Don’t cut out agencies
17 November 2015
Don’t cut out agencies
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 | By Graham Simons
Karim and his team successfully implemented a new recruitment model that moved the real estate giant from a traditional agency and word-of-mouth approach to one that added social media to the firm’s recruitment mix.
Speaking at LinkedIn’s recent Talent Connect event in London, Karim revealed that CBRE had previously carried out 80% of its recruitment through agencies with the rest through word of mouth.
Karim told Recruiter since implementing its new model a year ago, 50% of CBRE hires now come through LinkedIn, while a “strong” talent pipeline has been built up through the use of a direct careers page and an employee referral scheme.
But CBRE still turns to agencies for hard-to-find roles, so maintaining relations with them is crucial, Karim says. Be upfront with agency suppliers about moving to an in-house model, he urged, telling them they remain a very important sourcing channel, with their advice needed also on making the change.
“Agency relationships are crucial as part of any sourcing strategy,” he added. “Their wealth of knowledge and expertise in markets in particular for the very hard to fill roles is invaluable, particularly within the real estate industry. Our advice would never be to cut out agencies from a direct sourcing model."
FROM DECEMBER 2015'S RECRUITER MAGAZINE
In-house recruiters should not cut agencies out of the loop completely when reducing their reliance on them, advises Mo Karim (pictured), transformation consultant for strategic HR projects at CBRE.Karim and his team successfully implemented a new recruitment model that moved the real estate giant from a traditional agency and word-of-mouth approach to one that added social media to the firm’s recruitment mix.
Speaking at LinkedIn’s recent Talent Connect event in London, Karim revealed that CBRE had previously carried out 80% of its recruitment through agencies with the rest through word of mouth.
Karim told Recruiter since implementing its new model a year ago, 50% of CBRE hires now come through LinkedIn, while a “strong” talent pipeline has been built up through the use of a direct careers page and an employee referral scheme.
But CBRE still turns to agencies for hard-to-find roles, so maintaining relations with them is crucial, Karim says. Be upfront with agency suppliers about moving to an in-house model, he urged, telling them they remain a very important sourcing channel, with their advice needed also on making the change.
“Agency relationships are crucial as part of any sourcing strategy,” he added. “Their wealth of knowledge and expertise in markets in particular for the very hard to fill roles is invaluable, particularly within the real estate industry. Our advice would never be to cut out agencies from a direct sourcing model."
