This survey should make HR managers think
As a result of the survey by Asean Eco Research in Thailand, only 14.3% of Thai companies with international business rely exclusively on their own HR department. When it comes to recruiting staff for qualified positions, 85.7% at least occasionally work with recruitment agencies. After management positions (55%) and top technical and technical sales personnel (45%), the focus of interest is on middle management in administration.
Yet, 47% of these companies are dissatisfied with the results of the recruiting. Interestingly, a clear majority (68%) of these unsatisfied HR-Managers declare that they are unwilling to pay the agencies any fixed fee in advance and/or grant them at least temporary exclusivity of the search. These companies also declare that they “change the agency frequently”.
In contrast, 35% of the companies are satisfied with the results of the agency. They, however, have high expectations of the service. They expect superior efforts in searching, qualifying and selecting applicants. Also, they wish a joint consideration about the necessary skills and the tasks set to the candidate. The agency should reliably filter out carefully suitable candidates from often hundreds of applicants.
In return, 86% of these satisfied customers are willing to accept exclusively for a time and also pay a certain upfront fee for interviews, qualification talks, a report and also a personal introduction of the candidates.
The result of the survey follows a simple logic: Only agencies that are remunerated for their superior efforts can reliably filter out carefully selected and suitable candidates from often hundreds of applicants. Agencies being only paid in case of the employment of a suggested candidate must work towards quick success. They send bundles of CVs and leave the qualification to the client. The results are correspondingly weak.
One result of the Asean Eco Research survey should make professional HR-Managers think: If 68% of them end unsatisfied, when they are not prepared to grant the agency a fixed basic fee and a certain period of exclusivity in the search, this seems not to be the right concept. It also applies to recruiting: You get what you pay for!