YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE MISSING
“I’ve recruited this role several times already and I haven’t needed to use a recruitment agency yet, we don’t like paying agency placement fees”
A quote from a Talent Acquisition professional from a multinational organisation who is going through a massive business transformation project. As a recruitment agent we are very used to this type of response from internal talent acquisition teams. Even more scary, the role in question is a Project Director role!
Internal Talent Acquisition teams are a very valuable recruitment and resourcing channel for any company hiring more than a dozen or so people a year. Like any resourcing channel, Talent Acquisition teams come with a cost that can be broken down to an average cost per hire.
Specialist Recruitment Agencies are similarly a valuable recruitment and resourcing channel for companies looking to ensure they hire the best person in the marketplace. Just like Talent Acquisition teams, employment of an agency candidate comes at an average cost per hire.
(Good) Specialist Recruitment Agencies can provide access to a passive marketplace of candidates that is beyond the reach of most talent acquisition teams. In the Business Transformation and SAP marketplace the candidates are not sitting on Seek waiting for organisations to advertise a role – from my experience an estimated 80% of the roles are never even advertised at all!
As suggested, the quote above was in relation to a Program Director position and I was proudly told how the the company had managed to fill the role themselves directly -several times over the last couple of years!!
Make sense to anyone? What’s the repeated hiring process costing the business? Worse yet, what is the repeated hiring process costing the Transformation Project? What will the flow on effect to the business be?
Does your organisation want the best possible talent in your teams, particularly in such a critical role? Do you want to limit the cost of hiring mistakes and early attrition? What then is the benefit of restricting the agency channel?
Given agency fees are contingent in nature, I struggle to see the commercial sense in limiting supply of high calibre candidates that would deliver returns to the business that are far beyond any placement fee. If the returns aren’t there then the business shouldn’t be hiring in the first place!
The answer is in empowering your management and leadership to consider candidates from both channels (along with employee referral schemes) in a competitive scenario. Utilise available technology to regulate the engagement terms and processes appropriately. An organisations management should be responsible for engagement of both channels and able to hire the best person in the marketplace.
No channel should be able to, let alone encouraged, to restrict the operation of the other.
BT People (www.btpeople.com.au) Experienced and expert recruitment for your IT/ERP system Business Transformation projects. APSCo Certified
Contact (02) 9188 2091 or Adrian.everett@btpeople.com.au