Niche vs. Generalist Recruiter – Which is Right For Your Company?

When selecting the recruiting company to trust with your hiring needs, the first thing you must decide is do you need a Generalist or Niche Recruiter. Both have their pros and cons and their purposes, we will break it all down for you below. If you have any other questions or want more tips and tricks for the industry from experts, check out our other blogs. 

Definitions

Generalist – A generalist recruiting company is one that is happy to take on any search you give them. They can help you with all of your hiring needs regardless of the job or industry. They have no set specialization and are great if you have a lot of hiring to do in a short amount of time covering a variety of roles. Generalist firms often go by Employment Agency, Staffing Agency, Placement Agency etc.

Niche – a Niche recruiting firm specializes in a particular job type or industry and only works on those types of roles. For example, Rockstar Recruiting is a niche recruiting firm that specializes in skilled trades positions. We operate 3 separate divisions focused on recruiting Mechanics, HVAC Technicians and Millwrights. A Niche firm will not be able to help you with all of your searches but can provide higher level service and typically will have access to more experience/qualified candidates. Niche firms are great for important roles that you need filled with the right candidate or with Rockstars as we like to say. Niche firms also go by Specialist or Boutique Recruiting companies.

Pros and Cons

Generalist

Pros

• Cheaper
  • Typically generalist firms operate on volume and are able to offer their service at a lower rate/placement
• Excellent for temporary workers or contract assignments
• Good for filling low skill positions
• Can help with multiple roles – one stop shop
• Save Time
  • If you do not have time to post ads and need someone to prescreen candidates a generalist could work well for you

Cons

• Struggle with high demand roles or positions that require rigid qualifications
• Overly reliant on Job Ads/Job Boards
  • If you are already posting your ads on Indeed you will likely get a lot of duplicate candidates from a generalist firm

Niche

Pros

• Have in-depth industry knowledge and experience
  • You will not need to teach them what the job is, they already know, understand the challenges and have solutions
• Have a network of candidates in your field
  • Niche recruiters spend a lot of their time prospecting and building up their network of candidates so that when you call in a search they already have candidates in mind
• Excel at hard to fill, high demand roles
• Can provide valuable insights
  • Compensation Analysis
  • What your competitors are doing
  • What your reputation is
• Go beyond the job board
  • Niche recruiters are typically experts at head hunting and other direct recruiting methods that go way beyond posting a job ad
  • They can get you access to candidates that are not active on the job market
• Experienced Recruiters
  • Most recruiters start their career as a generalist recruiter and are later promoted or transition into a niche recruiter
• Personalized tailored service

Cons

• Can be expensive
  • Niche recruiters do not rely on volume, they take on fewer searches but each are at a higher fee rate, all that expertise costs money
• Are unable to assist with roles outside of their niche

A Time and A Place

While Rockstar Recruiting is and always will be a Niche Recruiting firm we understand that there is a time and a place for both Generalist and Niche firms.

Think of a Generalist Firm like a Wal-Mart, if you need a bag of chips, a bottle of shampoo, some batteries and a box of pens then they are your best bet. No need to go from shop to shop when you can get it all at one place and the quality doesn’t matter that much. Similarly a generalist can be great if you need a receptionist, forklift operator, retail clerk, general laborer, data entry clerk etc. a generalist is your best bet.

A Niche recruiting firm is more like a specialty store. If you need to buy an American Fender Stratocaster or a Gibson Les Paul you don’t go to Wal-Mart you go to the music store. Similarly when you need a highly skilled person for a high demand job you go to an expert. If you need a Rockstar Mechanic, Rockstar HVAC Technician or Rockstar Millwright, then Rockstar Recruiting can help. For all other roles we leave to other experts. There are tons of other Niche Recruiting firms out there, for Industrial Sales and Project Management roles you can use Venters Recruits, for accounting Robert Half etc.

If you need to Hire Mechanics, Millwrights or HVAC Technicians, Rockstar Recruiting is a solution you can count on. We can assist with any of your searches in Canada or the USA. Give us a call at 1-833-937-3546.