As businesses grow, the unique challenges of talent acquisition become increasingly complex. While there are certain positions that an internal team will be able to efficiently fill, we have found six scenarios where it makes sense for a company to partner with a recruitment firm.

  • 1. The Role Has a Large Impact on the Company

    For an upper-level leadership position that has a significant impact on the success of the company, there is too much at stake to risk hiring the wrong person. The cost of a poor hire is a lingering detriment that may affect the company’s bottom-line and culture for years. Partnering with a recruitment firm to headhunt the ideal candidate with a proven track record of success in the same or similar positions reduces the risk of making a bad hire.

  • 2. Time Lost is Opportunity Cost

    If the hiring process requires department and company leaders to be present for a number of interviews from multiple candidates, they are losing an excessive amount of time that could be spent on developing the company. Workable.com has found that companies conduct, on average, 17 interviews per hire, a process taking approximately 28 days. This time lost will result in the company seeing their bottom-line affected by lost productivity and efficiency during the search.

  • 3. The Role is Beyond the Scope of the Hiring Team’s Expertise

    Businesses are sometimes faced with a vacancy for a unique position that is beyond the hiring team’s core expertise. The responsibilities and soft skills necessary for the role are often lost on those conducting the search and interviews, making it impossible to find the right fit for the role. Recruitment firms have recruiters who specialize in certain industries with experience making placements in positions of every level.

  • 4. There is a Lack of Precedent Needed for Hiring

    When introducing a new role, or redefining a current role, making the right hire can be a challenge due to the lack of precedent—those conducting the search have no knowledge of the role and what it requires in order to be successful. The person filling a new position should be headhunted to ensure that they have proven success in a similar role and can go in and hit the ground running to build a plan for success within the role. The same applies to positions that need to be rebuilt because the person who occupied the position last was unsuccessful. Recruiters have access to a large pool of talent and have likely placed candidates in the role that is new to the company.

  • 5. Internal Resources are Limited  

    Many companies operate without an internal HR department, requiring the leadership of the company to give up the time to conduct searches for talent. Even if a company has an internal HR department, they are responsible for many administrative duties and handling employee relations, compensation and benefits, training, and much more. Consequently, some searches may be out of the scope of the HR specialists’ bandwidth.

  • 6. The Search is Confidential

    When internal confidentiality is an important factor of a search, the clear solution is to work with a recruitment firm. Another crucial factor that tends to get overlooked is maintaining external confidentiality for high-profile searches as well. When headhunting for a position and speaking with people who are currently employed, perhaps at a competitor, it is important that the search be fully confidential.

Why Hire a Recruitment Firm?

Recruiters have access to larger talent pools and are experienced filling many positions across industries. If companies are faced with any of these six scenarios, partnering with a recruitment firm is the smartest and most cost-effective solution.