Are you responsible for hiring employees for your automotive business? Perhaps you’re looking for a Dealer Principle, HGV Technician, Bodyshop Manager, Quality Inspector or a Workshop controller and don’t know where to begin?
There are lots of recruitment agencies around and every recruiter will tell you they are the one for your job – but what should you really consider when selecting an automotive recruitment agency? Choosing a recruitment agency to handle your staffing requirement can be a daunting task and you need to feel confident that the agency you select understands your business.
Here are our key questions to ask automotive recruiters:
Q. Do you specialise in specific sectors or divisions?
Here at Renzo Automotive, we believe experience in divisions is crucial. To have specialised agents who understand your market and are immersed in it day in, day out can only benefit you. It also means that the right candidates will already be registered on the books!
Q. What other automotive businesses do you recruit for?
Just because they’ve got big automotive names listed on their marketing materials, it doesn’t mean much if they only filled one temp position for them 10 years ago. Ask for testimonials or key figures of how and when they worked for them. Equally, don’t rule companies out if they don’t have big ‘brand’ logos on their site.
Q. Can you let me know about your five most recent placements?
This is a nice open question where the recruiter can ‘show off’ about where they’ve been successful. People like talking about their successes and you’ll get a feel for how passionate and proactive they are for helping clients succeed.
As an add-on, you might want to ask, ‘were there any challenges with any of those?’
Q. Typically, how do you work with candidates – what is your process for onboarding?
A strict recruitment process will inevitably save you a lot of time in the long run, so the key here is to know that the process of onboarding candidates to their system is pretty rigorous!
Here at Renzo, we have an in-depth candidate registration process, we like to get into the nitty gritty of each individual – a bad candidate is a bad representation of us, so we like to find out their likes/dislikes as well as all of the expected qualifications, skill set and knowledge of their job field.
Q. Do you have long term relationships with any automotive clients?
Automotive recruitment can be a promiscuous business! By asking this question, gives you an instant feel for how the agency work with the client and the sort of service they provide.
If they’ve been consistently placing candidates at a clients for over a year, chances are they’re doing a great job!
Q. Do you have anyone in mind now for the role/s I need filling?
This is a bit of a leading question – and you will need to use your initiative on this one! It takes time to do a ‘proper’ job so be wary of those recruiters who say they’ll have a list ready to go by the end of the day.
As an example, we’d look to have a thoroughly screened candidate list to you in 1-2 days.
Q. Do you offer any additional services or support?
Recruiters will often have a bank of support resources to offer clients. It’s nice to find agencies that will go the extra mile in helping you find the perfect candidate. Here at Renzo Automotive, we help write your job description in a way that we know candidates will absorb and retain key points. We have partnered with a training provider who advises candidates on courses to help further their knowledge and careers.
We’re also on the end of a phone outside of ‘standard’ work hours. We know what it’s like to have a busy job, so we have a dedicated out of hours number to assist when fitting in recruiting isn’t part of your 9-5! You can reach us on 07946 489656 or 07581 213352.
….anything else?
Rapport! Much like anything, you will more than likely get an idea for the person at the company within a few minutes. Are they personable? Open to answering your questions? Do they provide information without being probed, or are they a little stand off-ish? We like to think we’re a flexible and friendly bunch here at Renzo Automotive!