The services of outside professionals are used by prudent companies for legal, accounting and other special needs. Companies also readily hire one or more consulting firms who claim to assist them with cost cutting measures or performance metrics that will help make the company more profitable or more productive.

Yet, when faced with the need to hire additional staff or to replace poor performing employees with better qualified ones, the thought of hiring a recruiting firm is often dismissed, if even considered.

If you have heart problems, you do not even think about going to a general practitioner. You will seek out a specialist in that field. If you have a leaky roof, you don’t call the same guy who fixes your dishwasher when it is on the fritz. You call someone who specializes in repairing roofs.

So, why then, do companies not seek out the same level of professional assistance when they embark on a recruiting endeavor? Recruiters are skilled specialists who can identify the best candidates to fill important positions whether it is the receptionist or the CEO.

There are several reasons why a company should hire a recruiting firm to help in its recruiting efforts such as:

• Expertise:
  Recruiters are in the recruiting business full-time, 24/7. They know the market place, salary ranges for certain positions and what your competitors are doing to recruit top talent. They also know how to tap into resources that you would not otherwise have in order to find qualified candidates. Sometimes the best candidates are currently happily employed in your competitor’s office. It takes a skilled recruiter to peak their interests by presenting them with a new career opportunity.
• To save time:
  Since recruiting agencies are searching every day for top talent, the speed in which they can present you with candidates is much faster than if you had to conduct a search from scratch. Traditionally, within a few days or less, an agency can present you with several qualified candidates who have been previously screened, interviewed, tested and reference checked.
• Confidentiality:
  At times, you want to hire outside of your current employee roster for whatever reason. In order to not have to advertise via a job board or your own website, a recruiting agency can confidentially conduct a search for you and present qualified candidates. This eliminates the need to explain to current employees as to why they are not being considered for the job.
• Cost:
  Most hiring companies do not understand the true costs of a thorough recruiting effort. There is a misconception that agencies merely post an ad on a job board to solicit candidates. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Hiring a recruiting firm allows you to do what you do best whether you are the Office Manager, Vice President or CEO. Where is a CEO’s time more valuable…spending hours recruiting or spending that same time on the strategic plans for the company?
• Identifying hard to find candidates:
  Since most recruiting agencies do not rely on placing ads to secure candidates, they spend their time sourcing referrals or recruiting passive candidates. The best candidates are sometimes those who are happy and fulfilled in their current jobs but are willing to listen to a new opportunity. You may know that your competitor has a great employee who you would love to have on your team. It is almost impossible for you to recruit that candidate; however, a recruiter uses the tools of the trade to accomplish such a task.

The lifeline of any company is its people. Savvy companies hire a professional recruiter to help them save time and money when conducting any level of candidate search. In today’s market more than ever, companies are having a hard time finding the needle in the haystack. It is true, there are a lot of unemployed people on the market; however, there is a misconception that since the unemployment rate is so high, there is a plethora of quality candidates looking for a job. That is just not the case. It is harder and harder to find the right person for the right job.

Don’t you owe it to the future of your company to engage in the services of a recruiting agency in your next search for top talent?