Why freelance recruiters have the edge over larger agencies

Ok, so I might be biased (!) but I genuinely think freelance recruiters and small / boutique recruitment agencies have the edge over the traditional, larger and more generalist agencies. Here are some reasons why:

1. The ability to specialise: It’s impossible for individual recruiters and small firms to cover everything so they have generally been set-up as genuine specialists in their particular area. They are experts in a small area and will be well-connected, knowledgeable and credible within their niche.
2. Speed to market: With just one or two people working in a small recruitment firm, these organisations can react quickly to urgent requirements. They are also likely to prioritise and only take on work they can deliver on. I’ve seen consultants in larger firms recruiting too many jobs at once, and putting things on the back-burner when they are busy.
3. Flexibility: With lower overheads in terms of salaries and commission paid to consultants, office costs etc, smaller recruitment firms tend to be leaner and can often be flexible and very competitive on price, as well as being more flexible on processes to suit each individual recruitment need.
4. Pride in their work: Freelancers or individual recruiters have generally set up businesses because they enjoy what they do, are good at it, and have a high degree of professional pride in their work. Larger agencies typically have a high churn of employees and for every good employee their will be a demotivated one without the same degree of drive or commitment to quality.
5. Smoother processes: Smaller firms will often have one point of contact for the entire recruitment process, making communication and correspondence far simpler. No frustrations with leaving messages with someone’s colleague or dealing with someone different for recruiting the role, processing timesheets, invoicing etc.

Of course many of the larger agencies do a great job, and servicing large organisations or very high volumes can be a challenge for the freelance / boutique recruiter… but I would urge any hiring manager out there to take stock and really assess if they are getting value and quality out of their traditional agency recruitment channels, and to research the smaller guys that might be able to help in your sector. It’s the future!