Did you know that if you’re looking to fill a position, there are recruiters for nearly every industry? You can work with HVAC recruiters, pharmaceutical recruiters, supply chain recruiters, public sector recruiters or any other kind you need in order to fill positions with more qualified applicants — and in less time — than you would through a public posting process. Normally, the way these arrangements work is that you would pay HVAC recruiters in your area, for example, to look for and screen candidates for you, submitting only the top ones and vastly cutting down on the work you (or someone else in your company) need to do.

Before choosing your hypothetical HVAC recruiters, however, there are a few things you’d want to ask.

Payment Models

There are two major fee models used by recruiting firms. The first is a contingency model. Firms that work on contingency get paid only if you end up hiring one of their candidates (usually a percentage, around 30%, of the employee’s first-year compensation). These firms tend to focus on low- to mid-level jobs, though that’s not always the case.

The other way to work with a search firm is on retainer. These firms usually dedicate a set amount of time to finding a candidate, and are paid a slightly higher percentage of the estimated compensation regardless of whether you end up hiring one of their candidates or not. The advantage of these types of firms is that they tend to dedicate much more time to learning about your business needs — something that can be crucial if you’re looking to fill a high-level or demanding position.

Efficiency Metrics

If you’re going to be paying for services, of course, then you’ll want to be sure the firm is likely to bring you candidates that will end up benefiting your company. There are many different metrics firms might use to try to demonstrate their past success, but there are a few in particular you can look out for:

• Days to initial submittal

• Days to fill position

• Ratio of submittals to interviews

• Ratio of interviews to offers

• Ratio of offers to hires

• Average initial salary

• Percentage of retained hires

Having this information at your fingertips can help you determine not only the quality of the firm you’re considering, but also if it’s a good fit for the type of position you’re looking to fill.

What kinds of open positions are you currently looking to fill? Do you think working with a recruiter is the right move in your situation? Join the discussion in the comments.