If you run your own business or work in a HR team, sooner or later you’re going to need to hire some new staff and when you do, you’re left with two options; advertise your vacancies on a jobs board (like Bubble) or use a recruiter to conduct the hiring process for you.
Now, this decision can be a pretty tricky one, particularly if you’re working with a limited budget – after all, you don’t want to end up wasting any cash – so it’s important to take your time and consider each of the options carefully before coming to a conclusion.
In this situation, the right option for you will ultimately depend on the individual needs of your company and things like budget and resources – but to help you out, I’m come up with the top pros and cons of each to help you make your mind up.
Job Boards
Pros:
Cost-Effective:
Unlike recruiters who tend to charge large fees (eg. 15 percent of the candidate’s salary), job boards work on a one-off set fee which is fixed however senior the role. On niche boards like Bubble, prices tend to start at around £300 per vacancy, however discounts are available when you choose to purchase multiple credits – something which isn’t normally offered by a recruiter.
More Control:
With job boards, you post the job yourself so you get total control over the advert copy and which applications you choose to follow up. This means that while there might be a bit of legwork involved, you’ll never miss out on the perfect candidate.
Receive Help & Advice From Job Board:
Specialist job boards know their market inside out so the best ones should be ready, willing and able to provide you with advice on the role you’re posting and how they feel it might perform.
Wide Niche Audience & Reach:
Job boards normally attract lots of traffic and already have that existing audience in place that you want to tap into it. Similarly, niche boards already have large social media followings and are very pro-active in pushing their vacancies to their registered, specialist candidates – which means you could end up with a great quality of applications.
Brand Exposure:
When you choose to advertise on a job board, the vacancy will obviously be advertised as your own which means your company will get extra brand exposure across the web.
More Than Just Advertising:
While a lot of job boards just offer job advertising, many also offer additional services such as CV database search which allows you to search through their exiting candidate database – this allows you to be more pro-active and means you won’t just be sitting around waiting for applications.
Cons:
More Legwork:
As I mentioned before, with job boards, the control is in your hands which ultimately means that you’ve got more work to do. From posting the ad to sorting through applications and arranging interviews, it’s all up to you – so a job board might not be the best solution if you’re rushed off your feet and would rather outsource those processes.
No Guarantees:
As with any form of advertising, there are no guarantees that you’ll receive the desired end result and find the ideal candidate – so in that respect, choosing a job board can be a bit of a gamble, however at a fraction of the cost of a recruiter, it might be one that’s worth taking.
Recruiters:
Pros:
Manage Recruitment Process:
When you choose to use a recruiter, they manage the whole recruitment process for you (everything from writing the ad to arranging interviews) – so they can save you a lot of time in the long run.
Receive Help & Advice:
Just like job boards, the majority of recruiters have been working in the industry for years so they’ll have their own wealth and experience which they should be willing to share with you to help you attract the best candidates.
Existing Database:
Recruiters will already have their own existing database which they can quickly and easily tap into to try and find you the right candidate.
Less Of A Risk:
A lot of recruiters only receive their fee when you’ve hired someone – so using a recruiter can definitely be less of a gamble than using a job board.
Cons:
More Expensive:
As I mentioned before, recruiters normally work on a set fee which equates to a percentage of the candidate’s salary – so if you’re looking to hire a senior candidate, you could end up shelling out quite a lot to the recruiter at the end of the day.
Less Control – May Dismiss The Ideal Candidate:
When you use a recruiter, you have to put your trust in their hands – and while they might think they know exactly who you’re looking for, there’s still a chance they might overlook someone who could be ideal. Why? Because they don’t know your company like you do…
Less Reach:
While recruiters might have their own database and following, it probably doesn’t come close to the database and following a job board offers – which means the recruiter may have less reach in attracting the ideal candidate.
Less Brand Exposure:
When you use a recruiter, a lot of the time they’ll keep your company anonymous which means you receive less brand exposure across the web.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Job Board Or Recruiter: Which Is Right For Your Company?
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