How Recruitment Agencies and Internal Talent Teams Can Succeed Together

In today’s competitive tech market, recruitment comes with a unique set of challenges. With fast-moving projects, a shortage of specialist skillsets and rising candidate expectations, finding the perfect person to fill a role can take time, effort and investment. 

Many businesses have strong internal talent acquisition (TA) teams, while others rely on using external recruitment agencies, but collaboration between the two can be the best of both worlds. It’s not about competing against each other; building a strong partnership can create better hiring practices, a quicker time to hire and an improved candidate experience.   

Why collaboration works 

While both internal talent teams and external recruitment agencies ultimately have the same goal – to find the best person for the role – they have different strengths that complement each other. 

Internal TA teams have the huge benefit of knowing the business inside out. They understand the company culture and the type of person who would fit in well. They understand the future goals of the business in a detailed way. They also know what their long-term hiring needs look like. They have a deep understanding of the existing team structure, which helps with finding those who will work well with everyone else, but also fill any knowledge or skills gaps. 

External recruitment agencies, however, have the advantage of a wider market insight. They know what’s going on in the industry at large, can anticipate trends and changes before they happen, and can share best practice from across the full scope of the industry. They also have increased access to talent pools, especially in niche tech specialisms, and work with candidates in a more personal capacity that enables them to put forward the right people from the outset. External recruiters can also present a different and broader perspective. 

Collaboration and sharing knowledge between both teams can help to fill roles faster and more effectively, improve candidate quality, and maintain consistency with a company’s brand and values. The internal team’s in-depth insider knowledge can enable an external recruiter to narrow down a potential list of candidates from their pool, which ultimately saves the internal team having to sift through potentially hundreds of unscreened applications. 

Using an agency doesn’t replace having an internal talent team. Good agencies will build solid relationships, acting as an extension of the internal team when needed. 

Communication and expectations 

A successful partnership is built on a foundation of trust, clear communication and collaboration. If expectations aren’t clarified from the start, it can lead to tension between the internal team and the recruitment agency. Plus, if it’s not clear who’s doing what, there is the risk of duplication, which can ultimately cause confusion throughout the recruitment process. At the heart of hiring is candidate experience, which means no delays in communication, no mixed messaging and no dropped feedback. 

Before any work commences, ensure there is a clear agreement in place and a framework for both teams to follow that help to algin goals, delegate responsibilities and lay out how the teams will communicate. This should include things like which team will handle the initial candidate sourcing and screening, and who is responsible for communicating with candidates. It may also be worth agreeing on success metrics to track the effectiveness of the partnership on both sides. 

Some other considerations to think about when working between teams include: 

• Regular catch-ups – How often will the teams check in with each other? It can be helpful to have scheduled check-ins to review progress, as well as joint planning sessions to determine goals. 
• Transparency – The internal team needs to share detail on what they’re looking for, required timelines and candidate priorities, while the recruitment agency shares market insight, candidate information and benchmarking. 
• Use shared systems – Leverage shared tech systems to keep everyone in the loop, whether that’s a shared dashboard or Applicant Tracking System, or a project tracking system. Discuss the best methods of communication – which tools will you use to update between formal catchups? 

As an internal TA team, opting to work with an external recruitment agency is a strategic decision. IT is a fast-moving industry and having access to the latest intelligence, benchmarking and skills insights is invaluable. External agencies might have access to more data and information, as well as more capacity to track across the wider market than a busy internal team. 

Internal teams don’t necessarily need to use the external team for every role. Roles that are especially hard to fill, when they require very niche or specialist skills or when roles need to be filled fast are good examples of when the partnership can be leveraged to a business advantage. An external recruiter can do more than just seek candidates for a role too; as experts in the industry, they can provide invaluable advice on drafting job descriptions, best practice hiring processes, interview structures and insights into candidate engagement. 

Build long-term partnerships 

When the partnership is a good fit, it can be built to last. Many internal TA teams rely on using the same external recruiters time and time again based on a good experience. The two teams build on shared goals and outcomes. 

With long-term partnerships also comes trust and familiarity. The internal team knows the external team can be a valuable asset when recruiting, while the external team gets to know the company on a more personal level. This means that the external recruiters keep the business in mind when speaking to candidates and networking. 

When the teams work together collaboratively, it can lead to a faster time to hire, higher-quality candidates and a better candidate experience. It’s not just about filling roles; it’s about building a robust hiring structure with longevity that complements the business goals. 

At Spectrum IT we work in partnership with many exceptional internal talent acquisition teams. See our Case Studies to find out more about some of our success stories and contact us to discuss working with us.