How do you know if your open position should be outsourced to an Executive Search Firm and that in so doing you are making a good business decision for your organization? Below are some of the key factors to help you determine if outsourcing the search is your next step. If any or all of the reasons below exist, it may be more cost effective to outsource. With the business climate becoming increasingly competitive, finding the very best talent will be key to the growth of your organization.
Here are some factors to consider:
1. The talent you are seeking is not responding to traditional recruitment techniques
Traditional recruitment techniques such as job postings, either on a job board like Monster or The Ladders or on your company’s website, contingent recruiters, or referrals from colleagues, friends, etc. can be effective, but you need to assess whether they are bringing you the talent you really need for your critical open position. Often times the best talent will not respond to these traditional techniques because quite simply they aren’t seeking a new role; they’re passive talent, actively working in a similar position for another company. Many contingent recruiters will not seek out passive talent, but will simply repost your existing position under their brand. And some in house recruiters are not trained to proactively source for talent but only screen inbound resumes. Having a large pipeline of talent from traditional recruiting sources does not necessarily mean that your ideal talent is in queue. If you aren’t seeing the talent you need, it may be time to outsource your search to an Executive Search Consultant.
2. The position has been open in excess of 3 months
If a position has been open for more than three months and there are no viable candidates in pipeline, it’s time to reassess your methods. Every communication your company makes is a reflection of your employer brand and if a position is open for a long period of time, you may not realize what you are communicating to your audience. If the same job at the same company keeps reappearing over a prolonged period of time, you may be creating doubt and concern: “What’s wrong with XYZ Company? How come they still have that position open? Are they even serious about finding someone?” You are placing your employer brand at risk. An Executive Search Consultant can work with your hiring team to determine whether the problem is one of methodology, expectations, assessment or a combination of all three.
3. You are filling a position that is in high demand in a specific market
Companies are constantly on the lookout for talent who combine experience with innovation and who are up to date on the latest technologies and trends. The higher the level of experience/knowledge required, the smaller the talent pool. Add in more specific criteria surrounding the role and competitors seeking the same type of talent and you now have a hard to fill search. Hard to fill searches are incredibly time consuming and conducting such a search is a full time job that may require the expertise of a search firm. While you may have a dedicated and talented internal recruiting team, a hard to fill search may require a higher level of focus and expertise than your hard working team is able to provide while they endeavor to fill numerous other talent requisitions. Additionally, there’s a risk of potentially alienating a desirable talent should they be engaged by a less experienced internal recruiter who does not possess the requisite knowledge of the role and area of expertise in question. This can be especially true in markets such as the SF Bay Area that has an extremely savvy and well educated talent base.
And if you have no internal recruiting team, it may mean…
4. The search is time consuming for internal staff who are being taken away from their core responsibilities
While you certainly would want your SVP’s opinion on what type of talent is needed for your open Vice President role, having the SVP be responsible for the search will pull them away from their core responsibilities. This is especially true in smaller companies without an internal talent acquisition department but can also be true for ones that do. While the SVP may be adept at identifying the best talent for the team, finding that talent can be an altogether different matter, particularly if you are relying on traditional recruitment strategies. And if the SVP is in any way responsible for revenue growth, you are putting your organization at even greater risk; instead of “saving” money by not hiring an external consultant, you have now set back your Marketing/Sales/Business Development etc. plan by having that SVP concentrate on an area not of their expertise.
5. The search is or should be confidential
When you post a highly visible and key senior level position to the public, you post it to everyone, including your competition. You may be alerting your competition that you have a gap in senior leadership that they can use to their advantage by going after your existing clients (this is particularly true with advertising and marketing agencies) or you can damage your employer brand, similar to reposting a position over and over as in #2 (“What’s wrong with XYZ? What happened with their SVP? Did s/he quit? Was s/he fired? “). And if a high level performer has decided to leave your organization or a low level performer needs to be replaced, a mishandling of the transition or in the timing of the announcement to the internal staff could create additional internal turnover. It may be best to have an Executive Search Consultant handle your high level search confidentially.
Talent is a key differentiator between good companies and great companies. In this increasingly competitive business environment, you simply cannot afford to have anything but the best executive talent. While many methodologies are effective in finding and attracting talent, if you are seeking the best talent, not just the best talent available, an Executive Search Consultant may be the most valuable investment your company makes.