Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to commonly asked questions about our products and services.
Recruiting
What is outsourced recruiting?
Outsourced recruiting means bringing in an outside recruiting professional to handle some or all of your hiring process. Better Method Talent can manage a complete search from defining the position through offer acceptance, or provide additional recruiting support alongside your existing team.
Is outsourced recruiting only for large companies?
No. Small businesses can benefit significantly because they often don’t have a dedicated recruiter on staff. Outsourcing gives you access to recruiting expertise when you need it without the ongoing cost of hiring a full time recruiter.
What types of positions can Better Method Talent recruit for?
Better Method Talent supports professional hiring across a range of functions and experience levels, from individual contributors through leadership positions. Before beginning a search, we’ll discuss the position, market, requirements, and hiring goals to make sure we’re the right recruiting partner for the role.
Can you help us if we only have one position to fill?
Yes! You don’t need ongoing or high volume hiring to work with Better Method Talent. An individual search can be a great use of outsourced recruiting, particularly when the position is important, difficult to fill, or taking too much time away from your team.
Will we still be involved in choosing candidates?
Absolutely! Better Method Talent manages the recruiting process, but you make the hiring decision. We’ll work with you upfront to understand what you’re looking for, present qualified candidates, coordinate the process, and provide guidance along the way. Your team interviews the candidates you want to meet and decides who receives an offer.
How is this different from posting a job ourselves?
A job posting primarily reaches people who are actively looking and choose to apply. Professional recruiting can also include proactive sourcing and outreach to prospective candidates who may be a strong fit but aren’t actively searching job boards. Better Method Talent also handles screening, candidate communication, interview coordination, and pipeline management so your team isn’t responsible for managing every applicant.
How long does it take to fill a position?
There isn’t one standard timeline. The seniority of the position, required skills, compensation, location, availability of qualified candidates, and interview process can all affect how quickly a search moves. Better Method Talent will discuss the market and expectations with you at the beginning of the engagement and keep you informed as the search progresses.
How much does outsourced recruiting cost?
The cost depends on the type of recruiting support you need. Better Method Talent offers flexible recruiting options designed for small businesses, including support for individual searches and ongoing hiring needs. We’ll discuss the scope and pricing with you before the search begins so you understand exactly what is included.
Do you recruit for businesses outside New Jersey and Pennsylvania?
Better Method Talent is focused on helping small businesses in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. If you’re headquartered in PA or NJ but hiring a remote employee or someone located elsewhere, contact us to discuss the position and your needs.
Can you help us improve our hiring process too?
Yes! If a search uncovers opportunities to improve job descriptions, interviews, candidate communication, employer branding, recruiting technology, or other parts of your hiring process, Better Method Talent can help. More extensive hiring process development is also available through our Talent Consulting services.
Talent Acquisition Consulting
What is talent acquisition consulting?
Talent acquisition consulting helps businesses improve the strategies, processes, and tools they use to attract, evaluate, and hire employees. Unlike traditional recruiting services, which focus on filling open positions, talent consulting focuses on improving how your company hires. Better Method Talent evaluates your current practices, identifies opportunities for improvement, and helps develop a hiring process that supports your business goals.
How is talent consulting different from outsourced recruiting?
Outsourced recruiting focuses on finding and hiring candidates for specific positions. Talent consulting focuses on building or improving the systems and processes your company uses to recruit. For example, if you need someone to find candidates for an open sales position, our Recruiting service may be the best fit. If your company struggles with inconsistent interviews, ineffective job postings, or an outdated hiring process, Talent Consulting can help address those problems. Better Method Talent offers both services, and they can be combined when appropriate.
Does my small business need a talent acquisition consultant?
If hiring takes too much time, qualified candidates are difficult to attract, or your managers use different approaches to evaluating applicants, consulting may help. You may also benefit from talent consulting if you’re planning to grow, hiring for new types of positions, or building your first formal recruiting process.
Even businesses that hire only a few employees each year can benefit from a more consistent approach to recruiting. LinkedIn’s small business hiring guidance emphasizes planning, candidate screening, employer branding, and clear responsibilities as important parts of effective hiring.
Can you help us if we don’t have an HR department?
