You probably don’t need us to tell you that running a successful food or drink manufacturing business is no mean feat. And when you’re trying to keep so many plates spinning, it can be easy to let tasks slide. More often than not, that task is recruitment.
In the past, you might have asked a recruiter to handle your talent acquisition, so you could focus your attention elsewhere. But there’s just one problem: not all recruiters are made equal. While some have the power to boost your brand, others can ruin your reputation.
Let’s take a look at both sides of the coin to understand how a recruiter can harm and help your business, so you know exactly what to watch out for in future.
The candidate experience
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Providing a good candidate experience should be vital for any recruiter, but that’s not always the case. Some recruiters can be unresponsive, unprofessional, or even disrespectful. This not only creates a negative impression, it ruins the perception of your brand, especially if the candidate shares their experience – and trust us, people talk.
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A good recruiter should dedicate time to ensure a positive experience, regardless of the hiring outcome. This can be done through responding promptly to queries, providing clear and transparent communication about what’s needed from the candidate, and generally treating them with the respect they deserve.
Your company
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Ensuring your brand is represented fairly and correctly is crucial to attract the right candidates. So if a recruiter fails to grasp what your business is about, or misrepresents certain facts about you, this could discourage the right people from applying for the job, and ultimately waste hiring time.
For example, say your food manufacturing company is hiring for an R&D Manager with proven innovation experience. If your job description doesn’t make this clear, you could end up with 100 candidates who don’t meet the requirements.
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Experienced recruiters will spend time working with you to better understand your brand. At Silven, before we even start the recruitment process we sit down with our clients to learn about their values, culture, and mission in their own words, to ensure the way we represent them to candidates is verbatim.
Diversity and inclusion
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If a recruiter engages in discriminatory practices, like favouring certain candidates based on gender, race, or other protected characteristics, this can damage your reputation and lead to legal implications. Beyond that, it’s highly unethical and immoral. A modern company should know better than to associate themselves with such behaviour, as it not only reflects poorly on the individual recruiter, but on your brand as a whole.
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Yet diversity doesn’t just mean encouraging anyone and everyone to apply for a role. A good recruiter understands the importance of a cultural fit, beyond having the right criteria. They should screen candidates for how well they match the company values and culture. By hiring people that resonate with your brand, you’ll be able to create a more inclusive environment over time – which in turn will improve your public image.
The hiring decision
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Recruiters are human, not robots (contrary to popular belief). And that means we’re not guaranteed to get things right 100% of the time. But if you work with an agency that consistently makes poor hiring decisions, resulting in ill-suited employees who don’t align with the company values, this can cost you time, money, and energy. Your recruiter should be an expert in what separates a bad candidate from a great one.
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Good recruiters look past a candidate’s interview performance and consider their potential for long-term success at your company. If a prospective employee gives all the right answers in their interview, but delivers a task that isn’t up to standard, they won’t put them forward for a second interview. Likewise, if a candidate has all the right qualities and experience on paper, but doesn’t seem interested in staying with the company long term, recruiters will take this as a sign not to progress them further.
By making well-informed hiring decisions and assessing a candidate’s motivations and career goals, recruiters contribute to higher employee satisfaction and retention.
Make the right choice, with Silven
Jumping into a relationship with a recruiter, without assessing their reputability and alignment with your values and needs first, could be your biggest mistake.
With Silven, you don’t have to second guess yourself. We have over a decade of experience in food and drink manufacturing recruitment to prove that we’re not just a good recruitment agency – we’re a great one. Call us on 0161 832 7463 or email info@silven.co.uk to find out how we can support you.