Good briefs are born from the right questions. If recruiters are simply going through the motions with clients, ticking off boxes to cover the brief, then they’re leaving themselves exposed. 

Every agency will have its own way of structuring the recruitment funnel.  To start off, tweaking the recruitment funnel benchmarks is an ideal way to create an optimum hiring process that sources the best candidates in the most efficient way. To successfully fill a role, forge a stronger relationship with your client and cement the prospect of further work with them, recruiters need to ensure they have ironed out exactly what the client wants. 

While every situation is different, here are five critical questions recruiters should ask their clients to receive the best possible brief. 

1: What impact will the role bring on the business? 

The recruitment process is too focused on descriptions of what the individuals will be doing and fails to mention the actual impact the company would like them to have on the business. So, when discussing the role requirements, it’s important not to just ask what they will be doing, but also what impact their role will bring to the business.  Whilst you explore this blog, don’t forget to download our expert guide on practical insights on contract recruitment, starting from candidate attraction to compliance rules.  

Key Points to discuss:  

  • What is the expectancy from the person filling the role in a month, three months and in six months 
  • What will be their targets and what’re they expected to do to achieve it 
  • How will the success of their work be measured 
  • What is the review process to ensure and fulfil the business expectations from them 

Why is this question helpful? 

  • This helps recruiters to match the right candidates with the job whilst scanning through hundreds of CVs 
  • It also helps a potential candidate decide whether the job is right for them 
  • This saves time for recruiters, prospective candidates and the client considerably.  
  • As a recruiter, this will also help you prep the candidate for the interview, as you’ll be able to tell them more than just the job specifications. 

As a recruiter, if you are stuck with hundreds of resumes, and having a hard time interviewing and filtering through the funnel, Sonovate can reduce much of your workload and time by taking care of your cash flow and back-office issues.  

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2: What are the added benefits that the role brings? 

Job adverts and briefs are too often caught up in what they need from a candidate and forget to mention what they can provide and why a candidate should be interested. 

More and more, candidates want to know what advantages there are to working for a company, outside of having employment. This rings especially true amongst millennials.  According to a Gallup Poll, Gen Z and millennials always prioritize employers who care about their well-being; this was before The Great Resignation. 

Why is this question helpful? 

  • According to Robert Walters Group, 91% of millennial professionals think career progression is a top priority when choosing a new job. According to Business Insider, when it comes to GenZ, they have started to question pre-pandemic workplace norms like eight-hour shifts or lack of progressive values while looking for a new role.  
  • Whether you’re recruiting for a perm, temp or contract role, it’s important to get an understanding of what perks the successful candidate will receive, which could be anything from on-the-job training, expenses allowance, early leave on Fridays or free breakfast! So, ensure that you have all the required details from your clients when it comes to perks the role brings. 

3: What are the responsibilities that the role does not cover? 

This might seem like a strange question to ask, however, it’s an effective way to set in stone what the actual duties of the role will be. It also gives you the opportunity to remove any additional expectations that would usually crop up later in the recruitment process. Whether you’re in the business of contract recruitment or hiring perm members, it is important to have clear boundaries of what the role entails.  

Why is this question helpful? 

  • It will help you to find candidates who have exactly the right experience for the role 
  • It will prevent you from putting forward candidates who are too experienced and may quickly become bored with the role 
  • It will also prevent you from suggesting candidates who turn out to be inexperienced for the role at hand 

Job descriptions often fail to mention the everyday tasks that are involved, or hint at “additional activities” without clarifying what they might be. Asking what won’t be included in their set of responsibilities would clarify the boundaries of the role in a much more specific way. Candidate behaviour is changing especially after the pandemic and it’s challenging for recruiters to keep up. Here’s our quick guide to help recruiters keep up with the changing times.  

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4: What does a usual day in the role look like?  

Not always does the job description on job portals reflect the true nature of the job and what it entails. It is very important to know what a usual day in the role looks like that would help recruiters source and filter the right candidates matching the criteria.  

Why is this question helpful?  

  • Knowing a usual day at the job would help you have a better understanding of the role in-depth and then pitch in the right candidate to the client.  
  • The more a recruiter can pour in details to the candidate during the first stage interview, the more suitable the candidates they will be able to source.  

5: What are the key must-have skills for the role? 

As a recruiter, it is very important to understand what an ideal candidate is like in the eyes of your client or the hiring manager. Having a clear understanding of the crucial skills required for the role would help you pick up the right candidate.  

Why is this question helpful? 

  • As a recruiter, asking this question to your client demonstrates that you are serious about filling the role and finding the right candidate, not just someone who “sort of fits”.  
  • You can use this information to prep potential candidates for the interview process 

Clients aren’t paying you thousands of pounds to tick boxes. They want recruitment consultants to understand the delicate nuances of every role and the roadmap of the company. But they can only answer the questions that are asked of them. 

If the client’s demands are incredibly specific, then recruiters need to manage their expectations. Otherwise, they will be held accountable for promising more than they can deliver. 

Managers can train their teams to ask difficult questions, but there’s a natural inclination to fall back on the easier conversation. Every now and again, it’s worth evaluating how your team are leading conversations with clients and thinking about how their questioning is adding to the relationships. Here’s our quick guide on key recruitment metrics that will give you all the insight you need to unlock further growth for your recruitment business. 

We understand how recruitment agencies suffer owing to the constant flow of cash and eventually fail to pay contractors on time.  Sonovate offers a global fintech platform that can help you save time and resources, and let you focus on growing your business. Choose from a funding and back office platform for an all-in-one solution, or just invoice finance to help you out with your unpaid invoices.  

Get in touch with Sonovate to understand how we can optimise your business cashflow and help it scale globally.