19 Jul Effective Communication with Umbrella Companies: Building Strong Partnerships
A huge part of your job as a recruiter is using effective communication. You liaise with end-clients to establish their precise recruitment needs, you discuss roles with candidates to discover if they’re suitable, and you build relationships with contractors to ensure that they’ll be happy and productive in their assignments. You understand that communication is vital to the recruitment cycle and to enable harmonious working relationships.
However, if you’re not forming effective communication channels with your umbrella company, you’re missing out on the opportunity to build better working relationships with both the contractors that you place and the end-clients that you service.
How to establish effective communication
Let’s take a look at some tactics to make your communication with your umbrella company more effective:
- Listen well – listening skills benefit all parties involved, and can provide clarity in a conversation. It shows respect for the person who’s speaking and demonstrates that you’re willing to consider another person’s point of view.
- Be clear – if you don’t understand something just ask. Nobody knows everything and no one will think less of you for asking to have a complex point explained to you, especially if it’s about one of the more technical aspects of using an umbrella company.
- Be precise – as recruitment is a highly-defined discipline, precision is vital. Advanced preparation for meetings with members of the umbrella company team, end-clients or contractors as well as telephone calls and emails will avoid any misunderstanding.
- Be honest – the whole recruitment cycle is based on trust and without it recruiters risk reputational damage not only as individuals but also for the company they work for. It’s far better to take a step back and research a topic than make promises that you know can’t be fulfilled.
- Give and take feedback – constructive criticism is a powerful ally in the learning process and learning to give and take feedback can help you and others improve the service you offer to end-clients and contractors alike.
Building strong partnerships
Responsive and effective umbrella companies have a dedicated team staffed by experienced people who can provide answers about anything related to the umbrella company you partner with.
Here at i4 we provide extensive training to our service experts so they are able to answer most questions about the products and services that we offer – and we promise that if you ask a question that gets them stumped, they’ll seek advice and get back to you.
We also have a wide-ranging FAQ section on our website to provide you with information about our umbrella services and the levels of support you can expect when you partner with us – if there is a question you can’t find an answer to please get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to help.
Finally, if you want to discuss any aspect of the services and products we offer simply call us on 0203 603 1290, email us at hello@i4services.uk or fill in the contact form here.