Social Media or Recruitment Agencies?

The opportunity to reduce recruitment costs by finding candidates through the use of social media has never been more appealing. With agencies taking anywhere between 15% and 30% of first year salary the option of direct recruitment would seem far more cost effective. But is this always the case?

 

Amongst a number of things I have in common with my colleagues at JEM Retail Consultants is that we have all done more recruitment of people on behalf of the companies that we have worked for than we have been recruited and we have each had a lot of approaches as a result of our LinkedIn profiles. Between us we have also dealt with a large number of recruitment agencies as both recruiter and candidate.

This got me thinking both about the optimum way to recruit new talent as well as the best way to find the next opportunity myself. Figures validated in studies conducted by The Institute if Interim Management and The Interim Management Association suggest that the average day rate for interim managers is between £600 and £700. On a typical assignment of 8 months this could mean paying an agency fee of around £26k, making sourcing your own candidates a very attractive proposition.

Information provided in The Interim Report for 2013 published by Executives Online shows that 52% of clients would initially "See if I can find one myself, within my own or my colleagues' circle of contacts." This is consistent with the experience of interim managers themselves: "Almost two thirds sourced projects themselves, but over a third were making use of interim or recruitment providers to find work".

The same survey, however, found that 47% of clients in 2013 would "prefer to make use of a recruitment or provider company of some sort". This is a significant increase from just 25% in 2011.

Recommendations from people you trust have to be one of the best ways of finding new people as well as new opportunities and this is as true of agencies as it is of your personal contacts. To add value to the recruitment process the agency you use should send you a small number of high quality candidates, all of whom fit the requirement providing an efficient recruitment process and a higher chance of candidate acceptance and retention.

I get very nervous when I am contacted by multiple agencies in connection with the same role as it suggests that the client doesn't have a strong relationship with the agency and is employing a "scatter-gun" effect hoping to hit lucky. I am also worried, both as a recruiter and a candidate, if the agency hasn't taken the time to meet the person they are putting forward beforehand.

For many years now (more then either of us care to remember) I have worked with Mary Anderson Ford from Aqua Retail. From our first acquaintance Mary represented, in my view, the height of good practice by taking the time to understand both how I work and the culture of the business I am representing. As a result she became a trusted referral expert and I can rely on the fact that she has already checked the technical expertise and obtained "soft" references for each candidate I see.

In the same way, if she talks to me about a new role, I can be certain that it will be of interest and that I would be a good fit. The rest is down to me.

That is how agencies can add real value to the recruitment process. My advice would be to find an agency partner who takes the time and effort to do their research well and really understand you, your business and the role you want to fulfil. That is worth the money.

Written by Erica Vilkauls: Director JEM Retail Consultants.

Was It Worth It?

My colleagues and I at JEM Retail Consultants recently took an Exhibitor stand at the Retail Week Technology Summit. Was it worth it, what did we learn, and would we do it again?

The Interim Survey Report 2013 published by Executives Online reports that 62% of interim managers generate new opportunities themselves, with the remaining 38% relying on interim or recruitment providers. "The provider share of assignments has remained virtually constant in all Executive Online's surveys conducted over the past six years".

When it comes to finding the right interim manager the survey goes on to report that clients and interims connecting directly is the most prevalent method of engagement but the use of agencies has grown: "However, many more clients in 2013 - 47%, almost half - reported they'd prefer to use a recruitment or provider company of some sort, up from just 25% in 2011.

In my own experience, referral has been a far more important source of new assignments. I have successfully completed 5 contracts since I became an interim in 2006. Only one of these has been as the result of going through an agency, the rest have been the result of be referred by people I have worked with in the past. Most of my contact with agencies has, in fact, been as a recruiter rather than candidate.

One of the reasons that Jane, Erica and I established JEM earlier this year is that we have worked together in various combinations on 3 of these contracts, most recently the replacement of all the key operating systems at The Jacques-Vert Group, so we know there is a demand for our combined services. The reason we attended the Retail Week Technology Summit was to meet more retailers directly and make our name better known. We want to reach the 47%.

So how did it go for us and what did we learn? Well, there were one or two issues from the outset. Our stand was positioned next to a coffee area, which we thought was a good idea. Unfortunately the venue also served coffee immediately outside the main meeting area with the result that delegates obtained refreshment and then resumed their seats without venturing as far as us. The same happened at lunch time leaving us rather lonely.

A quiet word with Andrew Walker from the EMAP team sorted this out with the added benefit that the drinks reception that evening was restricted to the area of our stand. Andrew and the rest of the team from EMAP were, in fact, very helpful throughout the two days. Very useful for event novices such as ourselves.

So what did we gain from the summit? Well, we made some great new contacts meeting people from retailers such as Mammut, GOoutdoors, and Gap. We had the chance to discuss some interesting partnership opportunities with leading hardware and software suppliers as well as Syntel, a US based multi-national provider of integrated technology and business services.

Would we do it again? This particular event, probably not, but we did talk to the EMAP team about some other opportunities and I think we'll be taking advantage of those in the near future. We are also looking forward to the forthcoming Retail Business Technology Expo (RBTE) next March, where we have already booked a stand.

If nothing else it was a great opportunity to compare promotional freebies with the other Exhibitors!

Written by Mike Gamble: Director JEM Retail Consultants.