Three simple reasons why paying for executive search saves you money:
- Return on Investment: the difference between Executive Search and Recruitment.A few years ago we were engaged to find a Tax Leader for our European client; the fee was around $30,000. In her first year, the new Tax Leader saved the company over $500,000 – an excellent ROI. A recruiter could have found a ‘good’ Tax Leader, and he/she might have saved $150,000 – a decent result and everyone would have been happy. But, by investing in executive search, they have a great Tax Leader who continues to outperform.
That’s the difference in your Return on Investment.
- Opportunity Cost: the Silent Thief.Some might not know the term but understand the concept. As an economics student, opportunity cost was drilled into me. Put simply, it’s the value of what could have been, as opposed to what did. Or, more formally, benefits foregone by not choosing an alternative course of action.
A client’s HR department advertised a sales position on linked in. For five months. Hundreds of (unqualified) applicants: all had to be assessed (and, I hope, replied to), and considerable management time to interview the best of them. HR insisted they would find the ideal applicant; they didn’t. The regional manager finally gained approval to engage us: we closed it in five weeks with a superb candidate.
The opportunity cost was five months of inaction (and wasted action). No sales; no building business contacts; no market surveying or networking; no revenue; and no profits. Add the cost of the wasted hours and hours of HR’s and senior management’s time and so on.
But few companies account for this. They shrug and think, ‘Oh well, now we have someone’. But if they held those involved responsible for the (easily measured) opportunity cost, views might change. HR and line managers should work together to minimise time-to-hire. Repeatedly trying the same method and expecting different results is, as a famous scientist probably said, the definition of insanity.
When you look at opportunity cost, our fees are small by comparison.
- Post-Sales Service: aka Follow-UpWe aren’t hit-and-run recruiters; we have systems in place to stay in touch with candidates and clients, making sure all is well. And, sometimes, we offer complimentary coaching for the first year (typically six sessions). These steps, combined, are significant – for clients and candidates – to smooth the onboarding process as well as bringing out the best in both parties. No-one ever hired someone to fail, only ever to succeed, so why not spend a little extra to maximise the possibility of that?
Our job isn’t finished when the candidate starts work. We stay in touch to ensure that the recruitment is a success.
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