When Do Top Organizations Call in the Experts – Specialized Recruiting Firms?

When do top organizations call in the experts and turn to specialized recruiting firms for assistance? During a recent Landrum Talent Solutions panel discussion on Talent Acquisition Strategy, industry leaders Laura Kelley, Director of Talent at Crown Castle; Jason Riley, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Ultra Clean Technology; Pedro Velis, Senior HR Manager at Bloom Energy, and Melissa Haid, Vice President of Delivery for Landrum Talent Solutions shared their insights on when and why organizations engage specialized recruiters.

“We’ve used niche recruiting firms to build our capability, not only to access their candidate database but also to learn about industry trends from them,” said Laura Kelley.

So, under what conditions do top companies call in a specialized recruiting firm?

All too often, when our teams are in search of talent, at the top of the to-do list is posting an automated, keyword-heavy job announcement on social media or a job site.  While this can help identify candidates, it also means culling through hundreds of applications from unscreened candidates, the majority of which won’t have the right qualifications. It is a gamble that costs time and money and can pull hiring managers or internal HR departments away from mission-critical, revenue-generating work. Below are a few circumstances our panelists identified that strategically call for retaining a specialized recruiter.

When niche skills are needed 

Jason Riley explained, “There are going to be times when an agency partner is critical. I think one of those is when the role is niche. Your team may not have those networks, capabilities, or sometimes even the bandwidth,” said Riley, “External agencies come with large databases and networks and have placed niche roles like this in the past.”

Specialized recruiters spend all day, every day talking with candidates who are in between roles, are looking for short-term interim or fractional executive positions, or who might be convinced to switch companies for the right opportunity.

Specialized recruiters have worked extensively in the industries they are recruiting for, so they intimately know who the top candidates are, the nuances of the jobs, which tools are used in that field, and how to connect their clients to elite candidates.

When speed matters

According to LinkedIn statistics, “89% of candidates say being contacted by their recruiter can make them accept a job offer faster.”  When you need to fill a role quickly and may not have bandwidth to be as communicative as you’d like, a specialized recruiter knows the talent pool and can quickly deliver a handful of the best candidates, tailored to your business-critical needs. This means you can get to “hired” faster. 

When a search is confidential

Regarding confidentiality, Laura Kelly shared, “Sometimes there’s some confidential work that we do. We have a couple of good partnerships with organizations where we know that we can have those confidential conversations,” said Kelly. “They’ll go out to the market and remain confidential.”

If a company needs to keep an opening confidential, specialized recruiters are invaluable. They can discreetly source candidates and help keep your needs quiet from interviews to onboarding.

Other insights from the experts

Pedro Velis told us, “Another time when I leverage [a firm] is to get information to help me present back to my hiring manager. When they are saying I want this level of person, while we have internal data that says we’re not going to be able to afford that. Getting that outside perspective and information level sets,” said Velis.  “Here’s someone who has no skin in the game who is showing you the relevant, most recent market data,” continued Velis. “Whatever data you have now is already out of date. I think agencies have the most up-to-date, relevant market data for you to leverage as you move forward in your process.”

On a final note from our panelists was that specialized recruiters act as an extension of and an advocate for their clients’ brands. They know how to sell a role and the company to a stellar candidate because they spend time upfront understanding the details of the job and getting to know the company and its culture.

Experts in talent acquisition know that specialized recruiters excel at ranking the talent being considered and what benefits and working environments attract and help retain A-plus candidates.  They also know that when exceptional, enduring talent is needed, specialized recruiters have the resources and focus to deliver the right people.