The staffing and recruiting world is riddled with terms; burst staffing, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), and executive retained search are just a few. One you may not be as familiar with—but should be given the shifting sands in the labor market and the Great Resignation—is full-desk recruiting. If you’re nodding, keep reading as we explore full-desk recruiting and why it’s the only way to hire top talent in 2022 and beyond. 

What’s a Full-desk Recruiter?

A full-desk recruiter provides end-to-end hiring services to hiring managers, HR teams, or anyone actively looking to grow their team. Unlike a traditional recruiter who can be slow and siloed, a full-desk recruiter works with the company from start to finish—from the search to signing the offer letter—to ensure they’re hiring someone who will have an immediate, measurable impact on their business.

Is a Full-desk Recruiter Necessary?

To understand why you need a full-desk recruiter today, you must first look at the state of the labor market, as it’s tied directly to this personalized approach to recruiting. 

The State of Hiring & Recruiting

This mass exodus, dubbed the Great Resignation, continued in 2022. Despite companies taking steps to retain employees, including better workplace benefits, it’s likely to continue in 2023 as companies try to return to pre-pandemic ways.

  • Remote Work is on the Rise: If the pandemic taught companies anything, it’s that their employees can do their jobs from anywhere in the world. This is why we continue to see the rise of remote working, although major companies, like Google, are doing everything they can to reverse the trend.

The adoption of remote work and the desire to keep it around (or a hybrid variation) means companies are now competing for talent across geographical lines, making the need for a strategic hiring strategy a must. 

  • Employees Have the Upper Hand: For one of the first times ever, employees have all the leverage over their employees. Candidates do as well, given the labor shortage and an increasing number of openings. 

While the lack of leverage isn’t ideal for companies looking to hire, it’s manageable with the right staffing and recruiting strategy. 

For better or worse, these shifts are turning recruiting strategies on their heads and making traditional recruiters ineffective (and costly). 

The solution: A full-desk recruiter who understands the state of the market and what it’ll take to hire top talent, wherever they’re located. 

What Are the Benefits of a Full-desk Recruiter?

We’ve established that the new-look labor market requires an even newer recruiting strategy. 

But why? 

Traditional recruiting models have worked for decades and evolved, so why can’t they do that again? 

Here’s the answer: The traditional hiring model historically included multiple teams that pass the client off when they complete their responsibility. For example, one person does the recruiting, another conducts the interview, and another helps with the offer sheet. 

As a result, even the most experienced recruiters can’t move quickly, while the siloed nature prevents them from really getting to know the client and what they’re looking for in a new hire.

See the problem? 

A full-desk recruiter, like Wellington Steele & Associates, tackles these pitfalls by providing end-to-end, personalized services to companies looking to grow their teams. 

Three core tenants are at the heart of full-desk recruiting: Relationships, accessibility, and speed. These are also the core tenants on which we’re built—the same ones that have allowed us to thrive for years. 

1. Relationships

Our full-desk recruiters don’t operate in siloes, enabling them to work directly with clients from start to finish. 

By committing to this personalized model, full-desk recruiters can truly understand the client’s industry, hiring needs, and ideal candidate to make the smartest decisions in their best interest. This credibility, trust, accountability and personalization optimize the hiring process and ensure the right people walk through the client’s door (in-person or virtually). 

2. Accessibility

Recruiters are notoriously overworked and hounded by upper management to do more with less. While this is fundamentally bad news for recruiters, it’s even worse for the client who’s now fighting for the recruiter’s attention; the recruiters are spread too thin to provide every client with the personalized services required to make smart hires in the modern business world.

Because full-desk recruiters work on a one-to-one basis, there’s less on their plate, giving them more time to invest in the hiring process. It also means they’re accessible whenever and wherever the client needs them. 

3. Speed

No more than ever, hiring is a game of speed. Candidates know they have options and use this leverage to maintain the upper hand. Companies also know that supply is limited and top talent gets swooped up fast; hiring them relies on quick decision-making. 

Full-desk recruiters aren’t spread out over dozens of clients, giving them the invaluable ability to remain accessible and make quick decisions in the client’s best interest. If there’s a right-fit candidate within reach, a full-desk recruiter can grab them, while a more traditional one may miss the opportunity because they’re tied up with another client.

Full-desk recruiters also employ the active recruiting model to keep their pipeline full so that when a client needs a candidate, they likely already have one in mind.

Do you want to learn more about how our full-desk recruiting services can help you hire top talent who will immediately impact your bottom line?  

Speak With A Recruiting Expert