Recruit Staff Using Recruitment Advisors & HR Consultants

<div class="grey-callout">
<h2>Key Takeaways</h2>
<ul>
<li>Recruitment advisors and HR consultants offer valuable strategic and practical assistance.</li>
<li>They are suitable for a wide range of recruitment and HR needs.</li>
<li>Choose professionals from smaller firms based on recommendations, and their qualities.</li>
</ul>
</div>

Services Provided by Recruitment Advisors & HR Consultants

They are specialists who provide commercial advice and practical assistance with recruitment of almost any role. They often manage multiple recruitment assignments simultaneously and prefer cost-effective direct hiring methods such as job site advertising. They may also engage recruitment agencies for specialist or difficult-to-fill roles. This Applicant Attraction Channel is particularly useful when you need:

• Strategic thinking: They help define job roles considering both current and future needs, asking thought-provoking questions to maximise each role's value.
• Cost-effective advertising: They frequently use recruitment advertising agencies and job sites to get better deals than individual employers.
• Shortlisting applicants: They conduct thorough telephone interviews to shortlist applicants professionally.
• Comprehensive interviews: They ensure interviews are thorough and increase the likelihood of selecting the best candidates.
• Assistance with job offers and contracts: They manage the process of sending written job offers and employment contracts using their templates.

In addition, an HR consultant offers various HR services beyond recruitment, including:

• HR policies and procedures: Developing and updating HR policies and employee handbooks.
• Legal compliance: Providing pragmatic advice on employment law issues, often more valuable than that from law firms.
• Compensation and benefits: Advising on competitive compensation packages and incentive structures.
• Performance management: Creating performance evaluation systems and offering strategies for managing employee performance.
• Employee relations: Guiding conflict resolution, dismissals, redundancies, and providing employment tribunal representation.

‍

Advantages of Using Recruitment Advisors & HR consultants

• Expertise and specialisation: Recruitment advisors and HR consultancies bring a wealth of specialised knowledge in various aspects of human resources. This includes staying up-to-date with the latest HR trends, laws, and best practices, which is particularly beneficial for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that may not have this expertise in-house.
• Cost-effectiveness: They can be more cost-effective than hiring full-time HR staff or using legal firms for employment-related issues. They offer flexible payment options like hourly rates or a percentage of payroll costs.
• Legal compliance and risk management: They help businesses navigate employment laws, to ensure legal compliance and reduce the risk of legal issues.
• Recruit for most vacancies: They can assist with recruiting for a wide range of positions, from entry-level to executive roles. 
• Customised HR solutions: They provide tailored solutions for business’s needs and culture.
• Flexibility and scalability: Businesses can use recruitment advisors and HR consultancies on an ad-hoc basis or scale HR services as the business grows or needs change.
• Objective outside perspective: An external consultancy can provide an unbiased perspective on internal matters.

‍

Disadvantages of Using Recruitment Advisors & HR Consultants

• Cost considerations: Although recruitment advisors and HR consultancies can be cost-effective, the expense can still be significant for some businesses, particularly very small ones.
• No guarantees: From a recruitment perspective, they do not offer any guarantees. If they don’t fill a job, an employer still pays for their time. Additionally, if a new employee subsequently leaves, they don’t give a refund like a recruitment agency.  
• Less control over the recruitment process: Businesses might need more control over the process when outsourcing recruitment to anyone, including recruitment advisors and HR consultancies. The consultant’s approach may not fully align with the company’s internal culture or specific needs, leading to potential mismatches in candidate selection.
• Generic solutions: Some larger consultancies might rely on templated solutions or standard practices that don’t fully cater to a business’s unique aspects or the specific role being filled.
• Limited industry-specific expertise: While HR consultancies know HR practices, they may not always have deep expertise in specific industries. This can be a drawback when recruiting for niche or highly technical roles.‍
• Reliance on external providers: Dependency on any external consultancy for recruitment can leave businesses vulnerable if the consultancy cannot deliver as expected or if there are interruptions in the consultancy’s availability or service.

‍

<span class="purple-callout"><p>Need advice or practical support? Feel free to get your free consultation.</p><p>For example, I can advertise a job across the UK's best job boards for only £199.</p><p>You may also find my recruitment book useful - it's a bestseller!</p></span>

‍

Choosing a Recruitment Advisor or HR Consultant

• Ask for recommendations: Ask your colleagues or industry peers whether they can suggest the best ones to use. Be careful when searching the internet, as many sites offering listicles (eg. “7 Best HR Consulting Firms”) are affiliate marketing sites. 
• Consider the size of their company: Be cautious of giant firms which are often recruitment agencies that have diversified and offer a version of recruitment advisory service (aka recruitment process outsourcing). But then it quite quickly comes down to many much smaller firms and sole practitioners.
• I recommend small firms: Working with a sole practitioner, or a small group of professionals working together (similar to a firm of accountants or solicitors) often provides a more tailored and personal service. Because they don’t have large overheads, they often represent excellent value for money. A minor downside is that it can be challenging to resolve urgent issues in the limited situations when they are unavailable.
• Review their price: Most work on a daily rate, commonly charging between £600 - £2,000 per day. A few charge fixed fees per role, sometimes over £3,000. There may be additional charges such as costs for travel and recruitment advertising.
• Shortlist individual consultants: As with many business relationships, who you deal with is often more important than the company you deal with. Having a dedicated contact is important because you don’t want to keep reiterating yourself and you need a point of contact for urgent issues. 
• Meet with them: You must meet a prospective recruitment advisor or HR consultant to establish rapport and understand their track record. This might be in person if they are local, but a virtual meeting is commonplace. You should have good rapport because you’ll need to trust them with confidential information, and you may be working with them for a long time. It’s helpful for them to have relevant industry experience.
• ‍They should understand your company’s culture: They’ll need to understand and assimilate into your company’s culture to become an effective adviser. Ultimately, you need a tailored, not a templated solution.‍
• They should offer pragmatic, real world solutions: You should rarely be quoted employment law as it’s generally unhelpful and easy to misunderstand. Instead, they should provide solutions in plain English without confusing you.‍
• They should offer a candidate/employees’ perspective: Sometimes, what appears right for a business might not be great for candidates or employees. By providing a different perspective, you make more informed decisions and reduce staff attrition.‍
• They should show discretion: For example, being able to explain their knowledge and experience without revealing that they work with competitors. If they provide names, do they throw them around or preface them with, “This is in the public domain, so I can say it”?‍
• They should be available when you need them: This is particularly important as some issues can be urgent.

‍

Additional Resources

• Recruitment Book; The Secrets of Great Recruitment: How to Recruit Great Employees.
• Downloadable PDF guide; The Strategic Advantage of Recruitment Advisors & HR Consultants.
• Article; Recruitment Process Outsourcing with Recruitment Advisors & HR Consultancies.
• Article; Advantages & Disadvantages of Using HR Consultancies for Recruiting Staff.