Building the Right Team: 4 Reasons to Outsource Hiring

Building the right team is essential for meeting your business goals. But we’re in a volatile job market right now, with no end in sight. With two years of complete and partial shutdowns under our belts, employers are experiencing a seismic shift in the attitudes of job seekers as well as their employees. Employee expectations are high, and jobseekers seem willing to wait for just the right opportunity before committing. This has resulted in jobs remaining vacant for longer than usual.

That’s why in this environment recruitment and hiring can become a big burden for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Despite your best efforts, there is the possibility you’ll experience high turnover. That’s because there are so many opportunities for the workforce and so much competition. But, to outsource or not to outsource–that seems to be the question.

And the answer is: It depends.

Here are Four Reasons to Outsource When You’re Building the Right Team for Your Organization

You’re Hiring for a Strategically Critical, Highly Competitive Position 

The Problem: Leadership positions can make or break your organization’s effectiveness. Technical expertise, alone, will not guarantee success. That’s why fit and  alignment with the organizational culture and vision are more important.

However, such positions may be highly competitive. Job seekers may respond in droves. But you will likely find that only a fraction of applicants are good candidates for your position. You may end up wasting time sifting through applications. And you risk missing the few ideal candidates in the “noise” of the many unqualified ones.

How Outsourcing Can Help: Outsource with an organization who can appreciate the importance of organizational culture and strategy in the hiring process. Your outsourcing partner can pre-screen applicants for expertise and fit, collect background information, and make sure that you are only personally involved in the interviewing and consideration of the most viable candidates. They can even sit in on interviews with you for continuity, help prepare questions, and follow-up on inquiries. They can act as organizer, intermediary, and/or gatekeeper. But your precious time is reserved for executive decisions.

You’re Hiring for a Series of Vacancies 

The Problem: Recruitment and hiring can feel like a non-stop hamster wheel when you have a need to fill a number of positions, especially if they’re at the entry level. You may find yourself filling the position, but retention is so low that you spend a great deal of time re-filling the position in short intervals. That’s usually a basic no-no in terms of a successful recruitment. But, in the current world, even done well, it may be an unavoidable outcome. You may need to perpetually fill entry level positions using your in-house team or your HR department if you have one. That’s why this becomes a question of capacity. Do you have it?

How Outsourcing Can Help: Your outsourcing partner can work with you continuously, seasonally, or on a project basis, depending on your needs. They can identify what the competition is seeking and offering. And they can determine what job titles and descriptions are being used for comparable positions in your industry. They can use this information to adapt and hone your own recruitment and hiring practices to be more competitive. And, if employee and job seeking behavior continues to create churn in the workforce, you can handle hiring yourself or outsource. But it will be as efficient as possible.

You Don’t Have the Internal Experience for Recruitment and Hiring

The Problem: Believe it or not, hiring can be a very litigious affair if not handled properly. The interview and selection process must comply with federal and State laws governing fairness and inclusiveness in the workplace. The law requires protections and accommodations for certain groups of people under certain conditions. So, you’ll want to make sure that your process will hold up under scrutiny. And you’ll want it carried out correctly and consistently over time.

How Outsourcing  Can Help: You can outsource the development of a process and the interviewing logistics to an outside vendor. The value in outsourcing with an expert is that you can observe and learn through the process. That way, if you think this is a process you can afford to do in-house, you can learn from the contractor and grow as you go. That way you can determine the extent to which outsourcing should or should not be used strategically in the future. Also, co-creating the process helps the vendor become more familiar with how you wish to position yourself in your industry. And this leads to greater success in current and possibly future recruitment efforts.

You Don’t Have Time to Run Your Business and Do All the Hiring

The Problem: It can be a strategic hire in a leadership role or a series of entry-level positions where high turnover is a risk. Recruitment and hiring takes time. And if your business is thriving, you may not have the time to develop, prepare, and implement a successful recruitment and hiring process. Something will suffer—either the business or the operation. In the bigger picture, it may be smarter to bring someone in to lighten the workload.

How Outsourcing Can Help: That’s why outsourcing all or part of the work of hiring can save you time and energy that can be spent on other aspects of your business. That’s not to say you should completely delegate all hiring authority. You may want to outsource the development of the process, including the application, background and reference checks, questions and scoring, scheduling, and contact with the candidates. You might want to review and sign off on the process, but do all or just the final interviews yourself.

Final Thoughts on Using Outsourcing When You’re Building the Right Team

When building the right team, the decision to outsource recruitment and hiring is very much based on the needs of the hiring organization, the type of position you’re filling, and the internal resources available, including time. But your decision doesn’t need to be all or nothing—you don’t need to always outsource or outsource all aspects of the process. Building the right team is a strategic decision, from concept to onboarding and beyond.

Whatever the situation you’re in, CSD Marketing and Consulting might be able to help you with parts or all of your talent acquisition efforts. Sometimes a second set of eyes can produce recommendations for adjustments that can save you time and money while improving your chances of a satisfactory outcome that is long-lasting and effective. If you’re a small business looking to hire, let’s connect.

By Courtney S. Dade, CEO and Chief Strategist, CSD Marketing and Consulting, LLC