Any organisation which is considering the use of external recruitment consultants would make its decision upon the following:
i. The availability, level and appropriateness of expertise available within the organisation and its likely effectiveness
ii. The cost of using the consultants against the cost involved in using the organisation’s own staff, recognising the level of the vacancy or vacancies against the consultant’s fee
iii. The particular expertise of the consultants and the appropriate experience with any particular specialised aspect of the recruitment process
iv. The level of expertise required of potential employees and therefore the appropriate knowledge required of the consultants
v. The need for impartiality; this may be of particular importance with pubic sector appointments, organisations with particular needs of security or impartiality or where it is felt that an external, objective assessment is required.
vi. The time involved in the consultants needing to learn about the organisation, its requirements and the vacancy or vacancies
vii. If there is a ready supply of labour then consultants may be less useful, standard vacancies may be readily filled by advertising or similar inexpensive means
viii. The views of internal staff as to the likely effect of using outside consultants
ix. What effect the use of consultants might have on the need to develop expertise within the organisation, the use of consultants will not assist with developing internal organisational expertise
x. The likelihood of existing staff to have misgivings about the presence of, or recommendations of, outside consultants which can lead to mistrust and rejection of any candidates recruited by the consultants.
