The 50th episode of Talent & Growth saw Rekha Aucklah, Talent Acquisition lead at Armakuni join us to discuss how to reduce agency usage. In this episode we covered how Rekha has gone to market with direct sourcing techniques, what a positive candidate experience should look like and how direct recruiting can impact on the diversity of your hires.
So, how can it? Read on to find out…
I know that from when we first spoke, one of your challenges was creating a more diverse talent pool. What impact have you seen from going for the more direct approach rather than the agency approach?
We’ve increased our diversity which is great. It’s something I’m very passionate about, regardless of whether it’s a remit that’s given to me or not. Although we’ve increased diversity. I haven’t necessarily gone about it in a conscious way. By that I mean that I haven’t gone to specific talent pools looking for a particular gender, ethnicity, neurodiversity or disability. All I’ve done is try to make the process as inclusive as possible and taken the same approach to my sourcing.
We are getting there in terms of being able to make sure that we’re targeting wider pools. But as an agency recruiter, that’s probably one of the biggest areas where they can add a huge amount of value, but that’s not to say that they do. The focus is often on being able to fill a role as quickly as possible. Instead, recruiters should be aiming to provide an inclusive shortlist. They should be aiming to reach out to a broad spectrum of candidates, rather than the top ten people that pop up on LinkedIn, which all happen to be male. It’s just about doing the extra work. This could then be a huge area where agencies could add value.
For us right now, we’ve definitely increased both out gender and ethnicity diversity and we’re working on some other things. I feel that if it isn’t already on the radar for agencies than it definitely will be over the next year or two. Even if it’s on the radar for agencies, they will be asked for it. So knowing how to source inclusive and diverse pools is going to add a huge amount of value.
To hear more from Rekha click here.
On Talent & Growth we speak to talent leaders about the challenges they face and their solutions for attraction and retention. If you’re interested in hearing about how companies are building a more diverse talent pool, how you can attract top people from the big players, ways to create a more inclusive interview process or learn about the latest and greatest automation software to make your life easier, then this is the podcast for you.
