Remember that £5,000 we saved you on video production in Part 1? Well hold on to your hats, folks…because it’s now time for our next trick.

How does EGV compare with using the services of a traditional recruitment agency?

Again, let’s look at some daunting numbers: UK businesses are typically paying 15-20% of a candidate’s first-year salary to recruitment agencies for standard roles. And as for specialised positions…you’re looking up to 30%.

So, for a medium-sized enterprise hiring, say, 10 new people a year at the UK median salary of £37,500, that’s £56,250 in agency fees/commission/hidden costs alone.

And never mind the fees, but the continuous feeling that many employers have that agencies don’t really take the time to understand the company’s culture, details of the role, and personality traits of the candidate that would make a good fit for the position.

The real question nobody’s asking

Are recruitment agencies really finding you “better” candidates, or simply just more candidates? Fair enough, they may be finding you all sorts of job-seekers, but job-seekers aren’t top talent.

Unemployed job-seekers are actively looking for a job, any job, but that always-employed and in-demand top talent you’re looking for will always be passively browsing to keep their market value high and career growth opportunities in abundance.

Simply put…job-seekers need to be recruited, and it’s so damn expensive! But top talent needs to be attracted, and it’s so damn cost-effective.

You know who’s best positioned to attract them? The talent you already have.

Give EGV a test drive and see how it runs

Look, if you’re an SME still spending £50–£100K/year on average in traditional recruitment agency costs, then keep on doing it. At Inside Edge, we will never encourage our clients to drop what they’re doing immediately, and do it the way we say. We leave that to the tech entrepreneurs who sell you a dream by the simple click of a “Book a Free Demo” magic button.

We simply offer an alternative and added bonus that can co-exist alongside your current processes and policies, that’s it.

What if you ran an EGV initiative in parallel with your current recruitment agency procedures? No different to test driving a new car…without the salesperson in the passenger seat stressing you out. You can just relax and drive, really get a good feel for the car, and be the most authentic, most attractive version of yourself — which is exactly what top candidates want to see.

The data backs this up. According to iCIMS, companies using EGV see a 34% increase in candidate conversion rate and 37% increase in time spent on career sites.

For that same medium enterprise hiring 10 people annually, running EGV in parallel would realistically fill up to 5 positions through direct applications. That’s 5 less agency fees, half the cost.

Now you can compare the “quality” of candidates your external recruitment agency brings you versus the candidates your internal EGV content brings you. And if you start to see a notable difference, then you might be in the position to seriously start thinking about dropping your recruitment partner for good and investing the £50K+ you save into your company’s EGV initiative instead.

EGV is always a Win-Win for everyone!

Let’s cut to the chase…

Recruitment agencies offer valuable services to UK businesses, but their model is typically built around a “bums on seats” approach. Sure, T’s & C’s usually include replacement guarantees (free replacement within 8–12 weeks if the hire leaves etc) but that doesn’t make up for the disruption, time, and cost of a new hire walking out the door…just to rinse and repeat the same process all over again and expect different results. What’s the definition of insanity?

EGV has proven itself as a really effective tool for finding not just talent, but the right talent.

Whether it’s a company with zero employer branding who publishes one random piece of EGV content that goes viral and attracts an army of rising stars, or a company whose employees have developed 200 EGV clips over 1-2 years building a recognised employer brand — both companies win. What have you got to lose by making EGV part of your everyday business?

Our next article will look at the cost of EGV versus—surprise, surprise—artificial intelligence.