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The Value of External Recruitment
In the competitive job market, businesses constantly face the challenge of hiring the right talent to drive growth and success. The temptation to cut costs by handling recruitment in-house can be strong, especially during economic slowdowns, when candidates appear readily available, or when budgets are tight.
So, let’s explore the benefits of engaging an external recruitment expert and how it can save businesses from making costly hiring mistakes.
Recruitment is a complex, multi-faceted service that that is much more than simply posting job ads and conducting interviews . It involves:
It's a unique combination of art and science that takes even the best of recruiters years to master.
It requires a focus on quality hiring outcomes that can too often be influenced by biases, internal politics, misguided KPIs, industry ‘truisms’, and inertia or rushed judgments.
Businesses that choose to conduct recruitment internally may lack the expertise and objectivity to manage the myriad of nuances that can derail an important hire. They may also skip crucial steps in the hiring process. For instance, an eager hiring manager might make an offer after just one interview, ignoring the value of a second-round discussion or presentation with different stakeholders.
Experienced external recruiters:
External recruiters bring a robust, scientific and structured approach. We reduce the risk of costly mistakes, increase the likelihood of discovering hidden gems by widening the scope, and bring genuine ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking.
Here are some key advantages:
1. Independence and Honesty
Good external recruiters have an outcome driven perspective, ensuring that candidates are assessed objectively. We are not emotionally attached to the hiring decision and will provide honest feedback and guidance. We will challenge your thinking and break down barriers that may block making a successful hire.
2. Extended Reach
Recruiters have access to a vast network of potential candidates that spans industries, roles, and time. This extensive reach allows us to identify and contact individuals who have transferrable skills, relevant experience, are a good cultural fit for your organisation, and who aren’t actively looking for a new job.
3. Expertise in the Market
Years of experience means career recruiters have learned the nuances of the job market, and the essential steps and key moments in a hiring assignment. We have personally experienced the cost of getting it wrong and have built in safeguards and process refinements to avoid derailments or mistakes.
4. Quality Over Quantity
External recruiters focus on quality outcomes rather than just filling roles quickly against KPIs. We typically interview and assess more candidates than an inhouse recruiter, which means we’re assessing a bigger pool, and will inevitably identify potential candidates that an inhouse process will miss.
Experienced recruiters, like Carrington King, also appreciate the value in in personally reviewing every submission; not leaving it to AI and keyword searches to handle the initial screening. This takes out the ‘learned’ bias of AI, enables the identification of candidates whose background doesn’t conform to norms but possess a collective relevant experience that fits the role requirements. A unique and skilled eye is required, backed by a breadth of work and life experience, which is a real differentiator.
5. Facilitating Salary Negotiations
Recruiters help facilitate salary negotiations, ensuring that both parties are satisfied with the final offer. This begins during the initial consultant interview, is continually refined and can mitigate against the loss of potential candidates deep into the process due to misaligned salary expectations.
6. Feedback and Second Chances
Recruiters maintain relationships with candidates, even those who were unsuccessful. We provide constructive and respectful feedback that ensures no bridges are burned. This approach offers both parties a second-chance if circumstances change with the preferred candidate.
A bad hire creates more risk more than just the financial cost. The repercussions can impact the organisation in various ways.
1. Damaged Reputation
A poor hiring decision can negatively impact existing employees and brand, culture, and even damage your company's reputation in the market.
2. Loss of Productivity
A bad hire not only incurs the financial cost of starting over the recruitment process, but also a substantial hit to role performance. Customers may be impacted and even lost, completed work may need to be redone or corrected, then there’s the impost of training and inducting another new hire. This can affect team members and their productively as well. An accepted total cost of hiring and replacing a candidate is around one to two times their salary (Gallup Feb 2023), so it’s essential to get it right first time.
3. Missed Opportunities
Choosing the wrong candidate can result in missed opportunities for growth and innovation. Most organisations talk about people being their most important asset; this starts with recruiting the right person and exponentially grows from there .
Ultimately, great recruitment is about securing the right talent to drive your organisation forward. It’s a qualitative outcome which is a combination of process and systems, blended with deep business and recruitment experience.
It's an investment in the future of your business. Guided by experienced recruiters, and supported by a structured process, the benefits of third-party recruitment are clear. It's a strategic partnership with people as its focus, that can lead to long-term success and a stronger, more competitive organisation.