Who does what
| Criterion | Recruitment firm | HR communications agency |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose of the assignment | A post to fill | How the company is perceived, from outside and from inside |
| What it delivers | Candidates presented | An employer promise, content, a careers site, an internal communications system |
| Horizon | The post, in the short term | Several quarters, even several years |
| What remains after the assignment | The employee hired | Materials, a method, content that keeps working for a long time |
| What it does not do | Make the company attractive for the next posts | Present or select candidates |
Choosing according to your problem
The right provider depends on the symptom, not on the trade you know best.
You have had no candidates for a specific post, for a long time. The firm is often the right answer: it approaches profiles directly. If the same post becomes hard to fill every time, the problem lies elsewhere, and the agency steps in on attractiveness.
You receive applications, but few good ones. The issue is visibility and promise: do your job pages explain the real work? Do your competitors publish the same adverts and the same values? An HR communications agency works on these two points. See Attracting rare profiles.
You recruit, but your new hires leave. No firm can fix that: the problem is the gap between what was promised and what is experienced. It is addressed through measurement, an onboarding path and sustained internal communications. See Keeping those you have trained.
Making them work together
The two providers can reinforce each other, provided they do not contradict each other.
- Give them the same promise. The firm presents your company to candidates: it must use the words of your employer brand, not invent others.
- Circulate the content. The job pages and real portraits that the agency produces also serve the firm when it approaches a profile.
- Keep a single lead. A duo of one HR contact and one communications contact coordinates both, otherwise each optimises its own scope to the detriment of the whole.
What we do not do
We are an HR and internal communications agency. We are not a recruitment firm and we do not present any candidates. We do not promise a volume of applications, but we measure the quality of those you receive, with a simple indicator: the cost per qualified application.
When the diagnosis shows that the problem is internal reality and not visibility, we say so before producing anything. The full scope is on the home page, in the section Our scope, and the detail of the campaigns is on the page Recruitment and campaigns.
Frequently asked questions
Can an HR communications agency replace a recruitment firm?
No, and it does not claim to. If you need a specific profile within a short time, that is a firm’s trade. The agency works on what will make future hiring easier and departures fewer.
Should we start with one or the other?
Start with measurement: find out whether your problem is one of attraction, promise or internal reality. You will then know which provider to call, or whether you need both.
Isn’t a job board enough?
For receiving active applications, yes. For being chosen by someone who is comparing three employers, no: it is your job page they will read, not your advert.
To get an overview of what this trade covers, read HR communications agency: what it does, how to choose one. To discuss your case, describe your situation: we reply within two working days.