Executive Search Consultants Vs Recruitment Agents Do both of them has similar functions? Who is more important for an organization?

Introduction

Presently, the Indian job market is at a crucial junction. Lack of talented and skilled workers has reached such greater height that over 70 percent of the business sectors are finding it hard to select a suitable candidate. Over three-fourth of the manufacturing firms have found some sort of trouble in recruiting an appropriate candidate for the required post. Hence, the role of recruiting agencies and executive search consultants has become priceless. They help in easing the administrative responsibility, time, resources required in finding an ideal candidate for the role. Although people use the term-executive search and recruitment agencies, interchangeably as they sought to assume that both have the same role to offer.  Even though both the agencies help in recruiting the talents but there is a considerable between the two agencies. In this blog, we will study those differences, so that it becomes easier for you guys to choose depending on your requirements:

Job Hunting Role

There is a considerable difference in the ways they hunt for the candidates. The recruiting agencies are less proactive here, they hire candidates through posting on various modes of communication, both online and offline such as LinkedIn, Facebook, magazines, job portals, etc. by which the candidates reach up to them. On the other hand, executive consultants are passive in their approach, which means they interact with the potential candidate personally, via call or email. More generally, they hire candidates for some specialized positions which cannot be fulfilled by traditional recruiting methods.

Process of Matching Candidates

Both the agencies have different parameters for finding and matching candidates. Recruiting firms are more reactive while hiring, they collect CVs in bulk and then reach out to active job seekers. In contrast, headhunting agencies are more active in their approach. They use market mapping techniques to find prospective candidates. After short listing a few candidates, they choose two or three that best fulfills the organizational needs. It is just the difference in their approach although both have the same motive, hiring top talented employees for the given positions. 

Working on Local vs. Global Mandates

Recruitment firms have local reach they seek out to those candidates which are close to the working area. In contrast, executive search firms reach out to a wider audience to find the best C-level professionals. Their services are valuable for multinational companies that require professionals with global exposure. The recruiting agency is not able to fulfill such demands due to their hiring business model. 

Job Roles

Recruitment firms hire candidates with different potentials and for different positions. They generally hire candidates for positions such as non-executive, roles that demand fewer skills, no specialization jobs, and candidates possessing multiple skills so that they can be fit into multiple roles. On the other hand, executive consultants are mastered in filling those positions that are highly valuable in the organizational growth. They are specialists in hiring technocrats, executive-level positions, business-critical roles, etc. This is a fact that executive search consultants are professionals in filling valuable jobs and hence are more valuable to the organizations. They are efficient in filling C-level roles in a short span. 

Quantity Vs Quality

From the above points, you would have analyzed that the recruiting firms focus more on quantity while executives are focused towards quality. Recruiting agencies take a very short time in scrutinizing CVs. They focus on finding just a ‘good enough’ candidate for a post. While on the other hand, executive search consultants hire the best person for a job. They carefully examine each application to assure they are hiring the best-fit person. They tend to have a detailed discussion with the candidates to ensure that they are ticking all the boxes. 

Conclusion

I hope you guys would have come to a conclusion that which agency would be better for you depending upon your current situation. Whom to hire and why? Although both are an asset to the organizations but it depends on your current requirement, whether you need to fill an executive post or need to fill other vacant positions. Both are best in their respected field hence organizations need the service of both the agencies. One works as a fuel to organization and other as a driver and hence neither could be ignored.