As Malaysia continues to battle against and recuperate from the fallout of COVID-19, it has never been more important for businesses to find exceptional talent. Many are now trusting specialist recruitment agencies to source the perfect fit amidst market uncertainties, cost-cutting measures and mounting job responsibilities. But despite investing in expert recruitment agencies, many businesses may be missing a crucial step that would help them get the most out of their investment, says Sarah Tanoue, Business Director for Hays Malaysia.

“When a company uses a recruitment agency to help source talent for them, it is common for the lion’s share of the responsibility to fall into the lap of their HR department. However, since the final decision often does not lie in their hands, they often end up playing the role of ‘middle-man’ between the candidate, agency and hiring manager,” says Sarah.

While hiring managers are almost always involved with candidate interaction and selection at some point, many are removed from direct interaction with their external recruitment partner. This results in them often becoming detached from the process and leaving critical decision making and feedback for HR to communicate with candidates and agencies.

“The perceived advantage of this to most companies is that of saving time,” says Sarah. “A hiring manager may think they are leaving hiring to the experts and thus spending their time on their core business tasks. However, the aptitude, speed and suitability of a new hire will directly impact the performance of their team. By staying distant, hiring managers risk miscommunication, delays, or worse: hiring someone without the right skills or fit – a mistake that could cost them dearly in terms of time and resources down the line.”

Giving recruitment consultants access to hiring managers will not only allow them to do their job more effectively but will radically improve the hiring process in both time and effectiveness, says Sarah. “Similarly, having hiring managers directly interact with candidates can help build engagement and improve their candidate experience,” she adds.

To stay ahead of the curve when recruiting in these uncertain times, Sarah believes it is vital for organisations to truly understand that talent acquisition is essential to their business bottom line. This means seeing recruitment as not a function of HR but a responsibility that spans across levels.

“Today, organisations are in the midst of a war for good talent. Many of them recognise this and are willing to expend resources to get the best people. The logic then is simple – if your organisation can spend on hiring the best people, then why not use your best people to get the most out of your investment? Hiring managers not only know what their team really needs, but they can also communicate this efficiently and make decisions quickly. By letting their hiring managers take on the bulk of this process and fostering more direct communication with both candidates and recruitment agencies, companies can radically improve their hiring processes and gain access to the best talent in the market,” she concludes.

This content was originally published as a LinkedIn blog.

About Hays Malaysia

Agensi Pekerjaan Hays (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd ("Hays Malaysia") is one of the leading specialist recruitment companies in Malaysia in recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people across a wide range of industries and professions. We provide mid to senior level recruitment services across both finance and commerce industries and are known for our expertise in sourcing regional and global candidates, as well as returning Malaysians.

Hays has been in Malaysia since 2012 and boasts a track record of success and growth, with two operating offices located in KLCC and Sunway. We operate across the private and public sector, dealing in permanent positions in the following specialisms: Accountancy & Finance, Banking & Financial Services, Construction, Digital Technology, Engineering, Finance Technology, Human Resources, Information Technology, Insurance, Legal, Life Sciences, Manufacturing & Operations, Marketing & Digital, Procurement, Supply Chain and Sales.

About Hays

Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Asia Pacific and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe and Latin America. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 31 December 2019 the Group employed 11,600 staff operating from 266 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2019:

• the Group reported net fees of £1,129.7 million and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £248.8 million;
• the Group placed around 81,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 254,000 people into temporary assignments;
• 18% of Group net fees were generated in Australia & New Zealand, 27% in Germany, 23% in United Kingdom & Ireland and 32% in Rest of World (RoW);
• the temporary placement business represented 57% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 43% of net fees;
• Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA