Here at Pitch, we pride ourselves on the quality of the service we provide to our clients with every single one of our consultants going the extra mile to find the perfect candidate. Becky, our FMCG specialist consultant gave her thoughts on what HR & Hiring Managers should be considering in the recruiting process and how Pitch help assist with it.

Be selective about who and how many agencies you use.

At Pitch, we always advise our clients to work exclusively with one agency. By building a trusted partnership it secures commitment from the agency and allows the consultant time to pipeline and approach the best passive talent - rather than feeling they are in a CV race against other agencies. If five agencies are briefed on a role, each one will undoubtedly take the opportunity to market in a completely different way. The majority of our clients talk passionately about the importance of employer brand and ensuring it’s consistent - when a number of agencies are briefed this is always more difficult to contain and monitor.

Using too many recruiters can often give the impression to the candidate that the hiring company has a blanket approach to recruiting which can lead to potential candidates feeling like a statistic rather than an individual.

Great CV? Get them booked in!

We all know that a good candidate does not stay on the market for long. When one of our clients expresses interest in a CV then we always suggest they meet with them as soon as possible. We appreciate time is precious and diaries can be tight so why not arrange an initial phone call or Skype in place of a 1st stage face-to-face interview? This is a fantastic way to get the ball rolling and to ensure the candidate is kept engaged with your brand. Additionally, it’s more time and cost efficient for both hirer and candidate. A win-win.

We always advise hiring managers to review CVs as and when they receive them. Waiting 2 weeks to review a big batch often results in 50% of these candidates no longer being available.

If we claim to be consultants, then treat us like consultants.

The majority of our clients weren’t aware that Pitch offers to do salary benchmarking or market mapping projects at no extra cost. If a hiring manager and recruitment consultant are both in agreement over market rates then this will only make for a smoother process and quicker candidate acquisition in the long run. Everyone’s a winner!

We acknowledge that our clients are the experts in their field - we aren’t category managers or sales professionals. However, recruitment is our speciality - we are trained in skills like candidate acquisition, salary negotiation and offer management. If you’ve agreed to pay an agency fee then why not get your monies worth - a good recruiter is more than just a CV generator!

The curse of the internal candidate.

We completely appreciate that a strong internal candidate can appear out of the blue, but more often than not, they have actually been in the process from the very beginning. Many hiring managers have the misconception that by disclosing an internal candidate to an agency, then they are less likely to prioritise the role, which isn’t the case.

Invite Pitch over!

Recruitment agencies are notorious for their tough KPI targets - unless a consultant gets 10 CVs out of the door that day and books 5 client visits then they aren’t going home! That being said, Pitch Consultants, both Birmingham and Manchester aren’t targeted like this and genuinely see the value in coming to meet with you.

Once you’ve selected your trusted recruitment partner then invite them in to meet with you - after all, how can they describe your culture if they haven’t experienced it first hand? By doing so, the agency will be able to represent your business in a way that mirrors your own company’s mission and values.

It’s not just any old job spec.

It’s very easy to make assumptions (good and bad!) about a candidate’s suitability from their CV  - interestingly enough candidates take the same approach when reviewing job specifications. As a hiring manager, if you received an outdated CV riddled with spelling mistakes would you invite that candidate in for an interview? Equally, we’ve known candidates to withdraw from processes they’d be perfect for due to a vague job spec which hadn’t been updated since 2011. Pitch often support you in writing job descriptions so take advantage of this added extra!

Sounds simple, right? If you’d like to work with Pitch then please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us - we don’t bite!