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Need to hire more help, like yesterday? Outsourced recruiting is the answer for time-strapped managers.[/caption]For many of our clients, keeping up with the demand of hiring new team members as the business scales can be a challenge. To further complicate matters, competition is fierce for candidates and only going to get harder for the businesses who are competing for them.To put the demand into perspective, we did a search for "Software Engineer" on Indeed and as of January 2, 2018, there were 180,000 posted job openings nationwide.For any organization to scale, you must hire. To hire effectively in today's job market, you must already have a pipeline of talent and the resources that can move quickly to sort, screen, and hire the best candidates before they are hired elsewhere. If your business is anticipating rapid growth, outsourced recruiting can help.

How Outsourced Recruiting Can Help

Increase performance during peak hiring needs

Outsourced recruiting optimizes performance during peak hiring needs by serving as an extension of an internal team or individual, providing support. From sourcing to screening, to negotiations and onboarding, these talent fulfillment experts put their deep network and experience to work where it’s most critical, reducing time to fill vacant roles.

Champion candidate experience (CX)

How talent perceives and reacts to the sourcing, recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding practices (the candidate experience) weighs just as heavily as the compensation and benefits package. Increased demand to fill openings can result in cutting corners in the acquisition process. Outsourced recruiting serves as an extension of your brand in the talent market that enables increased internal output, without sacrificing a consistent candidate experience.

Network expansion & competitive advantage

Outsourced recruiting providers work from a vast network of active and passive talent, with some providers specializing in filling roles for a particular industry or field. Not only does your organization increase the available talent pool which, can include people of interest from competitors, you’re also assured that your people are off limits.

Is Outsourced Recruiting Right For My Organization?

Outsourced recruiting is an excellent option for companies with clearly defined hiring processes and procedures already in place. This ensures the outsourced provider will spend more time filling roles and less time navigating hiring workflows.Here are a few questions to ask potential providers you’re considering:

Optimizing Performance

1. Do you provide one primary point of contact, or will there be several?Why to ask: As the saying goes, to many cooks can spoil the broth. The goal is to optimize performance of your internal team, not add to the demands. More contacts require oversight and ongoing management, increasing the likelihood of miscommunications and error. We’ve found that one POC and one backup to the assigned POC is the best approach for maximum efficiency. 2. Is this service scalable?Why to ask: Business moves fast. You need a provider who can move as fast (or faster) that offers the flexibility of scaling according to your business needs. Why pay for something you don’t need right now, or pay a premium for increased demand? Providers who value your business and building a long-term relationship will be flexible in their approach, whether you need one or two resources, or a several dozen.

Champion candidate experience (CX)

1. What are your organization’s candidate experience best practices?Why to ask: Candidate experience is sometimes used as “buzzword bingo” for outsourced recruiting providers just looking to make a sale. Those who value and are serious about championing the candidate experience for their clients will be able to speak to what they practice within their own organization.2. Do you provide clients with candidate feedback?Why to ask: Capturing feedback from talent regarding their experience is important for continuous improvement. It may also provide valuable insight as to the management of their experience when working with your outsourced recruiting provider. If your standards aren’t being adhered to or followed, or if the provider is unclear as to expectations or workflows, this provides insight into that and an avenue to rectify.

Network expansion & competitive advantage

1. Do you specialize in recruiting for any particular industries or fields?Why to ask: If you’re needing to hire for specialized roles (such as technology) a provider that has deep experience in a particular niche will be better prepared to fill your needs as compared to a firm that is more generalized and lacks any clear “area of expertise”. These specialty firms also have to possess a much more broad and deep talent pool network in order to meet their client’s needs.2. Who are your clients?Why to ask: This question may be a little trickier to get clear answers on due to confidentiality agreements, but is important to ask. Do they currently work with direct or indirect competition, or have they in the past? What measures are provided to protect your business? You’ll also be given insight as to the mix of clients and those who may be similar in size, need, or industry.BONUS QUESTION: Can you provide me with 3 current references of your work–providing outsourced recruiting in particular?

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