There are over 3,000 recruitment agencies in Singapore that offer quality services in providing various companies with the manpower that is needed in order to fulfill a broad variety of job roles in these companies. The advantage of going to a recruitment agency instead of the company doing recruitment on its own is that much time and cost can be saved. Also, these agencies have the expertise and knowledge to streamline candidates and identifying the best talent.
It is not advisable for employers to work with too many recruitment agencies as this may be counter productive as recruitment agencies may not provide attention if they are competing with each other to find candidates.
Therefore, it would be a good practice for employers to select and work with one or a few reliable and trusted recruitment agencies.
In evaluating and selecting which recruitment agency to work with, employers may wish to consider the following factors:
Specialisation of the Recruitment Agency
Depending on the industry your company is in and how specialised the company’s job roles are, you may want to pick a suitable recruitment agency that is able to cater to your needs and requirements.
Increasingly, many recruitment agencies have different recruitment specialties or niches. The recruiters working in these recruitment agencies would have a good understanding of the nature and workings of a certain industries that the recruitment agencies specialise in, be it in semi-conductor manufacturing, information technology or medical services.
If the employer is looking for people to fill generic positions (e.g. accounting and administrative work), then most recruitment agencies would be able to support such a hiring requirements.
Thus, it would be crucial for the recruiting employer to first approach, discuss and find out the background of recruitment agencies particularly what area of specialisations is the recruitment agency focus on and what are the experience in recruiting in a particular industry, sector or job roles. In this aspect, knowing the criteria set by the agency and how the recruitment process is done is important to ensure that you end up getting the right person for the job.
The Candidate Pool
Another thing you might want to look out for is the number of candidates the agency usually recruits. If the agency has a large pool of candidates available, then there would be a higher chance of finding a match between the candidates from the recruitment agency database and what the employers are looking for. The size of the agency’s candidate pool would also indicate how well of a network it has established.
In addition, you could also ask the agency about how they streamline their candidates and what their success rate is for making long-term successful placements among other relevant questions.
Other things to look out for
The company should also look to see how reputable the agency is. Here, you could look at their portfolio of the clients the agency has previously worked with and how well-known these other clients are. With careful planning and selection of recruitment agency partners, the recruiting employer can have a better chance of establishing a good working relationship and successful placement from a reliable recruitment agency in Singapore.