As an agriculture employer, you understand that hiring and retaining strong talent is crucial to your ag business’ success. You’re also familiar with how complex, time-consuming, and costly the hiring process can be. Between the necessary tools, time, and resources, you may wonder if hiring an expert agriculture recruiter is worth the investment. You’re likely weighing:
1. Are recruitment services worth the cost?
2. Will the hired candidate bring long-term value to our organization?
Both are valid questions, especially when considering ROI and your bottom line. Let’s break down what ROI looks like in terms of hiring an agriculture recruiter.
What is ROI in Recruitment?
ROI in recruiting measures the overall effectiveness of your hiring process. This accounts for the overall value a new hire brings to your organization, versus the investments involved in finding, hiring, and onboarding that individual. Some key metrics involved in recruitment ROI include:
- Hiring costs: Expenses related to job postings or advertising, recruitment software/tools, placement fees, etc.
- Attrition costs: Negative financial and cultural costs of turnover and/or bad hires
- Long-term value: The positive impact of hiring strong talent (productivity, innovation, overall company growth)
When it comes to recruitment, the return on investment has many layers, often making it difficult to measure. Employers must look beyond the cost-per-hire or time-to-fill metrics – but also consider the long-term value that comes with hiring and retaining strong talent.
However, hiring not just any talent, but the right talent is a challenge of its own. That’s why choosing to hire an ag recruiter who has the skills, experience, and tools to strategically place only the highest quality talent for your ag organization, is an investment that will pay for itself.
The Value of Hiring an Ag Recruiter
Their Expertise
When you partner with an ag recruiter, you’re utilizing their knowledge and expertise. Unlike hiring managers, recruiters have extensive training and experience in reading resumes, sourcing/headhunting qualified candidates, thoroughly screening and interviewing candidates, and understanding candidate behavior. Recruiters also have a knack for connecting with candidates beyond the surface level, allowing them to dig deeper into their motivations, frustrations, and reveal more of their personality. All of these specialized skills allow recruiters to more effectively vet candidates and decide if they are the right fit for your ag business.
Not only are recruiters experts on sourcing, screening, and understanding candidate behavior, but they also have a pulse on the agriculture job market, wage trends, and industry lingo. Being experts in both the agriculture industry and the job market allows them to serve as your strategic talent advisor throughout the entire process, even throughout the job offer stage.
Utilizing their Network
When working with an ag recruiter, you’re able to capitalize on their extensive network of agriculture professionals. This means tapping into a new pool of talent you likely wouldn’t have been able to access through traditional hiring methods. A larger talent pool allows you to be more selective in finding the right hire that will bring further success to your agriculture organization, rather than settling for a non-ideal candidate whom you will likely have to replace in a few short months.
Not only do recruiters have access to a wider pool of talent, but they also use a variety of recruitment tools and platforms that your company may not otherwise be able to take advantage of.
Reduced Time-to-Fill
Unlike a hiring manager, HR professional, or an ag business owner, a recruiter's sole responsibility is to find and place candidates for your company, which means significantly more time will be focused on finding the right candidates and filling the role. Managers, owners, and HR employees have additional responsibilities outside of talent acquisition, meaning recruitment often gets pushed aside and is not given the attention necessary to make the strongest impact.
When you have an ag recruiter working alongside you, your openings will be filled at a much faster rate, meaning less downtime for that area of your operation. Plus, this means less time that your current employees are filling the responsibilities of the vacant position, which can lead to burnout and potentially, turnover.
The ROI of High-Quality Hires
A professional ag recruiter placing the right hire with your agribusiness is what makes all the difference in recruitment ROI. The investment in recruitment will be exceeded by the long-term value that the high-quality hire brings to your organization, resulting in positive ROI.
Keep in mind that the right hire is not only a candidate who possesses all the skills required to perform the job well, but is also a strong culture fit, aligning with your farm or ag company’s goals and values. When a candidate aligns in both culture and competency, the long-term value they will bring to your agribusiness is without limits. So, what are the key value propositions that a quality hire brings to the table?
Boosted Productivity, Performance, and Engagement
Great hires bring specialized skills and innovative ideas, paving the way for continued success and growth for your farm or agribusiness. A well-suited candidate will also feel a sense of satisfaction in their role, which drives higher employee engagement. This results in increased productivity and performance both individually and as a team – contributing to your company’s sustainable growth.
Stronger Culture & Employer Brand
Hiring an individual who meshes well with your current team dynamic is crucial. Prioritizing hiring the right cultural fit will allow your employees to function better as a team and be overall more productive. Team members who are like-minded, get along, and share the same goals will be happier at work and boost company morale.
A strong culture and aligned team will also improve your employer brand, strengthening your reputation as a desirable place to work and making it easier to attract the right talent in the long run.
Improved Retention
When you hire the right candidate who is a well-rounded fit for your ag organization and thrives in their role, the longer the individual will likely stay at your company. When a new hire ends up not being the right fit, you will face the costs and challenges of turnover time and time again. The lost time, money, and resources caused by turnover can be detrimental to your bottom line – which is why it’s critical to get the hire right the first time.
Conclusion
The true value of hiring an agriculture recruitment firm goes far beyond the positive financial impact. When you have the right people in the right roles, your company will grow and benefit immensely, from improved team performance, stronger culture, happier customers/clients, improved retention - the list goes on.
With the help of an agriculture recruiter and their specialized skills, you can access a larger talent network, streamline the hiring process, fill openings quicker, and reduce the risk of bad hires and turnover.
Ready to partner with an agriculture recruiter and see the positive impact on your organization? AgHires is the leading ag recruitment firm for small family farms to Fortune 500 companies. Our team comes from the agriculture industry and is passionate about fueling the success of ag organizations like yours. We work to understand your unique hiring challenges and use your unique value proposition to attract the right talent through a tailored approach. Learn more about the AgHires difference.
Ready to get started? Have questions on the process? Schedule a brief meeting or give us a call at (844) 244-4737.
