What is permanent recruitment?

    Workforce Management
    JC Cornell

    By JC Cornell
    April 6, 2022

    Updated
    September 12, 2024

    0 min read

    Permanent recruitment

    A company is only as strong as its people, so in order to ensure you're operating ahead of your competitors, you'll need to attract and retain the best talent.

    To do that, you'll need to make your company as attractive as possible to job seekers by offering initiatives to employees that enable them to expand on their learning and grow vertically within your company.

    Searching for a permanent job or the perfect candidate can be overwhelming. A recruiter’s job is to find where a company’s needs meet a person’s aspirations and make a match. This is at the heart of permanent recruitment services.

    Here are seven things to know about permanent recruitment services to help inform your next move.


    1. What is permanent recruitment?

    Permanent recruitment solutions support your company or your career in the long run. It involves hiring experienced candidates with the skills, talent, and expertise to fill permanent roles and positively impact a company’s success over time.

    Permanent recruitment solutions allow both organisations and their permanent workforce to grow and build on the shared values that brought them together.


    2. What’s the difference between permanent and contract work?

    Permanent recruitment differs from contract recruitment in a couple of ways because the contract style means hiring full-time, permanent staff instead of limited-term employees.

    A permanent employee has a full-time contract. While contract workers have a limited-time contract, usually time-based on project size, duration, or recruitment needs.

    Contract recruiting usually involves short-term projects, with the contract worker able to pursue other opportunities when the job ends. While permanent employment sees a person working with a company for an open-ended amount of time, usually until they resign and move to another company.

    Long-term employees generally enjoy benefits contract workers don’t, like healthcare, paid time off, and sick leave – all provided by the organisation they work for.


    3. What are the advantages of permanent recruitment?

    Long-term recruitment is an excellent option for job seekers looking for stability and companies looking for a loyal team. When trying to decide whether to pursue a full-time or contract position, consider some of the many advantages of long-term roles:

    Security

    A full-time position gives job candidates the security of a continuous income stream and relief of not searching for a new role when the contract ends.

    Continuity

    It also allows a candidate to stay in the same role without having to switch contracts. This can support the workers' confidence and encourage them to feel motivated to perform at their best and contribute to a company’s success.

    Workplace culture

    Full-time employees can immerse themselves in the company culture and develop meaningful relationships with co-workers. Over time, these experiences can translate into company loyalty, which helps employers hold on to valuable team members in the long run.

    Potential for advancement

    Permanent recruitment opens the door for employees to invest in themselves and the business through training and advancement opportunities. As a result, team members can advance their careers, and the organisation also benefits from new leadership and overall growth.


    4. What is the permanent recruitment process?

    While every business has different ways of working, the recruitment process with a recruiter typically follows these steps:

    1. An open position is communicated by the hiring manager, and a request for candidates to fill vacancies made
    2. A job posting is published on the recruiter’s company website, relevant job boards, and social media to find the right person.
    3. Recruiters review resumes to identify quality candidates for the interview stage
    4. Those applicants are pre-screened to access whether they will be a match and that the job is right for them before they are shortlisted
    5. A consultation with the hiring managers regarding the shortlisted candidates is arranged before reaching out for interviews
    6. The recruiter schedules client-candidate interviews that fit everyone’s schedules
    7. If successful, a job offer is extended to the top-performing individual, and the recruiter manages any job/salary negotiations between both parties.
    8. After the candidate has been hired, a recruiter will follow up with clients and candidates at various stages to access their progress until the end of a probationary period.

    5. What questions should I ask as a hiring manager?

    Before conducting an executive search, a hiring manager needs to know precisely what the recruitment needs for this role will be. These pre-job description questions will help you better define the role and make sure you are attracting the right candidates you need:

    • What is the reason for hiring for this job?
    • What day-to-day responsibilities will they need to do each day/week/month?
    • What do we want them to have achieved one year later?
    • Have we looked for an internal person to fill this role? Should we backfill their role with a more junior candidate if we can promote someone with talent instead?
    • Are these requirements actually necessary?
    • Is there a particular skill that would put a candidate at the top of our list?

    Going through this process for each role is essential before seeking permanent recruitment solutions. Otherwise, you will not attract the candidates you need for your open roles.


    6. What questions should I ask as a job seeker?

    Before pursuing a permanent recruitment solution, it can be helpful to ask these questions to get a better idea of the role itself and what to expect:

    • What is the job description?
    • How long has the position been open?
    • What is the company’s reputation among past and present employees?
    • What are the skills and experience this organisation is looking for?
    • What is the salary for this position?

    Asking the right questions before interviewing will help you better understand the requirements and expectations to determine whether you would be a good fit for the company itself.

    In addition, the answers to these questions will support your career path professionally and financially while staying true to your values.


    7. How can a recruitment agency help?

    Searching for a new role or candidate to fill an open space can be time-consuming. A recruitment agency can help both job seekers and employers by relieving some of the stress of the process.

    A recruiter’s business is to work for you. So whether that's tracking down ideal roles for your experience and skillset or finding the right people for your company, partnering with a permanent recruitment agency is a smart choice.

    As an employer, a recruiter will dip into their extensive database of qualified candidates to support your needs, understand your goals, and provide a high level of service.

    Recruitment agencies make the entire process of finding qualified candidates painless for organisations as they do all the screening and profiling, and then supply a list of the best candidates.

    A recruiter does a similar task for job seekers, compiling a list of potential openings that best suit the client’s professional skills.

    As a job seeker, a recruiter will work to understand your career goals to ensure they are contacting you about positions that match your needs.

    Whether you're looking for permanent recruitment solutions, short-term contract workers, or a combination of both, a recruiter’s expertise is critical in identifying your company’s needs while helping to build your workforce.


    Consider working with Airswift!

    If you’re looking to partner with a recruitment agency for your personal job search or on behalf of your organisation, consider Airswift as your trusted partner.

    We connect the right candidate with the right job across a variety of different sectors, provide contract management services, and offer an unmatched level of knowledge and expertise in every interaction with our clients.

    In short, a recruitment agency can assist you in choosing the best course of action to achieve your goals, whether you’re a business looking to fill a role with a specific skill set or an individual wanting to make a career change.

    Contact us today!

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