For many organizations, the challenge of managing too many open positions can strain resources, hamper growth, and impact overall efficiency. Human resource (HR) professionals and business owners often juggle multiple roles, making it difficult to focus on recruiting the right talent. 

But the good news? That's where on-demand recruiting comes into play. 

By using on-demand recruitment, companies can access temporary professionals or services for their hiring needs—offering flexibility, expertise, and efficiency compared to traditional recruitment methods.

What is an on-demand recruiter?

An on-demand recruiter is a professional or service that businesses can leverage to address their immediate hiring needs. 

Unlike traditional internal recruiters, who work on long-term contracts, an on-demand recruiter provides flexibility. They can be brought in when required and released when not, making them an excellent solution for businesses with fluctuating needs. With on-demand recruitment, companies can easily scale their hiring efforts without committing to ongoing costs.

For example, let's say a software development company lands a major project with a tight deadline. To meet the demand, they need to quickly scale up their team by hiring skilled developers, project managers, and quality assurance testers. Rather than overburdening their in-house HR team or entering long-term contracts with staffing agencies, the company turns to recruiters on demand. These recruiters quickly source, screen, and hire the required talent, ensuring the project stays on track and the company can meet its client's expectations without any delays or long-term commitments.

Overall, some common scenarios when it would make sense to leverage talent on demand include:

• If your business is experiencing rapid growth and your hiring needs outpace your internal team's resources. 
• If you have an unexpected surge in employee turnover. 
• If your hiring needs are seasonal or unpredictable and need support on a time-sensitive basis. 
• If you have niche roles or industry-specific openings that must be filled quickly. 
• If your internal recruiting team is struggling to find the right candidates.
• If your company is launching a new project or initiative that requires specialized skills unavailable internally. 

Do any of the above use cases ring a bell? If so, you're not alone. Many companies have hiring challenges, especially with a growing talent shortage across the globe. According to a Korn Ferry study, there could be a worldwide shortage of 85 million workers by 2030. Left unchecked, that'd cause $8.5 trillion in annual revenue losses. 

Here's the good news: No matter your situation, recruitment on demand can offer an immediate solution. 

On-demand vs. traditional recruiting

The traditional recruitment model focuses primarily on addressing a company's long-term needs. It typically begins with in-house resources, but businesses may engage outside recruiting firms to augment their capabilities. These partnerships are often continuous engagements with long-term contracts and high retainer fees.

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However, this approach doesn't always translate well in today's increasingly global business environment. Projects are more complex than ever, requiring immediate access to specialized skills and expertise. Rather than sourcing roles for ongoing operations, talent on demand focuses more on filling short-term positions. 

On-demand recruiting services can also accommodate long-term staffing requirements. They help maintain a steady flow of qualified candidates over time. That way, as a business grows or encounters new needs, recruiters can source talent right away—minus the cost of ongoing fees. 

Whether a company is looking to hire 1 employee or 100, this model offers the flexibility to scale up or down quickly.

How on-demand recruiting works

The recruiter-on-demand model covers all the essential aspects of the recruitment process. For instance, their comprehensive services often include:

• Sourcing: Using advanced tools and platforms, recruiters on demand identify top candidates quickly, ensuring a higher-quality talent pool.
• Screening: They also handle initial interviews and assessments, narrowing down candidates to only the most qualified for your business's specific needs. 
• Scheduling: Recruiters on demand coordinate with both candidates and hiring managers to set up interviews, saving time and effort for internal HR teams.

With these services, recruiters on demand can significantly reduce the burden on businesses, allowing them to focus on core operations while the recruitment process runs smoothly in the background. Speaking of, here's what you can expect the typical on-demand recruiting process to look like: 

• Your talent acquisition leaders or hiring managers meet with recruiters on demand to discuss which roles need to be filled, whether they're temporary, project-based, or permanent. 
• The recruiter taps into a broad talent network to find candidates that match your requirements. 
• Once the role has been filled, the engagement ends, and you're free to rehire them as your recruitment needs change. 

Ultimately, this workflow is much faster than traditional recruitment, allowing employers to source the right people for their most critical positions. 

Take Kaiser Permanente, for example. When Kaiser wanted to find talent for several hard-to-fill roles, it used Aquent Scout's recruitment marketplace to connect with search firms that understood their key requirements. Not only did this accelerate the process, but it also optimized the hiring experience. 

Benefits of on-demand recruiting

Why work with recruiters on demand? Simply put, there are numerous advantages:

Cost savings

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), an organization's average cost per hire is roughly $4,700. However, some experts believe it could be three to four times the position's salary. 

