Organization Partner

If you have a small or mid-sized business, chances are that you can maximize the use of your resources by utilizing an outside agency to handle your advertising and marketing needs. Here are some tips on how to find reputable firms and agents, what you can expect to pay, and how much lead time you should give when it comes to individual projects.

Excellent quality advertising and marketing agencies are probably no further away than your phone book. Just about any city with a population in excess of 40,000 will have a few agencies to choose from. N some cases, they will be locally run agencies that know the business climate very well. In other cases, the agencies will be part of a national organization, and be in a great position to provide you with national exposure.

Depending on what your company does, one type may be a better choice over the other. If the local agencies don’t ring any chimes for you, then take to the Internet. You will find web sites for a number of advertising agencies across the globe that will also help to design sales and marketing pieces for you, set up advertising campaigns, and in general make you look very good to the consumer market. Many of these firms will want you to sign a contract of some duration, normally at least a year.

You may have a monthly fee you pay; in some cases, it may be a matter of providing the agency with a fixed percentage of the billed revenue generated as a result of their efforts on your part. In some cases, it may be a combination of the two. Depending on the nature of your business, you can anticipate a minimum charge of $10,000 annually if you engage an agency. When deciding on an agency to outsource all your advertising and marketing needs to, make sure you see story boards of other campaigns they have done and get some references. Read the full story

When you run a department and have the responsibility of hiring your staff, you will most likely find yourself overwhelmed and short on time during the process. You run ads on the major job boards, network, engage in database mining, tap the social networking sites, but you still can’t locate the caliber of talent required to round out your team. At this point, knowing how to choose the right headhunting firm to source and present you with the right candidate for your position becomes of critical importance. Knowing exactly what to look for in a recruiting partnership is not necessarily rocket science, but it can get very tricky when you factor in discount staffing companies, cut-rate recruiting marketplaces, and novice headhunters who aren’t prepared to do whatever it takes to find the winning candidate. Here are some tips and tricks to consider when evaluating recruiting firms and headhunters:

• Always ask what methods they utilize to source for candidates.
• Avoid those who consider themselves as “generalists,” and find a Recruiter who specializes in your field/industry. They have access to large databases of active and passive candidates who have an on-going business relationship with them.
• There is an old saying, “You get what you pay for.” This is true in the talent acquisition profession. Websites that offer ridiculously low placement fees and recruiter marketplaces do not attract the top producers who are regularly working with superior candidates. While they may offer you discount fees, and tell you how you can save thousands of dollars annually off your current recruiting budget, the true question is this – are you really saving anything if you don’t get the best candidate for your company? Is the possibility of a breach of confidentiality really worth dealing with a potentially unethical company?
• Never work with a company who does not offer you a strong guarantee. The standard guarantee for contingency search runs between a thirty and sixty day replacement guarantee. While there are companies who promise full-money back guarantees, or a one year replacement guarantee, keep in mind that it’s only a guarantee if you can collect in the event a candidate doesn’t work out. Read the full story