Clients
We recognise that companies have a choice when it comes to recruiting, whether that’s through their own resources or by using a consultancy. While most would agree that cost is important, small variations in fees will usually be outweighed by the longer-term benefits of getting recruitment right – attracting staff who stay longer and add value to the organisation – when evaluating the overall offerings from the agencies in the marketplace.
Recruitment budgets need to be used wisely and costs reduced, especially in today’s climate. One option is to drive down the ‘cost per hire’, but this can result in lower quality recruits if agencies place their best candidates elsewhere, spend less time working on the vacancy, or just can’t justify face-to-face candidate interviews and personal client meetings to take the job brief, due to reduced fee levels. Lowering the ‘cost per employee’ is a much more effective and time efficient method. Afterall, there’s no saving if you have to recruit for the same position multiple times. So while ‘cost per hire’, ‘time to hire’, ‘CVs to interviews’ and ‘interviews to offer’ can be useful measures of an agency’s performance, they do not give the full picture in terms of longevity of placement and therefore value for money.
More than a decade ago the McKinsey ‘War for Talent’ report identified hiring the right people as a major strategic business challenge. So even then it was a recognised fact that people mattered!
At COS, we understand the importance of getting recruitment right and selecting for the ‘business’ as well as for the ‘role’. We value building relationships as an essential part of this and we simply don’t believe you can recruit correctly without meeting every candidate or without seeing the actual working environment. We also believe in designing creative, innovative and flexible solutions to remove barriers and help clients recruit.
Our Consultants aim to be true ambassadors for our clients and to discover why people should be interested in working for them, so that they can sell the full opportunity to prospective candidates, gaining a higher degree of interest and commitment.
Our recruitment process is designed to find and qualify the right candidates, eliminate those we believe won’t stay long term and manage every aspect of the process to successful completion. We won’t waste your time sending unsuitable CVs and we won’t accept vacancies we don’t believe we will fill, as we value our own time as much as yours. Our thoroughness, attention to detail and uncompromising standards has resulted in an enviable track record in the recruitment industry – current data shows that COS Consultants maintain an almost 1:1 job to placement ratio (includes all permanent and temp to perm jobs taken) and of all placements made in the last 18 months, 89% of the candidates are still working for the same employer.
But what else can you expect from COS that you may not receive from another consultancy?
1...The Consultant you establish the initial relationship with will be the same person who delivers the service to you in the future – providing continuity, saving your time and giving more assurance of getting it right consistently.
2...We provide a variety of terms designed to suit different needs, including a 100 day free replacement guarantee (or full refund if we are unable to replace) on permanent placements - not just a sliding scale – allowing you to virtually eliminate the risk to your recruitment budget.
3...Where appropriate we can arrange free ‘trials’ for both temps and permanent hires – allaying recruitment doubts by enabling you to see how new people interact within the team and evaluate their performance in the actual working environment.
4...Extended payment term plans are available, with built-in guarantees – to help you spread the cost of recruitment whilst still benefiting from security.
5...Our branches have been networked for more than 15 years so we’ve had the time to build probably the largest database of local candidates – allowing you unrivalled access to more people in the area, through a single point of contact.
6...We’re an REC Corporate Member Agency with qualified Consultants – giving you peace of mind that the recruitment process meets current legislative requirements (e.g. verification of right to work and identity, reference checks, skills assessments, criminal records, occupational health and professional body checks where appropriate), conforms to your own company’s policies (e.g. discrimination and diversity) and respects confidentiality.
7...Experience and stability – We’ve been trading in the Cheshire area since 1982 and have built up a wealth of knowledge about local pay scales, job and candidate availability, shortages etc. and can advise on any aspect of the recruitment process. We have stable teams of Consultants, with our longest serving staff member staying with us for over 15 years.
We are passionate professionals and we believe we can truly make a difference to your business. But don’t just take our word for it, to read what some of our other clients have said about us follow the link to our testimonials.
