Why You Should Make a Headhunter Your First Choice

When you’re recruiting, you want to hire the best person for the job.  Hiring companies often consider using a headhunter as a last resort, choosing to explore free recruitment options first.  This might feel like a way to reduce spend but, in reality, it often means lengthy and time-consuming recruitment processes, vacancies that stay open indefinitely and teams that are under-resourced as they wait for new starters.

Is it time to reconsider your position on headhunters? We think so. Here, Hayley Dunbar, Emerald Group’s Business Director, gives her top five reasons why appointing us to headhunt candidates from the very beginning of your search gives you the best chance of getting the right candidate for the job.

1.In-house Recruitment Has Hidden Costs

Recruitment is a complex process that brings together many different aspects of an organisation. Often including HR teams, line managers, administrators and team members, the project management around hiring for a new role creates budget needs and has time resource implications for everyone involved. The decision on accessing external support for recruitment often hinges on financial cost, but those free options are never really free.  Recruitment portals and job boards often require paid subscriptions, and there is the resource cost of the time involved for an employee to manage the process. Creating ads or job posts, sifting through applications – or re-advertising elsewhere if no-one applies, can be extremely time consuming.  Engaging the Emerald Group as headhunters for a project means we talk to you about what you’re looking for, then we find you interested, qualified candidates with the right skills and experience.  We save you time and fast-track your journey to hiring the best person for your team.  And each time we work together our partnership strengthens, as we build productive and efficient ways of working that transform your recruitment experience.

2. We Find You the Best Candidates

There’s a reason why it’s so hard to recruit through free and open sources: you’re unlikely to reach the best candidates. With many years’ experience in the actuarial market, Emerald Group consultants have extensive networks of actuaries who are comfortable in their current roles. They’re not actively job hunting…but we know their career aspirations and they trust us to only talk to them about opportunities that we believe they will be interested in.

We take your job search to people that you won’t reach, meaning our short list of candidates will give you a rich pool of potential employees to hire from.

3. We Protect Your Reputation

At every step of the recruitment process, you give insights into how your company operates, your working practices and your company values, including how you treat potential team members. Often, free recruitment options generate a high number of inappropriate candidates and internal time pressures mean many applications are never even acknowledged. 

Not responding to a candidate gives a poor perception of how that company operates. At Emerald Group, we make sure that every candidate is given an honest and positive impression of the hiring company, safeguarding your reputation in the market. Even if the role in question isn’t right for them, applicants won’t be put off applying for jobs with you in the future or recommending you to others. 

4. We Bring Your Job Description to Life

It’s easy to scroll through words on a page and apply for – or ignore – a role for all the wrong reasons. In a candidate-scarce market, personal engagement between a consultant and job applicant is invaluable. We move away from generic job specs and bring an opportunity to life. We start by talking to the hiring and HR managers, finding out details that will help candidates picture themselves in the role. We explore the requirements that go beyond technical experience, so that we can talk about team dynamics, company culture and the environment they’ll be working in. We ask and answer questions, ensuring that individuals will be a good fit before we put them before clients.  You’ll experience the value of this approach when you interview clients from an Emerald Group shortlist: no time wasted, and a choice of engaged and skilled candidates that will thrive in your team.

5. You’re Missing Out on Recruiter Expertise

At Emerald Group, our motivation is clear: we want to find the best candidates for our clients. But our target isn’t just to fill a role: it’s to place people into roles where they will stay. We build relationships with clients and candidates so that we can add value at every stage of the recruitment process. We combine this with our specialist knowledge about the actuarial and financial services market to put the right people together. It’s not surprising that our candidates and clients trust our judgement. We save everyone time as we foster meaningful discussions, targeted selection and successful placements. In fact, many of our candidates go on to use us to fill their own hiring needs, which is a great reflection of the quality of our work and the trust that we build.

It’s Time to Make the Change

If you’re stuck in the cycle of managing long and challenging recruitment processes, talk to us before you release your next vacancy. When we work with you on a headhunter basis, we will transform your hiring experience. We appreciate that you are trusting us with a new vacancy that candidates won’t have heard of and you’ll know that we’re excited about filling your vacancy.