Your operation can enjoy considerable improvement when the business relationship you have with your recruitment agency, and in particular your Recruiter or Account Manager, focuses on operational improvement. And the flow on effect might also improve the quality of your own work life and sanity!
 

Here’s a few of the top agency and Recruiter service areas that help produce operational improvement:

• Confidence and trust in your Recruiter or Account Manager is a critical pre-requisite. Without that, what your Recruiter can achieve with you will never materialise. You should feel comfortable sharing relevant, sensitive information and knowing it remains confidential. But more importantly, trusting that your Recruiter is working for you and your business, and not on how they increase their sales!

• Indepth knowledge of your business and its people is fundamental, and you’ll only realise the opportunity when your Recruiter invests in developing a deep understanding of your business. This means operational process, how you make and/or distribute your products, and knowledge about your equipment. But equally important is understanding the culture including the values, norms and standards practiced by employees on the floor and everyone in the business.

• Regular site visits by your Recruiter enables them to observe, listen and get to know what’s happening in your business. This can be done as part of normal service delivery and is easily the best method of gaining that in depth knowledge of your operation and culture. But consistent, regular visits to your workplace can supercharge service and play a distinct part in helping to improve your operation.

• What does Service delivery look like under this model? The first and primary reason you use an agency is to recruit the right new employees who are going to stick around for the long term or duration of an assignment. At all times, the relationship you have with your Recruiter and agency is ultimately going to be decided on their ability to recruit the right people, when you need them. But if you’re going to see operational improvement, you’ll need more from your Recruiter. These include:

• Regularly meeting supervisors and employees to review performance, safety, and job satisfaction. This proactive approach to performance and retention prevents unwanted loss of great employees and supports supervisors in addressing performance issues or even opportunity for cross skilling and career growth.

• Structured site interviews which assess a candidate’s appetite for the job, and of course suitability. This can be a huge time saver for you or a supervisor, but when developed together, the site interview process will minimise hiring the wrong person and improve retention.

• Safety messaging and ensuring employees are following the right systems and processes is always a challenge. So having another person and another set of eyes to reinforce and support the right messaging can only help. Ironically, under the WA Work Health and Safety Act, safety is also the responsibility of the agency and Recruiter.

• Recruitment administration covers areas such as paying employees, invoicing, timesheets, handling queries or questions and reporting. Done correctly, on time, and locally with your Recruiter or Account Manager helps your operation run smoothly and of course, cost effectively.

• Insights and the ability to question the status quo. Engaging a ‘Yes person’ might be ok if you want a labour supplier. But if you’re seeking sustainable improvement in your business and operation, your Recruiter should care enough and have the knowledge to ask the hard questions. If your Recruiter has the capability and genuine interest in helping you, they should be able to offer credible alternative solutions or opportunities. They should also be able to share a range of insights including changes to IR laws, the candidate market, pay and remuneration, HR trends, safety, or industry knowledge. You might even invite them to some operational meetings to contribute on a regular basis or to present information on relevant topics.

There are a number of hiring consultants and recruitment agencies that can provide what could be best summarised as a wholistic recruitment service. It’s a partnership where you and your Recruiter are in lockstep, working closely together to improve your operation, the quality of your work life and the overall business.

If your looking for industrial recruitment partners based in Perth and our team can assist. Give us a call on (08) 9477 7999 or get in touch online.