Absolutely. Many small businesses don’t have a dedicated HR or recruiting department. Hiring responsibilities often fall to owners, office managers, or department leaders. Better Method Talent can help you establish practical recruiting procedures, develop hiring tools, and organize responsibilities so your existing team can manage hiring more effectively.
Can you help us choose an applicant tracking system?
Yes. An applicant tracking system, commonly called an ATS, can help organize applications, track candidates, manage interview stages, and improve communication throughout the hiring process. Better Method Talent can help evaluate available systems, identify features that make sense for your hiring volume and budget, and assist with selection, setup, and process improvements. Not every small business needs a complicated recruiting platform. We’ll help you determine what makes sense for your organization. Candidate tracking and communication are key considerations when evaluating recruiting tools.
What is employer branding, and why does it matter for a small business?
Your employer brand is the impression people have of your company as a place to work. It includes your reputation, workplace culture, employee experiences, career opportunities, and the way you communicate with candidates. A strong employer brand helps prospective employees understand what makes your business different. For smaller companies competing against larger employers, communicating your strengths can be particularly important. Better Method Talent can help define your employer brand and incorporate it into job postings, career pages, recruiting communications, and the candidate experience.
Can talent consulting help us reduce hiring costs?
Improving your recruiting process can help reduce unnecessary expenses associated with inefficient hiring practices. For example, clearer job descriptions may attract more suitable applicants, structured interviews can help managers evaluate candidates consistently, and better recruiting technology can reduce administrative work. Better Method Talent can review your current process and identify opportunities to improve efficiency and manage recruiting expenses. Specific savings depend on your hiring needs and the changes implemented.
Can you help improve our interview process?
Yes. Interviews are one of the most important parts of the hiring process, but many businesses lack a consistent approach to conducting them. Better Method Talent can help develop structured interview processes, job related questions, candidate evaluation scorecards, and clear responsibilities for everyone involved. A consistent process helps hiring teams compare candidates using relevant qualifications and more clearly defined criteria. Structured interviews and standardized rating scales are also recognized recruiting practices in SHRM’s guidance.
For businesses interested in teaching managers how to use these tools, we also offer Team Training services.
How long does a talent consulting engagement take?
The timeline depends on the scope of the project.
A focused review of your interview process or job descriptions may require less time than developing an entire recruiting strategy, selecting a new ATS, or redesigning your hiring procedures. Better Method Talent will work with you to define the project, establish priorities, and agree on a reasonable timeline before work begins.
How much does talent acquisition consulting cost?
Pricing depends on the type of support your business needs, the complexity of your current recruiting process, and the scope of the project. Some businesses need help with one specific challenge, while others want a comprehensive review and redesign of their hiring practices. Better Method Talent can discuss your goals and recommend an appropriate consulting engagement. You’ll understand the proposed scope and pricing before moving forward.
Do you provide talent consulting outside New Jersey and Pennsylvania?
Better Method Talent primarily serves small and growing businesses in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. If your company is based in either state but has employees or hiring needs elsewhere, contact us to discuss your project.
Team Training
What is outsourced recruiting team training?
Outsourced recruiting team training means bringing in an experienced talent acquisition professional to teach your employees how to manage hiring more effectively. Better Method Talent provides training for business owners, hiring managers, HR professionals, and other employees involved in recruiting. We focus on practical skills, including interviewing, candidate evaluation, recruiting technology, job postings, and hiring procedures. The goal is to strengthen your internal recruiting capabilities so your team can make better hiring decisions.
Does my small business need hiring manager training?
If your managers interview candidates, evaluate applicants, or make hiring decisions, they can benefit from recruiting training. Many managers learn to interview through experience rather than formal instruction. Training gives them a more consistent approach to preparing for interviews, asking questions, evaluating qualifications, and selecting candidates.
Even companies that hire only a few employees each year can benefit from improving these skills.
Who should participate in recruiting training?
Training isn’t limited to HR professionals. Business owners, department heads, supervisors, office managers, and employees who participate in candidate interviews can all benefit. Better Method Talent can develop sessions for employees who are new to hiring or experienced managers who want to improve their interviewing and evaluation techniques.
Can you train managers who have no recruiting experience?
