Why use a recruitment agency like HSI to fill your vacancies?

Almost every employer has tried their hand at recruiting their own staff at some point and it’s easy to see why this is. Online job boards and social networking sites make it easier than ever for companies to reach out to job seekers that they would never normally have access to.

Whilst it may seem logical and more cost-effective to cut out the middle-man, why do the majority of organisations end up going back to their old faithful recruitment agency? Unfortunately, finding candidates with the right skills and qualifications who will also be the right cultural fit and want to stay with the company for many years, are incredibly difficult to come by.

Recruitment can be a frustrating and time-consuming exercise.

How do you search for staff to fill your permanent vacancies?

Do you spend hours designing and writing an advertisement, then spend hundreds, maybe thousands of pounds advertising?

This is one way to find new staff, but what if it doesn’t yield the right kind of candidates? You may have to re-advertise week after week, spending much more money than you had budgeted for still with no guarantee results, just a dent in the bottom line.

However, you will almost certainly receive many CV’s in response to any advert placed, but a high percentage of applicants will not have the experience or qualifications you require.

Sorting through CV’s and replying to all of the respondents is a long process, taking up valuable time.

A recruitment agency like Hospitality Search International saves you time, and can save you money.

It’s far easier than going through the laborious process of doing it yourself and it usually costs around the same, or even less. The one benefit with using Hospitality Search International is that you pay nothing until we find and place you a candidate.

Here are some honest estimates of the time it takes out of your busy schedule just to fill one vacancy – these times are minimums, often it will actually take longer:

The job of a recruitment agency is far more complex than people realise. Here are just a few of the benefits of using them:

Instant access to candidates

Hospitality Search International have a huge database full of candidates. This means that rather than waiting for people to apply to your position, chances are we know of suitable candidates without even needing to advertise the role. This speeds up the recruitment process dramatically and you can also feel confident that they will only put forward candidates they know and trust and have the skills and background required plus want to be considered.

Can save money

Some companies don’t like to use agencies because there is a cost involved with doing so. Even though you might want to cut costs wherever possible, it’s well worth remembering that the cost of a bad hire is far more significant than just using an agency in the first place.

If you do it yourself and it goes wrong, you need to re-advertise, interview all over again, you’ve lost the salary you were paying your failed recruit, you may be a team member down for some time and then of course there’s the cost of lost morale that a bad hire can cause.

Extended reach

Unfortunately, the best candidates aren’t easy to find because nine times out of 10 they’re not actively looking and they can also choose to be as selective as they like. Even if a candidate isn’t currently active in their job search, there’s a strong possibility that a good recruiter will know who they are and how to reach them.

Writing an advert 

This process can take some time to think of the correct wording and the exact requirements necessary for the vacancy.

Allocated time required 1 hour per advert

Designing an advert 

Once you have decided on the wording and layout, you will need to design the actual advert including logos, telephone numbers, etc. Different publications and job boards may offer different sizes of adverts in their situations vacant sections. This may mean designing two or three different sizes and layouts.

Allocated time required 1 ½ hours per advert

Posting the Job Advertisement 

This will include sending to the different newspapers and Hospitality Publications, discussing prices and deadlines. You will then need to arrange for purchase orders or credit card payments. The same goes for job boards

Allocated time required 1 hour per job insert

Sifting through CV’s 

You will receive many CV’s however, unfortunately for you, many will not fit the criteria. If you are lucky you might find that “diamond in the dust”. On average you will get less that 5% suitability for the role you advertised. On top of this you will also receive many phone calls from candidates wishing to enquire about the vacancy. Candidates may also apply or call on a speculative basis. This can take longer than simply scanning through CV’s.

Allocated time required 6-8 hours per placement

Selecting a shortlist 

If you secure a shortlist, you may want to talk to the candidates to make sure that they definitely meet your selection criteria and accept all the conditions of the role. This could be an informal pre-screening chat. After talking to these candidates, interview appointments to meet with the candidates will be arranged.

Allocated time required 6-8 hours per placement

Advising the unlucky ones 

Any HR professional or good recruiter will advise those applicants who have not made it to the interview stage.

Allocated time required 1 hour

So the average minimum amount of time taken so far is 16 ½ -20 ½ hours of work – this is a conservative estimate – just to get suitable candidates to your office for interviews.

This is 20 hours of your salary and overheads.

Then you still need to allow for second interview, trade test, assessment, or the small matter of preparing and then getting a candidate to accept the offer.

There are also further costs to bear in mind. Advertising, for example, can be very expensive and the results vary widely depending on which publication and Job board you use.

Adding up the time and money involved, you can see why many companies use recruitment agencies.

Saves you time

Unless you get very lucky, the recruitment process is often long and time-consuming. From writing out job specifications and sifting through hundreds of applicants to interviewing and sending out contracts, it can take weeks and sometimes even months.

When you’re trying to keep on top of your normal workload, trying to run your Hotel or HR department, things can get on top of you very quickly and you may end up hiring the wrong person just for the sake of getting the whole thing over with.

Hospitality Search International can take care of all of this for you. We are always happy to meet candidates in person where possible - if not, a skype interview will be conducted before we send them for interview so you know you’re only getting the best quality coming through. Even once you have made a decision, Hospitality Search International will look after everything from getting contracts signed to negotiating pay and terms and conditions and helping to secure visas, medicals and getting them relocated before they start work with you.