I remember many years ago (single and mingling days, and pre-children) when I was house sharing. We lived in a brand-new townhouse and at the back, the small muddy “garden” needed to be paved. My flatmate, a finance executive, a couple of his friends and I spent an afternoon, measuring up, calculating how many pavers would be needed and debating whether to hire someone for the job or to do it ourselves and buy an angle grinder! After I asked, “what’s that?” one of them said, “you know, with the combined salaries of all four of us doing a job that we don’t really know how to, or necessarily want to do, it’s going to cheaper and better to hire someone who does this all the time!” And indeed, within two weeks an evenly laid, beautifully paved deck, miraculously appeared! Well, that was easy! The small cost was definitely worth it and at the many social gatherings afterwards, “our” work was admired!
Since then, I’ve often thought about how my time is best utilised, both at home and at work. We’ve all hired a cleaner, a gardener, or a handyman for those jobs that you could probably do yourself, but just don’t have the time (or the will) to do. And what a joy it is when the job is done well!
These days, the shoe is on the other foot. I’m in the recruitment and HR solutions market and provide outsourcing business processes (RPO) and payroll services to my clients. The joy for me is when my clients are pleased with, not only the end result but also being able to use their time to focus on specialised tasks that could otherwise not be done by anyone else.
So, here’s the pitch; similar to the paving analogy, no one that I know well, enjoys the process of recruiting. But they do want a successful result. After all, the people applying to your vacancy may be prospective customers and you have an image to protect. They are in fact, assessing your organisation through the lens of their experience during the recruitment process. Could you be alienating a high-value candidate by not returning a call, or confirming a second interview? Have you the time to treat them delicately through a counter-offer or drill down on a reference? These are the “behind the scenes” things that recruiters do as second nature, managing candidates through each step and ensuring a fantastic experience.
It makes so much sense to let someone who has the experience and, believe it or not, enjoys the process, to provide you with the best outcome - new employees who are well versed in your role and who want to work for you – all before you lose them to your competitors! Just like the brick paver we hired was an expert in his field, we are experts in recruiting. Wouldn’t it be a shame if you had to start all over again because you didn’t have the time or skills to dedicate to one of the most vital decisions for your business?
