Lusona’s Chris Connelly (Director of Financial Services) thoughts on       the changing face of recruitment! 

I felt it important to write an article after a series of (initially) frustrating conversations with clients. This frustration stemmed from their methods of attracting new staff - to me, these methods were so obviously wrong!

I quickly realised that this approach of recruiting probably wasn’t that obviously wrong to anyone not sitting on my side of the fence i.e. an experienced recruitment specialist.

I’ve devised a quick guide covering off the typical mistakes businesses make and why traditional contingency based recruitment, put out to the lowest bidder, is particularly ineffective in a bullish or at least post-recession market place.

Mistake 1: Engaging with as many recruitment companies as possible will ensure you have access to a large number of candidates, right?

Wrong!

Firstly, contingent recruiters attract candidates in the same way – ad response and database searches (of candidates who previously applied for adverts) – the same candidates apply to the same jobs and all firms end up with the same candidate pool!

Additionally, in this post-recession market there are a smaller number of good candidates scouring job boards. Mainly because the best people are being well looked after!

Mistake 2: You are keeping an eye on costs and don’t want to pay premium prices for recruitment, so you’ll give the job to the lowest bidder?

Wrong!

Let’s put this in perspective. Your boiler is playing up, typical Scottish weather is doing the usual and you need it fixed – fast. Would you scrimp on the price you pay for a tradesman? Chances are, an inexperienced, slap-dash job will cost you more in the long run.

Funnily enough – the same is true in recruitment. Businesses willing to drop the price of their services very low are probably not very good. They are unlikely to have a good pipeline of work from existing or referred clients and a lack of specialist knowledge to fully understand the brief, market and/or candidates. Choosing a company based on price, may in fact cost you more – what if they can’t supply? You will then be in the position of sourcing another recruiter and facing double your original cost. Also don’t forget that time has a cost. Your time, plus the cost to the business of an empty desk.

In short, the market is different in 2015 and we all need to adapt. We can no longer rely (recruiters included) on a great person applying to an advert, other search tools are much more effective.

Please think twice before instructing a pile of agencies to source for you. It does not increase your candidate pool and will discourage the very best consultants from working with you.

Get in touch with Chris on 0141 516 4333 / chris@lusona.co.uk to discuss any requirements and how our alternative searching methods can assist.