Agencies not a ‘reactive solution’ to recruitment issues, says Pursue Consultancy’s Francesca Ellul

Francesca Ellul, Founder of Pursue Consultancy, on Friday stressed that businesses need to avoid only resorting to contacting recruitment agencies when they are struggling to find talent.

Ms Ellul, who has years of experience working in recruitment, launched Pursue Consultancy in 2021, allowing her to support candidates through resume writing and consultancy services. This is done so that they can find job opportunities either independently or through the firm as a recruitment agency.

Drawing from her experience working in recruitment, Ms Ellul urged businesses to notify agencies and headhunters about their yearly plans beforehand.

“If you want to get more out of your relationships with recruiters, then fill them in on your business’ 2024 HR plans from now,” she said.

An extremely tight labour market has made it increasingly difficult for companies to find the right talent without having to pay extortionate salaries. However, while some companies have called upon recruitment agencies to aid in their job search, others have solely relied on their own platforms. The latter can backfire, as businesses can miss out on talent and also end up wasting precious time.

Ms Ellul remarked that over the course of 2023, the client companies who benefitted the most from Pursue Consultancy’s services were those ones who provided “clear visibility of their recruitment objectives ahead of the new year”.

She then listed a number of services that the agency was able to provide due to the advantage of knowing more about a company’s recruitment plans.

“We were able to contribute towards their 2023 plans by advising on salary benchmarking, pre-empting recruitment difficulties, market movements, and other factors,” she explained.

Visibility and clarity between the two parties also enabled them to strategically plan recruitment periods together, allocating the right resources for every job search.

Additionally, Ms Ellul said that this enabled Pursue Consultancy to provide prospective candidates with “crucial insights” into the client company’s “direction, stability, and possible growth opportunities”.

Lastly, she highlighted that through efficient collaboration between recruiters and clients, hiring needs can be pre-empted, with candidates being introduced pro-active. This can “significantly” reduce the time spent hiring a candidate.

“Stop using agencies as a reactive solution, and get ahead of your recruitment needs with a trusted partner,” she concluded.