Absolutely. In fact, that’s one of the most common reasons to invest in hiring manager training. We can start with the fundamentals, including defining job requirements, reviewing resumes, preparing interview questions, conducting interviews, evaluating candidates, and communicating hiring decisions. Our approach is designed to make recruiting understandable and manageable for employees who don’t work in HR.
What is behavioral interviewing, and can you teach it?
Behavioral interviewing is a technique that asks candidates to describe real situations they’ve encountered in previous jobs and explain how they handled them. Instead of asking general questions about a candidate’s strengths, an interviewer might ask for an example of a difficult client situation, how the candidate responded, and what happened as a result. SHRM identifies behavioral interviewing as an established method for gathering evidence about candidates’ past experiences and job related capabilities.
Better Method Talent can teach your team how to develop behavioral questions, ask useful follow-up questions, and evaluate responses against the qualifications required for the job.
Can training help our managers avoid inappropriate interview questions?
Yes. Interview training can help managers understand which questions are relevant to evaluating a candidate’s qualifications and which topics should be avoided. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission advises employers to avoid questions about protected personal characteristics, including age, religion, national origin, and family plans. Additional restrictions apply to disability related inquiries before an employment offer.
Better Method Talent can cover appropriate interview practices, consistent evaluation standards, and common questions that may create discrimination concerns.
Training supports better practices, but it does not replace legal advice on employment law compliance.
Can training help us reduce employee turnover?
Recruiting training can help managers make more informed hiring decisions by focusing on job requirements, relevant experience, and demonstrated skills. A more structured approach may reduce the risk of selecting candidates based primarily on first impressions or personal preferences.
However, employee turnover is influenced by many factors beyond recruiting, including compensation, management, career development, and workplace culture. Training can improve the hiring portion of that equation, but it cannot guarantee retention.
Do you offer virtual or on-site training?
Better Method Talent offers both on-site and virtual training options for businesses in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We’ll discuss your team’s size, location, experience, and training goals to recommend an appropriate format. Training may involve an individual manager, a small group, or employees from multiple departments.
Can you customize training for our industry or specific positions?
Yes. Effective recruiting training should reflect the positions your company hires and the challenges your managers face. Better Method Talent can tailor examples, interview exercises, candidate evaluation criteria, and other training materials to your company’s roles and hiring needs. For example, a professional services firm hiring client facing employees may need a different approach from a technology business recruiting technical specialists or a growing company hiring its first management team.
How long does a recruiting training session take?
Training length depends on the topics being covered and your team’s experience. A focused session on behavioral interviewing or candidate evaluation may be shorter than a comprehensive program covering the entire hiring process. Better Method Talent will help define the training objectives, content, and format before the engagement begins.
How much does hiring manager training cost?
Pricing depends on the scope of the training, the topics covered, and the delivery format. Better Method Talent can develop training around a specific hiring challenge or a broader set of recruiting skills. We’ll discuss your goals and provide a proposed scope and pricing before scheduling the engagement.
What’s the difference between Team Training and Talent Consulting?
Team Training focuses on teaching your employees the skills to recruit and hire more effectively. Talent Consulting focuses on evaluating and improving your company’s recruiting strategy, systems, and processes. For example, Talent Consulting might involve designing a structured interview process and developing evaluation scorecards. Team Training would teach your managers how to conduct those interviews and use the scorecards effectively.
The two services can also work together to help your business implement lasting improvements.
Fractional Talent Acquisition Leadership
What is a fractional talent acquisition leader?
A fractional talent acquisition leader is an experienced recruiting professional who provides strategic leadership and oversight to a business on a part time or contract basis. Instead of hiring a permanent Head of Talent Acquisition, your company gains access to senior level recruiting expertise for an agreed amount of time. Better Method Talent can help establish hiring priorities, manage recruiting operations, lead internal recruiting staff, improve hiring processes, and provide ongoing guidance to business owners and managers.
How is fractional talent leadership different from outsourced recruiting?
Outsourced recruiting focuses on finding and hiring candidates for specific positions. Fractional Talent Leadership focuses on managing and improving your company’s overall recruiting function. For example, if your company needs to hire a new sales manager, our Recruiting service can manage that search. If your company is hiring across several departments and needs someone to oversee recruiting priorities, manage the process, guide hiring managers, and report on results, Fractional Talent Leadership may be a better fit.
