8 Reasons To Use a Recruitment Agency Exclusively

Written by  Leila Maguire, Recruitment Consultant

It’s not uncommon for hiring managers to consider working with numerous agencies when trying to fill a position and many believe that this will improve their chances of finding the right candidate and reduce their time to hire. However, the reality could not be further from this. I’m sure you’ve heard of the saying ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ and that is exactly the case when employers engage multiple recruitment agencies.

In this article I review what exactly it means to work with an agency on an exclusive basis, why it benefits you and our top reasons as to why we will always advise exclusivity.

What does it mean to work exclusively?

An ‘exclusive’ relationship between a client or hiring manager and a recruitment agency means that you give sole responsibility of recruiting for a particular role to only one agency.

From our experience, clients are significantly more likely to fill a role in a shorter period of time when working exclusively with a recruitment consultancy like ourselves.

Why working exclusively is in your best interest as a client

When you partner with only one recruiter you are investing in developing a solid relationship between yourselves and the designated consultant. A relationship that will allow your consultant to really dig deep into the role, to understand the business, the personality requirements and the culture of that company. Building this foundation and sharing this essential information will allow your consultant to find someone who matches the role against every criteria and will increase your chances of that person remaining in the business long term. Therefore, leading to lower attrition rates and saving you time and money which is probably the main reason your instructed an agency in the first place.

Many recruitment agencies will request for a job to be exclusive, as it gives the agency the opportunity to deliver a level of service that you will not get should you instruct several agencies.

8 reasons why you should work with a recruiter exclusively

1. You will be priority

when you choose to work exclusively you can guarantee receiving a higher quality service. Because in the same way that you are choosing to commit to one agency, that agency is also committing to you. Meaning that they will go above and beyond to deliver an outstanding experience.

2. Higher quality candidates

The reality is that if you choose to work with multiple agencies, it creates unnecessary competition between them and it becomes a race to the finish line. If you opt for exclusivity it removes the time and pressure and you can guarantee that your consultant will utilise more resources and do everything they can to find the best fit for you.

3. Save precious time

There may be a bigger investment of time initially whilst you are working through the spec and discussing your requirements but this will be worth it when your consultant sends through higher quality CV’s of people that you can be assured are the best for the job.

4. Improve the candidate experience

It’s not unlikely for good candidates to be contacted numerous times about the same role if there are several agencies working on it. This can impact their candidate experience negatively and their view of your business which could mean they are less likely to want to work for you now or in the future.

5. Consistency is key

Using one agency will ensure continuity and consistency throughout the application process for both the candidate and you as the client. At Four, we always maintain regular contact with our clients and provide progress updates to ensure everyone stays up to date.

6. Longevity

When you work with a recruiter on an exclusive basis you are investing in a long-term business relationship. They will get to understand you, your business and its culture which will allow them to find candidates that truly match your role, which in turn will increase staff retention. This relationship will be beneficial for any future roles as it will save you time explaining yourself to another recruiter and starting from scratch again.

7. Lower cost

Hiring managers can often think that more agencies will equal less investment. However, at Four we value and appreciate commitment from our clients and in return can offer reduced fees when working with us exclusively.

8. Less duplications

Working exclusively with one agency will remove the need to have the same conversation over and over again and it will also remove the issue of receiving duplicate CV’s. You will save yourself time by speaking with one agency and only reviewing the CV’s they send through.

As you can see there are plenty of pro’s to working with a recruitment consultancy like ourselves on an exclusive basis and it will certainly save you time and money. If you want to understand more about our fees and terms you can view them here.