Finding tech talent in Berlin can be a real struggle. New companies emerge all the time, and the established ones are rapidly growing. At the same time, talent is scarce, and the best professionals all seem to have jobs. So, if you are thinking to hire a recruiter or hire a recruitment agency, you are heading in the right direction.
Indeed, hiring a recruiter or recruitment agency can help your organisation attract good engineers and developers in Berlin and beyond. Just bear in mind that choosing a good external recruiter who will help your organisation meet its employment needs should be pretty much like choosing a doctor.
What happens, in reality, is often quite the opposite: instead of carefully selecting whom to partner with, organisations tend to hire any provider of headhunting services. In simple words, most people don't know how to hire a recruiter.
This is why we’ve collected 7 mistakes companies make when choosing a recruitment agency to work with.
1. YOU ARE WORKING WITH THE FIRST RECRUITMENT AGENCY YOU COULD FIND
There are lots of headhunters out there competing for your attention (and your money). Needless to say, not every agency with the best advertising is the best one in terms of quality, expertise or market reach.
Do some research before you sign a contract with them. A few questions to ask are: Who are their clients? Are they a member of some reputable organisation (such as APSCo)? And, most importantly, do a reference check on them, like you would have done on your top candidates.
2. YOU ARE WORKING WITH BROAD-SPECTRUM RECRUITERS
There are generalists and specialists in the recruitment world. If you are, for example, looking to hire a Java developer in Berlin, you should go to a talent acquisition professional with some understanding of the language, the Java community, and the city itself.
3. YOU ARE GOING TO HIRE AN AGENCY WITH A MASS-RECRUITMENT APPROACH
Apart from generalists vs specialists, be sure to differentiate between mass recruiters and precision recruiters. An agency with the mass approach will be bombarding potential candidates based on keywords in their profiles.
They won’t care much about the quality of the profiles or the culture fit. Precision recruiters will first understand the position and its requirements and then contact engineers who are good for a particular job with your company.
4. YOU THINK THAT THEIR ONLY TASK IS TO PROVIDE YOU WITH CVS
Recruitment agencies are not a source of CVs. They are a source of qualified profiles that are most relevant to your job. Even more: they are also a bridge between you and your candidates. If your agency is only supplying you with resumes, you probably should stop working with it.
5. YOU THINK THAT THEY DON’T NEED TO KNOW MUCH ABOUT YOUR COMPANY
It should be exactly the opposite. Recruiters need to have as much detail as possible regarding every aspect of your organisation, including:
- Structure
- Mission
- Activities
- Culture
- Team
- Technology
- Processes
The more information they have, the more they can tell potential candidates about your company and the role and the more meaningful conversation they will have with potential job applicants. Without this information, they cannot properly engage candidates.
If a recruiter is prepared to work on a position based on your standard job description, you should not trust them to represent you.
6. YOU ARE WORKING WITH THE CHEAPEST AGENCIES
Recruitment fees are high for a reason. If you are expecting a professional service, it will cost you money. In this video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WADVV2NPssQ ), our MD Konstanty Sliwowski explains what you can expect for the money you pay.
7. YOU ARE NOT WORKING WITH RECRUITERS AT ALL
No matter if you are a startup or a large corporation with a recognised brand, you should be working with a recruitment agency. Here is some food for thought:
- Professional recruiters can significantly reduce your time to hire.
- Professional recruiters can save you thousands of Euros.
- Professional recruiters can find you talent that you won’t be able to get on your own.
- Professional recruiters act as your employer brand ambassadors.
Summary:
- Choose your recruiters wisely.
- Research them well before you hire them.
- Once you’ve signed the terms with them, keep them on the pulse of what’s happening in your company.
- Make sure to Check in weekly.
- Think of your talent acquisition agency as of your loyal partner that saves you a lot of resources in the long run.
