Lack of feedback is top problem for businesses using recruitment agencies

Dive Brief:

Businesses said their biggest problem working with recruitment agencies was the lack of feedback they received from those firms, according to the findings of a new survey shared with HR Dive by Silver Swan Recruitment, a specialist recruitment agency.
More than a quarter of the businesses polled said lack of feedback was their top problem, whether they were looking for talent or looking to get hired. Businesses cited other problems with recruitment agencies as receiving no responses at all, poor communication, or either too much or too little communication.
Receiving irrelevant jobs or not being contacted for jobs businesses felt were a good fit were additional problems. Also, a small percentage of businesses cited dishonesty among agencies as a dilemma.

Dive Insight:

Creating a positive candidate experience should be a priority for any person or organization involved in recruiting, whether it's a recruiter representing an employer or a recruiting agency serving businesses or job seekers. The consequences for not aiming for a great candidate experience works against job providers, who lose out on potential high-quality hires that can be easily turned away by a bad experience, even one that is run external to the organization.

A poor candidate experience can undo the best planned recruiting strategies, PhenomPeople concluded in a survey it released in 2018. The talent relationship marketing firm found that employers face setbacks in attracting, engaging and ultimately capturing their hires of choice when they fail to:

Personalize the talent experience during the entire recruiting process.
Explain their employee value proposition.
Communicate with candidates after receiving their applications.

Employers fare better when they use targeted language in job descriptions, have a user-friendly application process and, of course, avoid ghosting candidates, or not communicating at all with candidates. Creating a positive candidate experience is easier for employers to achieve with the range of modern technology tools at their disposal.