With the start of 2020 fresh in our minds, we look for ways to better ourselves and our businesses going forward into the New Year. Your recruitment resolutions for 2020 may include various things, perhaps they involve saving money whilst retaining exceptional service? Maybe you want to reduce your reliance on traditional recruitment agencies or adopt a direct hiring model? Or do you want to ensure that your recruitment campaign is legit, above board and reaching your target audience?
If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the above questions, then please read on.
The recruitment industry has changed dramatically over the last decade and Flat Fee or Fixed Fee Recruitment companies are now part of the normal strategy for most businesses recruiting. This recruitment model offers a low cost, yet effective recruitment solution, it can give the hiring company complete control over recruiting decisions and ensure that all available talent is reached.
The majority of today’s job seekers search for their new roles via online job boards and social media platforms (where Flat Fee Recruiters advertise vacancies for employers). Newspaper and print publication advertisements are a thing of the past.
The flat fee recruitment model provides an online recruitment service to employers.
The flat fee recruiter enters into a contract with a number of job boards and they purchase large quantities of job posting credits and/or CV database access from them. The costs are usually lower due to the volume and type of credits purchased. The flat fee company then allocates a selection of the credits to their clients so that they can attract candidates to their vacancies.
But it doesn’t stop there! Flat fee recruitment companies have a responsibility to ensure that their clients receive a recruitment service and not just an advertising service. Your recruitment service from a flat fee recruitment company will usually include: recruitment communications and marketing advice, professionally copywritten adverts, effective posting of the adverts, managing and reviewing the adverts for performance, screening the applications and creating application forms, processes and, where appropriate, company wide procedures
Well, at least this is the service you should be receiving from your flat fee recruitment company.
There are some ‘flat fee’ recruitment companies which don’t provide an appropriate recruitment service and as a result make the relationship between the hiring company, job seeker and job board tense and unprofessional. This type of company is known as a ‘re-seller’.
Re-sellers do just that – they simply resell job board credits/databases. That’s it. They undermine any reputable relationship with the job boards and pose a threat to the flat fee recruitment industry. Back in 2014, Ian Partington of Simply Jobs Boards recently explained this process: re-sellers sell credits and CV databases purchased for themselves and charge a fixed amount for it i.e. they distribute their login details among their clients and charge X amount for the ‘service’.
Don’t get pulled in by really low fees and huge distribution lists from flat fee recruitment companies. We would urge you to check the service you could expect to receive from a supplier before jumping in.
There is a clear divide between re-sellers and flat/fixed fee services:
- There must be a recruitment process for a supplier to be termed a fixed-fee recruiter. This process must involve some kind of recruitment service on behalf of the client i.e. advert writing or CV screening. The more reputable companies will also provide advice and consultation, software and a full range of support services to ensure their clients hire the right person.
- If a flat fee provider simply hands you their log-in details to the job boards or doesn’t actually provide any kind of recruitment service then they are termed a re-seller.
If you discover that your flat fee recruitment provider is in fact just a re-seller, then please tread with caution. As Ian Partington explained: job boards are tackling this issue by tightening security and cancelling contracts with illegitimate re-sellers. With the job boards addressing these ‘rogue traders’ head on, please be aware that your financial investment in these suppliers may be put in jeopardy. Hopefully, fore-warned is fore-armed and you can now take appropriate action.
Let us not forget, the premise of fixed or flat fee recruitment companies is excellent and, when working with reputable flat fee companies, you can save a great deal of time and money. So make sure your 2020 recruitment resolution is placing your recruitment requirements in the hands of a reputable fixed fee recruitment company and not a re-seller!
You may also like:
- How to Cut Your Recruitment Costs
- What Flat Fee Recruiter Does and How we do it
- Are You Getting What You Pay For?
