The Talent Scout Episode 9: When should you outsource your recruitment process?
3 minutes | Posted 14 April, 2020

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The world is changing quickly. Far quicker then some of us would like it to. Who knew during the holidays last year or even a month ago that this is what 2020 was going to shape up to be. Who knows where we’ll be in a couple of weeks or maybe even a couple of days. The environment has changed around us, we must accept it, and we must adapt to it as best we can.

That said, it seems the theme of the moment or method of adaption in the business world right now is, control. Everyone’s trying to weather the storm by closing their fist tighter and holding on to what they’ve got.
If control is what you’re after then outsourcing your recruitment may be the way to go.

For some, outsourcing in this climate doesn’t make sense for your organisation, it’s not the right move for you at this moment. But there are two very different groups that can gain value out of outsourcing their recruitment in this current uncertainty:

People in need of more time

The first are organisations that aren’t going to be recruiting often or traditionally recruited quite frequently but now will only be recruiting a few times a year. The benefit of outsourcing for this sort of organisation is a saving in terms of time. But also financially. A sustained internal recruitment process can become very expensive between the cost of job boards, sustained headhunting, and other recruitment tools you might be using. If you’re only going to be recruiting for positions a handful of times a year you probably don’t need such a sophisticated and expensive recruitment process. Outsourcing these roles to a professional will likely save you a lot of time and money. Which are two resources that are always worth holding on to.

Larger organisations that have recently downsized

If you’re now doing the work of three people I am certain that time is the most valuable asset in your life right now. Hiring within these sorts of organisations won’t slow for long and managing a recruitment process with a lot less support is going to be challenging. In this instance you’re probably not going to want to outsource your entire recruitment process. That wouldn’t make sense for you. But there are always time sucks that you can alleviate. For instance, reference checking can take ages. And if you’re not carrying out reference checks then what on earth are you doing, they’re so important. But, to focus back on topic, they are also time-consuming. There are countless organisations that can take that workload off of your hands for relatively cheap. Don’t crumble under the weight of your work for no reason.

What to look for when partnering with outsourced recruitment partners

The biggest thing when it comes to choosing your recruitment partner is questions. You should almost be irritated by the number of questions the recruiter asks you. If they’re not asking a lot of questions then they aren’t taking the time to know you and your organisation. If they don’t know you they’re going to get your recruitment wrong. It’s not going to be reflective of you as an organisation and it’s going to leave you with the wrong candidates.
Make sure you’re working with someone who wants to establish a partnership with you. Not just someone who wants to make a quick dollar off of one transaction with you. There’s nothing good in that. And even if what you actually need is just one transaction you still want to work with an organisation that knows you. Because only a recruitment partner that knows your organisation and what it is about is going to do the job right.

Getting support

Scout Talent can support your organisation is by offering help with as much or as little of a recruitment process as you need. We can go full end to end and write a job description that sells your organisation, interview and shortlist your candidates, before testing and carrying out reference checks on your preferred candidate. If that’s too much we can also be much more transactional at any of those steps or even give you access to an open-source applicant tracking system of ours.

We here at Scout are a business., but recruitment is murky and all kinds of grey at this moment in time. If you’re having trouble navigating it, and who could blame you, give us a call. Our recruitment experts are happy to talk through the issues you’re experiencing and see if there’s some way that we can help.

This current climate of uncertainty is going to end. I can’t tell you when or in what form that’s going to take. But it will end. Hiring freezes will come to an end. The world will return to whatever normal looks like for you. Make sure when you get to that point, you’re in the best position possible when it comes to recruitment. Be ready to leap ahead when the time comes.

If you would like more information about how Scout Talent can help you to adapt your recruitment process, call us at 1 866 474 3140 or click the button below.

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