Choosing The Right Engineering Recruiting Agency : Important Tips
For most organizations, the decision to turn to an engineering recruitment agency is a sound one. A quality recruitment agency can help save time and money while making sure that you are fully staffed, but it’s important to understand that not every agency is right for every project or company.
Here are some tips to help you decide on the right engineering recruitment agency for your project.
Evaluate Your Needs…and make sure the agency understands them
There are many different reasons people turn to staffing agencies. Before reaching out to third parties, it’s important to understand what you are after. Are you looking for a short-term fix, a long-term assignment, or a permanent solution? Perhaps you need a combination of all three. Whatever the case, make sure you seek out a firm with experience placing quality engineers in the types of roles you are looking to fill.
Once you have figured out what you want, it is important to communicate this clearly to make sure the recruiter understands what he or she will be responsible for.
Discuss Recruitment Strategy and Skills Tests
One great way to get to know a recruitment agency or an individual recruiter is to ask them how they source and evaluate candidates. A recruitment agency specializing in engineering roles should be able to explain where they find their engineering talent. Understanding what type of industry-specific skills tests an agency uses can also be beneficial. If a recruiter spends a lot of time talking about drug tests or criminal record checks, this is a good sign that they are not screening candidates for specific skills.
Find an Engineering Recruiting Agency that Understands Engineering
Shop talk, tech jargon, “inside baseball”. Whatever you call it, every industry has its own expert language. Using industry terminology that only someone with engineering knowledge would pick up on is a great way to weed out the pretenders.
With that said, it is also worth noting that employees at an engineering recruiting agency are recruiters, not engineers. While it stands to reason that they would have functional, working knowledge of the field they recruit in, expecting them to discuss engineering minutiae in great detail might be a bridge too far.
Investigate
Don’t be afraid to do a little online snooping. A recruitment agency’s job postings, social media accounts, and websites can be useful tools, as can online reviews and industry-specific job boards.
If you have questions about a company, reach out and ask. Most recruiters will be happy to provide answers to any of your engineering recruitment questions.
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