Signs You’re Ready to Partner with an Executive Search Firm

Recruitment is one of the most time-consuming activities businesses can undertake. There are many different parts of the process that require lots of your time. When you’re recruiting, you’re not spending time on other aspects of your business. This can be a huge cost for your business. Research has shown that the average cost of recruiting is about 150% of the annual salary of the position. But these costs can be reduced with an executive search firm.

What Contributes to Recruitment Costs?

Recruitment has many associated costs. Some of these are hidden and others are very transparent. For instance, the costs to post adverts, complete any background checks and hosting interview sessions are often fixed costs that can be seen on a balance sheet. Other costs like lost productivity and time lost completing the recruitment process often go unnoticed.

In addition, spending a lot of time recruiting takes away time that can be spent on other tasks within the company. This can include overseeing production lines, marketing campaigns or doing audits of the accounts. These activities are just as essential as recruitment but often recruitment can take over.

That is why partnering with an executive search firm can be so beneficial. The cost-benefit of the partnership can allow you to recruit the best talent for the role at an affordable cost. But it is not for every business. So you need to be looking out for these signs to ensure that you’re in need of a recruitment partner.

1. High Turnover of Staff

One of the biggest issues with recruitment is that there is often a high turnover. While statistics vary, it is safe to say that a lot of organizations can suffer from several failed placements of new team members. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that offers are made based mainly on the candidate’s ability to fit into the company and the other is that the candidate fits the qualification requirement exactly.

In the first scenario, the problem can be that the candidate doesn’t know how to do the job. They can be a great fit in the company, but their productivity and accuracy are not at the standard you want. In the second scenario, the person might be competent in their role, but they don’t get along with the brand’s ethical output or others within the organization. In this case, sometimes you will find other staff will abandon your business. And these people can also be hard to replace.

Both scenarios cause disruption. When you’re dealing with an executive search company, they look for a mixture of skills and personality. A candidate must have the skills to do the job, but some can be trained. However, their personal values must meet with the ethics of the company.

2. Costs are Spiraling Out of Control

If you find that costs are getting out of control, then perhaps you need to seek the support of an executive search firm. They have the experience and expertise to ensure the costs of the recruitment drive are down. After all, the recruitment firm’s fee is based on the salary of the new recruit, not how much they spend. Therefore, the recruitment consultancy will want to keep costs down.

This can also be a good way to ensure that you know how much recruitment is costing you. It is a finite cost that’s within one lump sum.

3. Recruitment is Taking too Long

Another key problem is that sometimes recruitment takes too long. There’s no set reason why recruitment might be taking too long for your brand. It could be that you’re not advertising in the right places, or that you’re not appealing to the right audience.

Executive search firms can help here.

Often they have a list of people on their books who are actively or passively seeking new opportunities. They can immediately contact these people and see if they’re interested in your position. And they know, if there is no one suitable, where to best advertise the role.

In addition, executive search firms will be able to take away some of the mundane tasks from you. They can look at applications and discard those without the proper qualifications, conduct first interviews and even complete background tasks. These first-step tasks take a lot of your time up but they don’t need to. With the consultancy taking on these roles, you can focus your efforts on other areas of your business.

4. Candidates aren’t of a Good Enough Caliber

Finally, if you’re recruiting and you’re getting candidates to apply but they’re not good enough, there is something wrong with your process. Every moment that you’re spending on candidates who are unsuitable is wasting your time and costing you money.

Therefore, you need to seek the services of the executive search firm. They can look at your current campaign, identify where the problem is and then take your campaign to the next level to get those candidates through.

Are you Ready for an Executive Search Firm?

Getting the right candidate into a position, especially when they’re going to be in a leadership role, is challenging. It is also time-consuming and costly. That is why many businesses now seek the expertise and experience of an executive search firm. While the recruitment consultancy finds the candidates, you will be free to run your business and ensure you’re making the most out of your time.