Effective Communication in Recruitment

Posted on: 03.02.2011    09:55:05

If you are suffering from a skills shortage and decide to turn to a third party for assistance it is against your own interests not to communicate fully and openly with your chosen partner if you want the bast results.

Here are some recent errors we have seen with the names removed to protect those involved but to hopefully benefit new clients to Skills Provision or any other agency.

  • You have clearly found us by carrying out some research so have an idea whether we might be able to be of assistance.
  • By all means pick up the phone, if you prefer, but do clearly leave your name and contact number. If you are phoning from switchboard the number if often suppressed so don’t say call me back as we won’t have a clue who to call. We had a recent enquiry for Chef’s and bar staff like that. The caller probably thinks we are ignorant and rude but what can we do?
  • Making a phone call alone actually slows the process as the recipient has to start from basics – who are you? what can we do to help? do you have a website and so on and the immediate feedback will be limited.
  • Most sites have “enquiry” forms – why not use them? Give your name, number, website address preferred contact method and a few lines on what you are after. If you have a job description include it.
  • A quality partner, will quickly research your website and industry and we make use of the incoming information to respond professionally seeking clarification on any aspects that are unclear. This saves you time.
  • Now for the job description – this is blunt , but if you don’t know what you want how can a recruiter find the skills for you? Getting the job description right should be a joint effort and at Skills we are always prepared to help but until this is in place we can’t provide you with a quotation.
  • Many recruiters provide a range of recruitment options, it is for you to decide which is best for you but it is not unreasonable for a recruiter to ask for written confirmation of an order as otherwise a wild goose chase can ensue and nobody wants to waste your or their time.
  • The number of times we receive contact and ask for more information or documents like contracts of employment and the communications go dead is disappointing and we do wonder whether people make contact prior to being committed to the process.
  • In business , change happens – sometimes positive, sometimes negative and that is life but do treat your recruitment partners informed
  • Up to the point of accepting a quotation the only risk to you is a little bit of your time – valuable yes but an investment in getting the right solution to your skills shortage.

We are here to help, but  quality input from client’s is vital so please don’t hold back on what you need if you want to receive a quality service.

 

Author: Chris Slay

Skills Provision will allow our articles/quotes to be reproduced on other formats as long as full accreditation is given.

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