Conducting a high volume recruitment campaign requires you to balance a number of conflicting pressures, and can test even the most developed resourcing and recruitment teams.

When the requirement to flex-up your sourcing efforts arises, you may consider looking at working with a third party on a project basis rather than hiring new members of staff.
Using a third party resourcing company as part of your managed recruitment plans can provide you with a number of benefits, from accessing specialist advertising resources to outsourcing resource-heavy administration you don’t want your team spending time on.

Of course there may be some downsides, due to them not being located on-site, so ensuring an effective agreement where both parties understand their role is crucial.
So how can you get the most from this working arrangement to ensure your high volume recruitment is values-led and achieves your high-level objectives?

Webrecruit and Unite Students did just this recently, working on a project that required over 100 staff based around the country who would embody the business’ values (for more info, download the case study here).

Here are Webrecruit’s top recommendations – based on our success with Unite – on how you can achieve a values-led volume recruitment campaign when working with a third party:

1) Make sure your agency can engineer its work around your internal workflows

The main point of outsourcing a high volume recruitment campaign to a third party is to delegate work that will complement your existing processes. In essence, the agency’s job is to make your life easier, which makes you and your targets achievable.
Let’s say you have an agreed workflow for all recruitment, from application to phone screening to offer. The agency needs to engineer its team and slot into your existing stages seamlessly without requiring you to change your processes.

For example, in a high volume recruitment project, the agency may take ownership of sourcing all candidates and conducting the first round of telephone interviews. This activity must add value and complement your existing process without disrupting your team.
If you haven’t already, it would be valuable to map out your internal workflows to form a process document you can use when engaging with a third party.

2) Create milestones well head of time

Everyone knows the more time you invest in planning, the better you can control a project and manage any disruptions. When formulating a plan for a project of this size, it’s crucial to get stakeholders involved to ensure you can anticipate internal and external factors that may affect your success.

Why is this important? Failure to meet a project deadline can impact the business as a whole – perhaps you need to source candidates for a new store opening, for example. This will have a detrimental effect. Perhaps the candidates applying for a vacancy in a particular city aren’t quite right – you’ll need to look at adjusting your advertising accordingly which will eat into your schedule and budget.

When building your plan, give yourself a second deadline for key deliverables. DBy doing so, will give you an idea of how well your agency is suited to meeting targets.

3) Train the agency on how to deliver your perfect candidate experience

The nature of a high volume campaign means that the usual rules go out the window: everything and everyone will seem busier, so it’s easy to forget the impact this project will have on the candidate experience.

If you’ve invested in creating an employer brand, you need to ensure the third party knows what is expected of them to adhere to your brand values. Neglect this, and it can have a negative effect on the level of quality candidates delivered.

An effective strategy is to ask your HR/recruitment team to deliver training to the agency on your recruitment process. To ensure they act as a natural extension of your team, deliver training sessions on how to pitch working at your company. Immerse them in the role they will be recruiting for so they can really understand what kind of candidate will be the perfect fit.

4) Create a communications plan and agree realistic service level agreements (SLAs)

Ensuring everyone is briefed and understands key milestones is of utmost importance. But ensure that all stakeholders are briefed on the project – the failure to forget to tell a particular division can impact your consistent message. This can also extend to your agency.

Firstly, we recommend working with your marketing team to create a calendar aimed at raising awareness of the project, educating the right people and assuring those stakeholders that any disruption will be dealt with. (Here, you may wish to automate your communications using your recruitment or marketing technology).

Secondly, within your project team, assign the point of contact that will communicate with the agency and from here, create SLAs to ensure the third party know what to expect, and what information to provide you with. Every one doesn’t need to attend – identify the most relevant parties.

The nature of volume campaigns means you’ll always be keeping an eye on quality and time constraints. So ensure you plan well in advance, and your agency is complementary in what you are looking to achieve.

Interested in seeing how a values-led volume recruitment campaign can be achieved within your organisation? achieved?

Download a copy of: Unite Students & Webrecruit – A High Volume Recruitment Case Study – to learn more.