Would you use a headhunter/recruiter to find the right employees?

[oregano]

Have you ever used a professional recruitment consultant or headhunter to find the right person for an important position in your company? Or would you consider it worth doing so, even though you would have to pay a percentage of the employee's salary for the service? Would the time saving on your end, and the possibility of keeping your employee search confidential in the wider business community, justify the additional expense?

[AliceT]

I have not personally used a recruitment firm to find employees, but I worked with a company who did. One factor which we were not initially aware of, or even considered requiring, was the ease of terminating the person sent by the firm. The company had included a guarantee, and once we discovered that the recruited employee did not meet all the requested requirements, the recruitment company took care of termination and provided us with another employee (who worked out perfectly).

Paying the additional fees not only saved us the time of filtering through resumes and job interviews, it also saved us the additional stresses that come with terminating employment. It was well worth the costs, and given the chance, I would do it again.

[pandandesign]

It depends on what kind of business is. My dad's business does not use any recruiting services or hire the recruitment firm to hire employees. One thing is that it can be quite expensive to hire someone as a recruiter to find the right employees because there are a lot of processes and hassles to do so. Plus, you end up paying both sides and keep paying more because the recruiters are considered the middleman between you and the employees whom you're considering to hire. It saves so much money and the time to actually find one yourself, which I think most companies are like that nowadays.

[cpefley]

Depending on the company, definitely would be worth the expense. A headhunter can provide quality employees, and will save you a lot of time and effort. I like how Alice mentioned that a recruiting firm will also take care of termination if you are unsatisfied with the employees(s) hired. That is a great bonus.

[crimsonghost747]

It really depends what you are looking for. Personally I would never use them since in a small company I would want to be the one making all the decisions when it comes to employees.

However if you have a bigger company or are just looking to save time, they can be a good choice.

[fredkawig]

I have not personally tried this way of hiring employees yet. I'm not sure it would work in the businesses I want to pursue and those we own. I actually have my criteria for employees that are worth hiring, an example is that he or she must be a Christian who is honest, reliable and God-fearing. Usually Christians who are genuine are really great in any kind of situation whether helping out or even in business transactions. If not, you could just employ family members who care about you like your spouse, kids, siblings and the like.

[delusional]

It depends on the business. If you want to fill a spot with very specific needs and it's a high paying job, it's best to find the best match and not Johnny who lives across the street because he's the only one who applied. I have been contacted by headhunters a few times but I wasn't interested in the jobs at the time (too busy with other projects).

[jfab]

For large companies and the established ones, I think this is absolutely necessary. They would have to really get the best of the bests. But for startup business like most of us are here, I don't think it should be done just yet. It's good to start on your own and then try to train some people you know who would be interested.

[mikka254]

Head hunters and recruiters basically work on commission, so you can consider them as affiliates. Most companies that use head hunters are top brand names so it would not be a bad idea to apply to that agency. However, state your reservations early such as the type of company you want to work for and the salary you expect so that there is clear communication and you do not create bad blood on what could possibly be your future employer when they call you for an interview.

[nowicki2013]

Personally I would never use one. I have a small company and unfortunately because of Obamacare, I have to keep it that way. I can't afford to spend any extra money whatsoever so paying a recruiter would be out of my budget. I use Craigslist to post ads when I have any job openings I need to fill and that doesn't cost me a dime since I live in a small city. You just have to be careful and weed out the good from the bad on your own so you'll be able to hire people that will work for you on a long term basis.