Indeed, traditional recruitment can be expensive, with costs adding up from job postings, recruiter fees, and long hiring timelines. Fortunately, on-demand recruitment offers a more cost-effective approach. Companies can significantly reduce their overhead costs by only paying for services when they're needed—not on a strictly continuous basis. 

Efficiency

Using on-demand recruiting services, businesses can reduce the time-to-hire significantly. On-demand recruiters often use tools that speed up the process of identifying and engaging candidates, helping businesses fill roles faster and maintain operational momentum. With less downtime between job postings and hires, companies can keep their projects on track without sacrificing talent quality.

Better quality of hire

On-demand recruiters bring a specialized skill set that often surpasses the abilities of general recruiters. They can focus on niche industries, ensuring that companies get candidates who are the best fit for the role. These recruiters are familiar with the nuances of specific sectors and can navigate sourcing and hiring complexities more effectively than in-house teams.

Additionally, by tapping into a broader network of recruiting firms, on-demand recruitment services increase the diversity of candidate pools, leading to higher-quality hires and a more diverse workforce of many valuable perspectives. 

Scalability

One of the greatest advantages of on-demand recruiting is its scalability. Businesses can quickly adjust their hiring efforts based on current needs, whether they require one new hire or an entire team. This makes on-demand resourcing ideal for companies experiencing seasonal demands or rapid growth.

Best practices for working with on-demand recruiters

On-demand resourcing can transform your hiring process. But, to get the best results, it's essential to integrate recruiters seamlessly into your workflow. Here are a few best practices:

Practice clear communication

Define your hiring needs and expectations early on. A well-structured description of what you need in the role will give recruiters a foundation to identify the best candidates. Moreover, it can help them understand which hard and soft skills are most important to your business. 

Also, consider your specific use cases and whether filling the position is time-sensitive. For example, if a critical project depends on sourcing the right talent immediately, notify your recruiter so they understand the urgency. This will help align expectations and enable them to meet your timelines effectively. 

Extend access to tools

Provide on-demand recruiters with the tools they need, such as access to your applicant tracking system (ATS) or other recruitment platforms. This ensures your search firms can track candidates' progress, avoid duplicating efforts, and keep hiring managers updated in real time. 

Plus, when on-demand recruiters use your ATS, they follow your established processes, ensuring compliance with your company's hiring policies and any industry regulations. This consistency helps maintain the quality of hires and ensures that your recruitment process stays current with internal standards.

Establish a feedback loop

Regular feedback helps ensure that recruiters are aligned with your business needs and can adjust their approach as necessary. It's also helpful to track several talent acquisition metrics to evaluate each search firm's performance. That can include:

• Cost-per-hire.
• Time-to-hire.
• Qualified candidates per opening.
• Sourcing channel performance.
• Offer acceptance rate.

Analyzing these metrics will provide insights you can use to grade on-demand recruiters. More importantly, it allows you to make data-driven decisions about working with the same search firm again in the future. 

Leverage a vendor management system (VMS)

While on-demand recruitment offers numerous benefits, managing multiple recruiters can present challenges. Businesses may face compliance issues, inconsistencies in invoicing, and difficulties in assessing the performance of various search firms.

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Luckily, that's where a vendor management system shines.

A VMS is a cloud-based platform that centralizes and simplifies the process of managing on-demand recruiting services. As a single point of contact, it distills all your interactions with multiple search firms into a comprehensive dashboard. Why? 

Because working with multiple vendors isn't easy. Some companies may use hundreds, if not thousands, simultaneously. That can be overwhelming for any organization, let alone a small-to-medium-sized business. 

With a VMS, you can simplify the workload through a single view. Take Aquent's Scout, for example.

Aquent Scout empowers you to:

• Streamline vendor management: Engage and manage multiple recruiters effortlessly with a single point of control.
• Improve cost-effectiveness: Reduce wasted spend by accelerating the recruitment workflow, paying only for successful hires, and simplifying the invoicing process with transparent pricing. 
• Optimize recruiting efficiency: Leverage Aquent Scout's AI-driven tools to match roles with the best-fit recruiters, ensuring faster, high-quality hires.
• Gain data insights: Track real-time recruiter performance and enhance processes based on actionable insights and granular analytics. 

Transform your hiring process today

Nowadays, companies can't afford to have open positions for long. On-demand recruiters provide the flexibility, expertise, and efficiency needed to keep operations running smoothly. But, to truly unlock the full potential of on-demand recruiting, businesses need a solution to mitigate challenges. 

With Aquent Scout's VMS, you can simplify vendor management, boost efficiency, and act on data-driven insights.

Ready to get started? Explore Aquent Scout and see how it can help you find the right talent faster and smarter today.