If your managers don’t have the time to process candidates quickly, even the best IT recruitment agency won’t do much.
If you want to save yourself the frustration and the agency unnecessary losses, make sure your hiring managers are fully engaged and ready to act immediately when the right talent comes along. It’s simple: no time for interviews = lost candidate.
How many agencies are already working on this vacancy?
Working with multiple agencies is like playing the stock market. Supposedly more means more opportunities, but in recruitment, it doesn’t quite work like that. The more agencies working on one vacancy, the more you discourage candidates. Why? Because when they get the same offer from several different recruiters, they often start to see it as desperation.
Instead of bombarding the market, go for quality and choose those agencies that are best suited to the job. Give them full responsibility for the vacancy rather than creating a crowd and chaos. Remember, where there are six cooks, there is a vacancy unfilled ;). Recruitment effectiveness increases when the agency knows that the success of the project depends on it.
Is it worth working with an IT recruitment agency?
Of course it is! But only if you have clearly defined needs and a prepared team to work with. I have written about what to look out for and how to structure cooperation with a recruitment agency so that you can ‘squeeze’ as much as possible for yourself from this cooperation here.
Remember, however, that the agency will be a good partner when it is treated as such. Care, but demand. Support, but hold it accountable. If you are ready, act! If you have any doubts, I encourage you to have a free conversation with Sebastian, who has been supporting companies like yours in recruitment for 16 years and will help you determine the best way to successfully implement your recruitment plans.