When it comes to hiring, it’s easy to procrastinate. After all, it’s probably not your favorite thing to do. When you want to put off an unpleasant task, any excuse can justify your decision. Below are some common reasons I’ve heard from clients over the years.
- We’ll hire another VP once we stabilize our international supply chain issues.
- As soon as we finish our quarterly filing, we’ll focus on finding a new Reporting Director.
- We’ll be able to focus on hiring a new Analyst once we’re done with our audit.
- As soon as we have a couple of months of consistent revenue growth, we can add headcount.
In most cases, companies regret their decision to delay taking prompt action. Here’s one such scenario:
The new private equity owners asked the President, “Why didn’t you hire a new CFO a couple of years back when all your financial issues started bubbling up? You knew the old CFO was a Controller at best and was overwhelmed. The banks always asked for more detailed financials but he never delivered.”
The President responded, “He closed the books on time and always gave me the numbers I was looking for. It seemed like he was managing our financial situation. I knew we were taking on more debt, but I didn’t realize things were that bad.”
Unfortunately, the Controller was not able to provide the strategic analysis needed for the President to navigate their ever-changing industry. As a result, they eventually had no other choice but to sell to private equity at a discount.
The bottom line is the wrong people in critical roles can be one of your greatest business risks and a tremendous source of stress and frustration. That’s why the most successful companies make hiring their critical roles a high priority.
As most leaders discover, filling their critical roles with the right people is very difficult. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it!
Filling your critical role with the right people
Once your company decides it’s time to fill a critical role, you then need to decide whether to fill the role on your own or engage an outside recruiter. Let’s consider some typical thought processes hiring managers go through when filling key roles on their own along with the problems they face with each approach:
- “Why don’t we post our job opening on a couple of the popular job boards? I’m sure we’ll get some qualified candidates this way.” The problem: Companies will get plenty of candidates by posting their role, but the vast majority of these candidates are not close to being qualified. In addition, it takes time and resources to sift and screen candidates in hopes of MAYBE finding a couple of qualified ones.
- “Let’s promote Sarah. I realize she’s a bit green, but I think we can get her up to speed.” The problem: Companies often promote without benchmarking their internal candidate against external candidates to determine if their internal candidate is in fact ready to be promoted.
- “The HR Director said she has a contact from a friend who appears to be qualified.” The problem: Companies often hire an internal referral without casting a wide enough net to compare their referral with qualified external candidates.
The important question to consider is whether you are considering your best option or the most convenient one.
The next question companies are faced with is whether to engage a “generalist” recruiting firm or a niche recruiting firm? Here are two compelling reasons to utilize a niche recruiting firm for your critical hires:
1. Niche recruiters are connected to more quality candidates
The best niche firms have deep trusted networks in specific areas of need that have been cultivated for decades. This gives companies access to the best “passive candidates” who are not actively looking for a new job. In most cases, these candidates usually end up being the best hires. The net result for the client is convenient and timely access to the best candidates. This saves the client precious time, money, and effort.
2. Niche recruiters understand the nuances of the client’s specific needs
The client’s hiring needs are not just based on skills and experience. Unless candidates fit a client’s culture, they will probably not be the right hire. The best niche recruiting firms put equal emphasis on understanding the skill and experience a client requires AND their unique culture. Because they’re well-versed in their specialty, a niche recruiter is better equipped to ascertain the overall best fit which increases your probability of making the right hire.
You can always find a reason to put off a critical hire. The real question is whether or not this is in the best interest of your organization. When the wrong leader is in a visible role, it permeates throughout the company and can cause a lot of stress and frustration. That’s why the most successful companies make hiring their critical roles a high priority. In most cases, they find they are best served by a niche recruiting firm. This is because niche firms have deep connections to high quality candidates and a better understanding of fit within your organization. This maximizes your odds of making a successful hire.