In-house Recruitment VS Recruitment Agencies: Considered a direct approach to talent attraction?

Recruitment agencies - they’ve been around for nearly 150 years, and with close to 40,000 recruitment agencies registered in the UK, it’s clear that using a ‘recruiter’ is one of the most popular methods of recruiting talent.

There’s no doubt that there’s plenty of great recruitment agencies out there that do a wonderful job of supporting employers with the recruitment process. But given the cost of using a recruitment agency can range from 15% to 30% of a successful candidate's salary, have you considered other ways to go about recruiting, which would not only save you money, but also help ensure you attract the best people on the market through the promotion of your employer brand?

An alternative approach: In-house recruitment…

For many employers, the thought of bringing recruitment in-house and directly attracting talent can be daunting. Where on earth do you start? How do you attract applicants to apply for your roles? Where will you find the time to manage it all? 

Well, the great news is that a direct approach to talent attraction and having control of the recruitment process, doesn’t have to be stressful or time-consuming, and it might surprise you to know it will actually help you to attract the very best talent, and without it costing the earth.

So, where do you start?

Step 1: Attracting Talent 

You’re probably aware that there are increasing skill shortages across many sectors, and that the current recruitment market is highly candidate driven – so it’s easy to see why many employers work on the basis that only a recruitment agency would be able to help when recruiting such skilled talent.  

But, did you know that 75% of job seekers will research a company’s reputation and employer brand before even applying? And 90% of job seekers search for new jobs online.

That’s right, in this highly competitive recruitment market one of the most important things for job seekers is the company’s employer brand, its culture and values, the training and development opportunities available, and the environment they’ll be working in.  

So, when a recruitment agency advertises a position with little to no information on the actual company the applicant will be working for, you have to think, are they really able to attract the best candidates on the market for you?

Making sure your well written, employer branded, and Search Engine Optimised job adverts are seen by the right people, will be your next challenge when avoiding using recruitment agencies. With over 1100 job boards in the UK, a targeted yet wide reaching approach to job sites to leave no stone unturned, is key to attracting those gems.
Here at JVP our passion is recruitment marketing, and our team of recruitment advertising and marketing specialists truly understand the power and importance of effectively promoting employer brands to attract the best talent, and take pride in making sure job adverts are seen by the right people through a tailored approach to promotion on job boards and social media channels.

To read our in-depth guide on attracting quality talent, click here to read our top tips for ensuring you’re ahead of the rest when it comes to attracting the best…

Step 2: Managing the Applications

 If like many employers out there, you’ve relied upon the traditional method of using a recruitment agency to find you candidates and manage applications for you – it could seem like quite the challenge having to do it all yourself. After all you’ll need to review all the applications that come in, respond to them appropriately and in a timely manner, and monitor where each application is up to – which could take hours, or even days if you’re using your email inbox and spreadsheets! But there is a solution….

 What if you could centralise your applications on one easy-to-use system? Well an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is the ideal recruitment software to let you do just that – and we’d like to think that the JVP Applicant Management Portal is one of the best out there, our clients certainly think so!

The JVP Applicant Management Portal

 The JVP ATS is easy to use, stress-free and efficient, enabling you to:

• Manage all applications in one central online location
• Save time shortlisting job vacancy applications
• Swiftly organise your interviews using the interview scheduling tool
• Maintain your employer brand by ensuring applicants receive a response to their application, utilising the inbuilt customisable email templates for communication
• Build your own talent pool of applicants
• Ensure compliance with GDPR regulations

Click here for more information on the JVP Applicant Management Portal

A helping hand…

 If you think that you still might need that little bit of extra support to help you in managing the recruitment process, that doesn’t mean you need to the support of a recruitment agency - here at JVP we have the perfect solution! Our experienced recruitment specialists can work as an extension of your team to filter your applications on the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) for you, and we can even conduct telephone interviews and arrange face to face interviews on your behalf too!

Our Pre-Screening Applicant Management services are focused on freeing up your valuable time for all those other tasks on your to do list, whilst ensuring the recruitment process runs efficiently, and avoiding missing out on those ideal applicants.  Best of all, you’ll still have access to all your applications on the JVP Portal – the data belongs to you!

Click here for more information on our Pre-Screening Applicant Management services

Step 3: Making the Right Decision 

Making the right decision on whether an applicant is suitable is more of an art than a science. Many employers have been in the situation where an applicant ticks all the right boxes, but it’s not until the person starts in the role that it becomes clear they’re not right, whether due to skills, experience, performance or behaviour.

The good news is there’s plenty of tools out there which will reduce the risk of making a poor hire before the interview stages have even started, by ensuring applicants have the right level of skills and by helping you to understand how an applicant’s behavioural style will affect their performance at work, including Pre-Employment Skills and Knowledge Testing and Psychometric testing Services.

And when it comes to conducting the interview itself, you can read our guide to getting the most out of interviewees by clicking here.

Finally… 

Bringing recruitment in-house and directly attracting talent may sound like a daunting challenge, but with the right tools and support it doesn’t need to be time consuming or hard work. Most importantly it will enable you to attract the very best talent on the market, whilst saving you thousands of pounds by not having to pay expensive recruitment agency fees. 

The great thing about having an in-house recruitment strategy is that it doesn’t matter what industry you work in or what level the role is. The steps we’ve outlined above will enable you to make light work of recruitment - whether you’re looking to recruit for an entry level Administrator, or perhaps a Director for a niche engineering company, don’t just take our word for it, find out how JVP supported Extronics to attract talent for an Engineering Director role, in turn saving them thousands of pounds on their traditional method.

If you’re considering alternative approaches to using a recruitment agency, and looking at how you can attract the best people, reduce the time you spend on recruitment administration, and minimise your recruitment spend – then talk to the JVP Group team! We’re here to help, and we’re all passionate about working in collaboration with employers to deliver successful in-house recruitment strategies.