Who says construction recruitment agencies are surplus to requirements currently?

During a conversation with the owner of a construction company in Qatar last week, it was clear that he was of the opinion that recruitment agencies were no longer for him. Although he had a job vacancy for a civil engineer and a quantity surveyor, he pointed out that he would be able to pick through the dozens of quantity surveying and civil engineering CVs that were being sent to him each month. Combined with tighter budgets, reduced profits and an influx of CVs in his inbox, there is certainly an argument for some ‘do-it-yourself’ recruitment he argued.

His case against construction recruitment agencies
1. He thought that it can’t be that difficult to recruit at the moment. After all, for the first time in a long time there is no shortage of skilled people out there.
2. He could save himself a fortune in fees

The case for construction recruitment agencies
Quantity is not quality - whilst you might have the quantity of CVs coming through at the moment, you may well not have the quality. This is because if your new quantity surveying or engineering applicants are actually the first to have been released from other companies they may not be the best people for you to consider

Opportunity cost
Even if you were to find the right person how much time will it take you or your staff to understand the job description and then wade through the CVs to create a meaningful shortlist for you to review and approve? Does your HR team have the understanding and experience to know what a good quantity surveyor, engineer, project manager or construction manager looks like when they see one?

Cost of hiring the wrong member of staff
If you don’t use all the best recruitment methods you will not have access to the best available talent as other construction companies in the Middle East will be striving to do. Six months later when you let someone go this will have cost your business a great deal more than a recruitment fee

Access to passive construction job seekers - Good construction recruitment companies like Maxim will have a network of passive job seekers ideal for roles who are not actively looking and will not apply directly to job adverts. Almost all leading international construction companies accept this benefit that construction recruitment companies can offer

Value added services
In changing times Maxim Recruitment is more than happy to work in different ways with existing and new customers on the basis of client need. This could include offering :-
Extended rebate periods
Bulk recruitment discounts
In-house recruitment services
Help with processing and shortlisting CV’s received directly

As the conversation came to an end it was clear we had found the following common ground:
1. It is never appropriate to use a recruitment agency for every vacancy.
2. Recruitment agencies are the quickest way of identifying the best talent irrespective of economic climate
3. Recruitment agencies can propose some of the best people who will never apply directly
4. Recruitment agencies can help companies improve internal recruitment productivity when they work together
5. Recruitment agencies can save the line manager time that is better spent on core business

We shook hands and walked away with three new vacancies to fill for him and he went back to focusing his energies on delivering his project for one of Qatar’s more demanding clients.