The vital thing your specialist recruitment consultancy pays lip service to...

Professional recruitment consultancy. Throw this into a conversation in public and you’ll no doubt find your conversation hijacked by people telling you they’re anything but, and why. Tales of broken promises, failing to return telephone calls, badly qualified candidates and a lack of caring is the sad picture that comes to mind for many. But they can take a professional approach. And so can the consultancy itself, in how it delivers training to its employees. In this blog, we explore the importance of training, what ‘best-in-class’ training looks like and why YOU should care.

Why professional training matters

Can you just imagine if an employment law solicitor was let loose on your business without having been to law school and undertaken specific, practical training? Or an HR Manager heading up your business without a CIPD qualification? It may seem a world apart from the recruitment world. But if you’re relying on a recruitment consultant to find you, say a Head of Operations, it’s a business-critical decision. So you should expect a professional approach. Just because there is no requirement to undergo professional training, it doesn’t mean that training can’t be professional (instead of a day crash-course on how to handle ‘objections’).

What ‘best-in-class’ recruitment consultancy looks like

If you’re a human resources professional or line manager, you will probably be aware that there’s a shift away from a one-size-fits-all, e-learning approach to training based on individual needs (that goes beyond a ‘catch-up’ chat twice a month). Best-in-class training typically includes:

• Analysis of performance based on data
• Individualised plans based on strengths and weaknesses identified
• On-demand training tools specific to the organisation’s goals and industry
• An encouragement to share what you’ve learned socially with your colleagues and peers self-reflection
• On-boarding and continuous professional development/learning

But why should you care?

A professional approach to recruitment training ensures that new recruiters understand why it is so important that clients and candidates are respected equally. It provides the practical frameworks, tools and industry knowledge so that they can dig deep enough and challenge expectations to become consultative partners, not order takers. And it focuses on self-awareness, continuous improvement and a commitment to excellence, not commission. At Cast UK, we’ve always prided ourselves on our intensive on-boarding and ongoing in-house training, but we don’t believe in standing still. We now have a dedicated Learning & Development Manager that helps deliver us improve our standards further. Which may go some way to explain why our consultants’ LinkedIn recommendations have common themes raised by clients and candidates times and again:

• Professionalism
• Communication: regular / responsive / pro-active / efficient / precise
• Keep clients and candidates informed
• Really listen
• Genuinely care about getting the right people
• Get the best fit for clients and candidates
• Knowledge and understanding of the industry

Check out our consultants’ recommendations for yourself on LinkedIn.

Buyer beware: Questions to ask a specialist recruitment consultant

It pays to dig a little deeper before choosing to work with a new recruitment consultant.

• What training have they received?
• How do they treat candidates and clients fairly? Do they have testimonials to back it up?
• What tools do they use to manage the recruitment process?

These are just a few questions you might like to ask. If you’re an employer, discover the warning signs that show that a recruiter may be more of a rookie than a professional here: 10 red flags to look for before hiring a specialist recruitment agency Fed up with working with recruitment consultants who don’t live up to their promises? Why not have an informal chat with us about how we can help solve your search for top talent? Call us on 033 121 3345 or email hello@castuk.com And if you’re a client wishing to bring your recruitment process up to professional standards and avoid losing desirable candidates then you may wish to check out our in-depth guide to a stand-out recruitment process.