How to Find the Right Marketing Recruitment Agency

Looking to build your marketing team from scratch or hire a single all star? Finding the right recruitment partner who specializes in marketing roles is the first step of the journey you'll have to undertake.

The employment and recruitment agency market in Canada was valued at $10 billion in 2023, reflecting an average growth rate of 3.9% per year since 2018. More businesses than ever are relying on third-party recruitment services to fulfill hiring needs because it completely streamlines the process from start to finish.

Considering there are over 5,000 active agencies in Canada alone, identifying the right one for your hiring needs can feel like a daunting task. When it comes to marketing, the hiring process can be even more complicated, and finding the right match for your business can make all the difference in your success.

Marketing recruitment agencies aren't just about filling a vacant role—they provide ongoing support to help you scale your business, saving you valuable time and resources to focus on development and growth.

Learn More: Creative Niche's Marketing Recruitment Speciality

Identifying Your Marketing Hiring Process Needs

Before you even start to evaluate different recruitment agencies, it's crucial to have a thorough understanding of your business and marketing needs.

Sit down with your team to identify what you need help with the most. Ask these questions:

• What is the skill set the team lacks, or technical skills where they need support?
• Is this person required to be a leader or have other soft skills?
• Where do we see this marketing professional evolving in their career?

It's important to know the exact gaps you intend to fill before you begin your search for an agency. Compile a list of requirements and expectations to help streamline the process and get the best possible result.

Depending on the level of your future hire, you should also think about the type of hiring solution a marketing recruitment agency can offer. If the role is executive, meaning Director and above, you should look at firms that offer Executive Search services. If you're looking for roles below this level, a Contingent Search firm can work for you. Each type has their own style of a rigorous recruitment process that can help you find the ideal candidate.

These are the main differences between these two types of hiring solutions:

Executive Search / Executive Recruiters

A comprehensive method for finding suitable candidates for top-level positions, such as marketing directors or other marketing executives, involving thorough analysis of client requirements, creating detailed job descriptions, and using research, database searches, and networking. Executive Search firms is a type of hiring solution that typically requires a retainer and exclusive agreement because of the hours involved with creating a hiring strategy to find the ideal marketing talent.

Contingent Search Firm / Staffing Agency

These are expert recruiters who have a flexible hiring approach, which involves engaging them on a project basis for non c-suite roles, such as marketing specialists, coordinators and managers. It offers cost efficiency, adaptability, and reduced risk, because firms are only paid when a search is successful and an individual is hired. Only qualified candidates are presented, so there is no real "sifting through" a large assortment of potentials. Rather, you're given a list of top-tier candidates for any specific field.

If you're looking for solutions that are less permanent, some marketing recruitment agencies offer freelance services. Instead of having to spend time ramping up an employee, which can take up to three months, your business can hire highly experienced marketing personnel for a project-by-project basis, or projects that only require a limited involvement.

When it comes to the particulars of the cost and time required to hire, which can vary widely by agency. It's important to have an open discussion with potential marketing recruitment firms, because it's only through an ongoing back-and-forth can expectations be created, candidates selected, and success in hiring for the role be accomplished.

Researching Potential Marketing Recruitment Agencies

Once you know what type of candidates you're looking for, it's time to delve into researching what marketing recruitment agency would be the best fit with your business.

With so many options to choose from, you have the luxury of going with a local marketing recruitment agency or working remotely with a larger organization that serves the entire nation. Both have their pros and cons, with a local firm knowing the ins-and-outs of top talent in any given market, while a national agency may have access to potential candidates you didn't know were within reach of being on your marketing team.

It's also useful to seek information from different associations you might be a part of. As mentioned above, utilizing your network is always beneficial, since you're getting feedback from people who are in the same position as you.

Evaluating an Agency's Marketing Expertise

Once you have a shortlist of marketing recruitment companies you want to consider, look at their websites and go over case studies for clients that are most like your brand. Pay attention to the client's problem/need and how the respective agency solved that problem.

It's important to work with an agency that is ahead of the curve with current marketing trends, which means they likely have a strong candidate pool, or in other words a list of potential candidates ready to go. They should have documented experience in your niche and possess the ability to predict market changes to help you make competitive hires. When you review case studies, focus on results that stand out to you and resonate with your marketing needs.

Things to consider when talking to a marketing recruitment agency:

Extensive Network

What other businesses has the recruiter worked with? Do they have the correct depth of industry knowledge for your company? Do they have experience with a company of your's size or age of the business? Ask for examples of roles they've hired for, challenging positions they've filled, and how they were able to find those candidates. Was it through a second or third connection on LinkedIn, was it through them being able to ask their greater network for recommendations, or do they have a way of gathering applications and filtering through candidates to cherry pick the absolute best.

Team Building

If you're looking to hire several roles at several different levels, a great marketing recruiter should be able to tell you what needs to be prioritized in order to get an effective team in place in the shortest time. They can guide you on the role to fill first so the team can function day-one, and ensure each candidate fits within your company culture without needing to think about long-term cultural changes.

Changes Within Marketing

If you've worked in marketing over the past decade you already understand how much it has changed. Even if the past 2-3 years, what worked years prior may not work to the same degree. A marketing recruiter is able to see a candidate's experience and tell if their journey from the very start of their career to today has shown a degree of growth and experience that reflects your needs.

Communication

What your business does, what its future vision looks like, and what the person will be doing day-to-day is the priority when it comes to communicating with a potential client. They're partnering with your business to sell the vision so top tier talent can be attracted to interviewing.

Checking Reputation and Reviews

One of the best ways to evaluate a company is by reading client testimonials and reviews. You shouldn't base your decision on one glowing or bad review but look for patterns. If a lot of people are saying the same thing, that's a strong indication of what you can expect from the services.

You should also pick an agency with a proven track record in successfully placing candidates in your industry. Ask for case studies of businesses they've worked with, roles they've filled, and even for customer references. A great marketing recruitment agency should have these on-hand and be more than happy to send them your way.

There are a multitude of “top recruitment agency” lists, but take information they provide with a grain of salt. Typically, a recruitment agency would pay to be on these lists, which means it's not an indicator of their success or experience working with a business like yours.

Finally, the be-all-end-all of reputation checking is to ask your network if anyone has worked with a recruitment agency. If yes, ask them their experience, and what questions they would ask next time if they had to engage with them again.

Making The Final Decision For A Marketing Staffing Agency

If there's anything you're unsure about, don't be shy about contacting multiple agencies to get clarification about any of their services. In fact, it's beneficial to do this with a few, because you never know if you might learn something that will impact your decision.

It's important to get an understanding from each agency of their rates (the cost to hire for a role), their average fill ratios (how often they're able to fill a role), their experience working within your industry (case studies or testimonials) and finally the experience of the people leading your search.

Working with a marketing recruitment agency is a potential long-term relationship. This means it's important to have clear and honest communication from day 1. Don't be afraid to ask questions about the process, and more importantly, be sure to be clear on expectations for filling the marketing or digital marketing role or roles that will help your business grow.