If you’re a hiring manager, you may ask, “Why should I pay an agency fee if I later find the candidate in my stockpile of resumes?”

This may help to answer your question. What you have is just that….a stockpile of resumes. But for the work of the recruiter, you probably would not have called that person. That resume would not float to the surface of your stockpile and say "Hey……I’m here. Look at me!" By the time your recruiter has submitted a candidate to you, he or she has qualified this individual and marketed your job to create interest. In today’s job market with double digit unemployment figures, people are submitting resumes to job boards, blind ads and every job posting that remotely looks of interest to them. It takes many man hours to sort through those piles of resumes, and your time can be put to better use. If you calculate the cost of sorting, identifying, screening, calling (which you’ll need to do several times because you generally won’t reach them on your first attempt) and then interviewing ….and weigh all that against the service fee, your cost side will weigh more. Plus, your recruiter will keep you abreast of a candidate’s interest level, any objections, concerns or outside influences that could impact an offer. That’s worth money in the bank itself. Some recruiting firms (ours included) offer hourly services to sort, screen and call your stockpile of resumes………….something to think about.