Better Method Talent offers both services, and they can complement each other.
How is fractional talent leadership different from talent consulting?
Talent Consulting typically focuses on evaluating a specific challenge, developing recommendations, and helping implement improvements. Fractional Talent Leadership provides ongoing management and accountability for your recruiting function. A talent consulting engagement might involve redesigning your interview process or selecting an applicant tracking system. A fractional leader could oversee those improvements while also managing recruiting priorities, coaching employees, and working directly with company leadership.
Is fractional talent leadership only for large companies?
No. Small and growing businesses can benefit from fractional leadership because they often need experienced recruiting guidance before they have enough hiring activity or budget to justify a permanent talent acquisition executive. Better Method Talent works with businesses that need more structure and leadership in their recruiting operations but want to maintain flexibility.
How many hours per week does a fractional talent leader work?
The amount of time depends on your company’s needs, hiring activity, and the responsibilities included in the engagement. Some businesses may need a few hours of leadership support each week, while others require more substantial involvement during periods of growth or transition. Better Method Talent will work with you to determine an appropriate level of support based on your goals and available resources.
Can a fractional talent leader manage our existing recruiters or HR team?
Yes. One of the primary benefits of Fractional Talent Leadership is having an experienced professional who can provide direction and oversight to employees responsible for recruiting. Better Method Talent can help establish goals, manage recruiting priorities, coach team members, improve workflows, and monitor hiring performance. This can be particularly valuable for companies with an HR generalist or junior recruiter who needs guidance from an experienced talent acquisition leader.
Can you help us build a recruiting department from scratch?
Yes. Better Method Talent can help develop the foundation for an internal talent acquisition function. That may include establishing a recruiting strategy, defining roles and responsibilities, developing hiring procedures, selecting recruiting technology, creating reporting tools, and training employees. Our goal is to build a function that fits your company’s size and can continue to develop as your business grows.
Can fractional talent leadership help reduce our recruiting costs?
Fractional leadership can help businesses manage recruiting expenses by providing senior level expertise without the salary and benefits associated with a permanent executive position. An experienced talent leader can also identify opportunities to improve recruiting efficiency, make better use of internal resources, and evaluate spending on job advertisements, recruiting agencies, and technology. Actual savings depend on your company’s hiring activity, existing expenses, and the scope of the engagement.
Will a fractional talent leader work directly with our business owners and leadership team?
Yes. Fractional Talent Leadership is designed to provide direct access to experienced recruiting leadership. Better Method Talent works with owners, executives, department managers, and internal recruiting staff to establish hiring priorities, address challenges, and keep recruiting aligned with business goals. We become an active partner in your recruiting operation rather than an outside advisor who only provides recommendations.
How long does a fractional talent leadership engagement last?
Engagement length depends on your business needs. Some companies need temporary leadership during a transition or a defined growth period. Others benefit from ongoing fractional support as their recruiting function develops. Better Method Talent can help establish an appropriate scope, schedule, and engagement period based on your priorities.
How much does fractional talent acquisition leadership cost?
Pricing depends on the level of involvement, the responsibilities included, and the expected duration of the engagement. A company needing a few hours of strategic oversight each week will have different requirements from a business that needs someone to manage an active recruiting team and oversee multiple hiring initiatives. Better Method Talent will discuss your goals and recommend an engagement structure with a clearly defined scope and pricing.
Can fractional leadership help us transition to a full time talent acquisition leader?
Yes. Fractional leadership can be an effective way to build your recruiting function before hiring a permanent leader. Better Method Talent can help establish processes, document responsibilities, develop recruiting metrics, and prepare your internal team for the transition. We can also help define the qualifications and responsibilities needed for a permanent talent acquisition leadership position.
Do you provide fractional talent leadership outside New Jersey and Pennsylvania?
Better Method Talent primarily serves small and growing businesses in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. If your company is based in either state but has employees or hiring operations in other locations, contact us to discuss your needs.
Still have a question?
If you have any other queries, feel free to reach out to us. Our knowledgeable team is here to help!