Sourcing candidates through an agency

Hiring through recruitment agencies

At Griffith we successfully fill most of our job vacancies through advertising on appropriate job boards and using an effective selection processes. For a limited number of positions that are difficult to fill it may be appropriate to consider engaging a specialist external recruitment agency to increase the applicant pool interested in the position.

To simplify the process of engaging an external recruitment agency, we have entered into preferred supplier arrangements with two qualified panels of external recruitment agencies:

one for Professional and Support Positions, and
one for Academic Positions and Executive Search.

Each panel covers the placement of continuing and fixed term staff to support business requirements.

Talent Acquisition will continue to be the main point of contact throughout the recruitment process.

When to use a recruitment agency?

Recruitment agencies may be considered if:

it is likely that your vacancy will be very difficult to fill,
previous attempts to recruit for your vacancy have been unsuccessful,
your vacancy is in a highly specialised category and there are limited qualified applicants, and
the specialist recruitment agency selected has extensive networks and access to an established talent pool.

It is important to consider any specific specialised skills, track record and the estimated cost (usually significant) when thinking of engaging a recruitment agency.

You must seek approval to use a recruitment agency from your relevant Senior Officer.

What is the process for using a recruitment agency?

The first step is to discuss with your Talent Acquisition Partner in the Talent Acquisition team specifics about your recruitment needs and they will discuss with you the best approach to filling your vacancy. If it is deemed that this is a vacancy that may need some assistance from recruitment agencies, your TA Partner will review the agencies on the appropriate panel with you against your recruitment requirements to identify the most suitable agency, taking into consideration the placement fees.

It is important to remember that a full standard recruitment process still needs to be followed including, developing a position description, raising the job opening in the recruitment system and approval sought, reviewing applications against the position description, conducting interviews with shortlisted candidates, conducting reference checks etc.

On occasions when we need to use a recruitment agency, having these panels in place simplifies the process by removing the requirement to negotiate terms and conditions, removing the need to obtain multiple quotes and providing you with access to a pre-qualified panel with established relationships with the Griffith.

How does the panel operate?

Through the introduction of these two panels, the process has been made easier to engage a recruitment agency for difficult to fill roles, with pre-agreed, competitive commercial terms.

With the panels in place, this provides Griffith with a structured approach for the use of recruitment agencies where activities are tracked, evaluated against KPIs and reviewed in order to deliver a best practice recruitment service.

Each panel has a selected list of different recruitment agencies with differences in fees. It is important to discuss the fee structure with your TA Partner if you are considering this approach.