Recruitment takes time, money, resources and effort for organisations of any size, so it follows that it must be carried out effectively in order to attract and employ the right kind of candidates quickly and efficiently.
According to Geoff Armstrong, director general of HR trade body the Chartered Institute of Professional Development (CIPD), Having the right person, in the right place, at the right time, is crucial to organisational performance. Recruitment is a critical activity.
Employing individuals with the wrong skill-sets or expertise can obviously prove disastrous, wasting time and effort in the recruitment process and resulting in poor performance if the wrong candidate is appointed. In the worst-case scenario, the company may be forced to remove the individual and begin the recruitment process from scratch, at significant cost. Therefore, getting it right first time is vital.
Yet whilst recruiting the best individuals for any role is challenging, in the B2B marketing sector there are additional hurdles. Bruce Levi, marketing & commercial director at recruitment consultancy SG Group (formerly StopGap), believes this is a result of the age-old perception problems of business marketing. The challenge is to find the very best people in marketing. B2C often gets the limelight while B2B companies are sometimes seen as the ugly duckling; wrongly in many instances. This in itself is a challenge for recruiting B2B marketers.
Although the recruitment process is challenging, B2B companies still need marketers, so how do they go about recruiting them?
Trade press is a proven route to mid-market managers, while the pricey national newspapers are reserved for more senior positions.
Press advertising can be used to attract candidates that are not necessarily job-hunting. Rebecca Clake, adviser for organisation & resourcing at the CIPD, says, The trade press catches people that are browsing, rather than specifically looking to leave their job.
The downside is that recruitment print ads are costly and relatively difficult to measure in terms of effectiveness. This has repercussions for how, when and where they are used.
These concerns have reduced print’s appeal as a medium for B2B marketing recruitment. Director of brand & communications at Deloitte Lisa Unwin’s attitude is typical, We have not used print ads for recruiting senior staff in the past. If you are recruiting high-ranking employees, they need to be drawn from a small pool; using the trade press would be a ‘scattergun’ approach.
There are two primary kinds of recruitment websites: dedicated standalone jobs boards (e.g. totaljobs.co.uk) and spin-offs from print publications (e.g. guardian.co.uk).
Paul Sykes, operations director at recruitment agency Michael Page, says, The benefit of online ads is that more and more people are searching and applying for jobs in this way: approximately 70 per cent of all applications come in via the Internet. The other benefit is that an online ad will stay live for the duration, driving traffic and therefore a high volume of marketers. This is how you are more likely to capture those in B2B jobs.
Online recruitment also gives candidates flexibility to browse and apply at a time that suits them. Remember that most potential applicants will be unwilling, or unable, to search for or apply for jobs during the working day.
However, applying for jobs online does have its pitfalls. Unless the job board is specific or relevant to the sector, organisations can be inundated with applications from unsuitable candidates, while job-seekers may be put off if they experience technical difficulties with the site. In short, it’s important to choose the right site.
Recruitment consultants act as a middle-man between employers and prospective employees, selecting and putting forward suitable, pre-screened candidates for the role.
Unsurprisingly, Levi at recruitment agency the SG Group, believes such companies are an excellent route. I would say use a recruitment agency as they have the candidate base. Consultancies can save time, and potentially money, as we are interested in getting the right person for the right job. I like to think we make fewer mistakes and I believe we have a bigger pool of potential people to work with.
However, using a recruitment agency can sometimes prove inappropriate. Unwin at Deloitte comments, The most problems arise when agencies don’t understand the brief or if you select an agency that doesn’t deliver a good pipeline of candidates.
On top of this, agencies don’t come cheap: they charge an approximate commission fee of 15 to 20 per cent of base annual salary, although this does vary depending on how competitive the sector is.
Many agencies, however, do offer a rebate period (an average of three months) if the candidate isn’t suitable.
Executive search, or ‘headhunting’ as it is known, is conducted by specialist recruitment agencies.
It is used to recruit the most senior personnel, including board members. Generally, these people are not actively seeking another role and therefore are not on the recruitment radar.
Recruiting higher-level marketers in this way can prove effective. Sykes at Michael Page, which runs an executive search and selection arm, comments, Headhunting is very successful. However, it is only effective in a defined marketplace, which is generally at the senior end of the spectrum where the skills are shorter and the impact on companies is greater.
More senior people don’t put themselves forward for the job market, but expect people to knock on the door looking for them, he adds.
This kind of service comes at a price. A company would pay an approximate commission fee of 20 to 30 per cent of base annual salary. