Online has been a great equaliser for businesses by making the access to target audiences and the reach of marketing communications available to both large and small businesses alike it has levelled the playing fields. But what has it done for professionals? While it has helped us grow our networks and broaden our personal reach, it has also in some instances, undervalued the services or skills we offer due to the intimate approach that online facilitates. Professional recruitment is one such skill.

Platforms like LinkedIn have made posting job vacancies effortless. This has led many businesses into thinking that they are able to manage their own recruitment, resulting in them  being dismissive of the usual recruitment fees. While advertising the vacancy is a small part of the process, there’s so much more to professional recruitment than just putting the job post up online.

The time and effort spent by you your team reviewing the CV’s and qualifying the good candidates is the hidden expense of managing your own recruitment.

Before you automatically dismiss the use of professional recruitment services. Think what the ideal recruiter can do for you.

Writing the ideal job spec:

Crafting a well worded job specification takes time. This is what will convey the type of candidate that you are looking to recruit and at the same time it will excite potential candidates to apply for the role. Someone who understands what candidates are looking for and is skilled at being clear about what the employer is looking for, will be able to draft the job specification to a high standard in less time. And it will get done professionally. This is their job, it’s not an additional task that will be deprioritised when given to a busy employee.

Selecting and assessing the quality of the candidates

Filtering through hundreds of CV’s is the most crucial part of the job and It is estimated that an average job application receives over 250 CV’s.  It is a full time role, that requires undivided attention, to review and assess who the best applicants are, who has the most potential and who should be selected for the first round of interviews.

First round interviews

Finding the time to conduct first round phone interviews or face to face meetings is a big commitment in terms of time and effort. Not only for the preparation and actual interview but the time spent liaising with the candidates to agree the most convenient time.

Second round interviews

Most businesses have at least a 2 stage interview process and many businesses have several steps. Briefing the candidate on the task you would like them to complete, takes time. Setting up and agreeing the time for the interview, again takes time. Then there is the actual interview itself, then the feedback after the interview. All in all it’s an extremely time consuming process, especially if you want to find the right candidate.

Negotiating the job offer

If everything goes to plan and you would like to make the candidate an offer, a whole new set of skills are required. Not only do you need to negotiate salary and package. But the candidate may have some queries that they would like addressed prior to committing to the job offer. This may take several phone conversations and e-mail exchanges prior to getting the candidate signed up.

If you are only recruiting for one position and you don’t feel the above is a distraction from your day job, then you may not require a professional recruiter. However,  if you have multiple vacancies and a demanding job then a professional recruiter may just be more cost effective solution than the cost of your time and the hidden expenses of managing the recruitment process inhouse. The cost of hiring the wrong person will far outweigh any expense spent on a good recruiter.

Contact Jennifer Murphy on jennifer.murphy@fmi.ie to discuss further.