Why in-house teams need recruitment consultanciesPosted about 4 years ago by Nick Boulton

There’s a question that keeps coming up at my client meetings:

“Nick, it’s all very well hearing about how good your consultants are, how you find great candidates, and why your service is amazing. But why do I need you when my in-house team is so good?”

For my sins, my answer depends on three things:

• How soggy my Weetabix were that morning
• How delayed South Western Rail’s ‘award-winning’ rail service was
• Or just how blunt and sarcastic I feel like

It can go like this:

“ With the greatest respect, Mr Client, I call bullshit. Tech recruitment is incredibly difficult. There’s a talent shortage that isn’t easing up. And to be frank, I don’t care if you have a team of ‘recruitment ninjas’, you’re not going to find enough of the right people.”

(Train delays bring out the best in me – so let’s skip the foreplay and get to the point.)

Broadly speaking, there are only two reasons why a hiring managers play the “Our Internal Team Rules” card. Either they don’t like the cut of my jib (you wouldn’t be the first…) or you think our fees are too expensive.

I mean sure , a recruitment company’s fees are just another line on your budget, but we will actually save you money and time – and that’s a fact.

Research shows that a company could lose £132,015 per every bad hire . That's wasted salary, wasted training, lost productivity and the cost of staff turnover - all mitigated if you make use of a dedicated recruitment partner.

It’s a simple relationship which is most effective when:

• You have clear lines of communication
• You have line manager contact
• You don’t put up roadblocks
• You give fast, concise feedback
• You have a need to hire – that’s probably the most important part.

But that relationship can turn sour if your internal recruitment team:

• Sit on CVs
• Try to impose their authority to show who’s ‘in charge’
• Slow the process down (from slow candidate feedback, not updating career portals etc.)
• And refuse to use anything other than email (kill me now!)

Don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying we are the answer to all recruitment woes.

But a good working relationship with your recruitment partner(s) is vital, and it can go wrong so easily, but at the same time can be fixed so quickly.

Never has it been a more important for internal recruitment teams to have a great external recruitment partner to be able to call up and lean on, whatever it’s for:

• Market knowledge
• Salary surveys
• Internal salary benchmarking
• Technology updates
• Advice for managing problem employees
• Or just a general chat

The relationship between Internal and External recruitment teams should be seamless, symbiotic, mutually beneficial to the point where the only way you know the difference of the service is that we are based in our office and you are safely tucked away in yours, lapping up the credit for a job well done.

So, what’s my` advice?

Don’t wait, don’t let ego get in the way, don’t worry about job preservation or the need to make sure you look good internally.

Reach out, start the conversation, engage with your preferred recruitment partner and start making that one of your most important working relationships. In turn, we’ll make you look like a rock star internally.

If that’s not the case, you’re using the wrong recruitment consultancy. I’m free for a chat anytime.