Fire and safety personnel are a critical part of your organisation as they help you keep your employees safe from fires and other natural disasters. Ensuring employee safety is not only legally-binding but also the moral duty of an employer. In other words, you need to hire the best fire and security officers.

However, fire and security recruitment requires in-depth industry knowledge and experience. Unfortunately, conventional recruitment agencies and in-house HR teams often lack the insights needed to find the talent that perfectly fits your needs. That's why you need to partner with an agency specialising in fire and security careers.

To make it easier to find the best one from several agencies out there, we have compiled a few critical points that you should remember.

1. Define Your Recruitment Goals

Fire and security recruitment is a broad term. When setting out to find the best talent in this industry, you will need to be more specific. Most agencies will help you find candidates with different types of fire and security careers. However, some companies may specialise in a particular area of Technical recruitment or have recruitment specialists.

For example, if you are looking for specialised fire and security career vacancies such as chief fire officer or security alarm engineer, make sure the agency is well equipped to fill these vacancies. That’s why, to make your search easier, you need to define your recruitment goals.

You will need to think about the following:

• List number of fire and security careers positions you want to fill
• Define the type of vacancies you want to fill, such as senior or entry-level appointments
• List the skills and experience you want
• Specify any other detail related to your recruitment

2. Make Sure To Check How Much It Will Cost

While you want to hire the best fire and security recruitment agency, you must also consider how much it will cost you. Most fire and agencies will provide you with general details about their pricing policy. They may charge you on an hourly basis or a flat fee, depending on the type of services you need.

However, if you are looking for candidates with specific fire and security careers, you can ask the agency to provide you with a detailed quote based on your requirements. The detailed estimate should include costs, terms and conditions, and service details. You can also contact multiple agencies to know which one is offering the most cost-competitive deal.

However, you must avoid working with the cheapest agency, especially if you are looking to fill permanent vacancies and long-term fire and security careers solutions. On the other hand, the most expensive fire and security recruitment agencies may not necessarily offer the best services. That's why you need to consider the agency's track record and the costs when hiring them.

3. Take A Look At the Agency's Track Record

As mentioned in the previous point, the cost is not the only factor you need to consider. You also need to know how much experience the fire and security recruitment agency has. Most companies hire a fire and security recruitment agency because they are looking to hire people with hard-to-find skills and unique fire and security careers.

You can rarely find such candidates on conventional channels or online recruitment platforms. If the agency has an excellent track record of finding unique talent quickly and reliably, spending a few hundred pounds extra shouldn't be a problem.

Most fire and security recruitment agencies will be more than willing to share references. Talking to the agency's current and ex-customers can help you understand their recruitment process, network size, and turnaround time.

Make sure to check the following when reviewing the track record of a fire and security recruitment agency.

• The time and other details of the agency's latest fire and security recruitment
• The size of the network database and what fire and security careers it covers
• The frequency at which the agency updates its network database and recruitment process
• The technologies (like virtual recruitment tools) they use in fire and security recruitment

4. Check How Diverse The Solutions Are

Most businesses make the mistake of hiring a company to meet their immediate requirements. However, you should think about your future recruitment needs as well. As your business expands, you may need people with more diverse fire and security careers.

When you work with a fire and security recruitment agency that offers a diverse range of solutions, it is easier to boost your talent search. In other words, you can find candidates based on specific fire and security careers and skills under one roof.

As a result, you don't have to spend more money on fire and security recruitment. You also don't have to deal with multiple fire and security recruitment agencies, saving considerable time and reducing your stress. Make sure to ask the agency to provide you with a list of recruitment options they offer.

5. Choose An Agency That Speaks Your Language

Fire and security recruitment often goes well beyond finding the candidates with the required skills, certifications, and fire and security careers. The recruitment agency also needs to understand and align with your business goals and work culture. It allows the agency to find the candidates that can fit right into your work environment.

As a result, the onboarding process is smooth and quick, reducing your time and money spent on employee orientation and training. These candidates are also likely to stay with your organisation longer, offering you the best possible return on your talent acquisition investment. So, when choosing a fire and security recruitment agency, make sure to review their business goals, mission statement, and work ethics to see if they are similar to yours.

Conclusion

If you want to hire candidates with excellent niche-specific fire and security careers, you will need a recruitment specialist. However, you will need to partner with a reliable, experienced, and professional agency. Keeping these five things in mind can help you find the right recruitment agency quickly. Good luck!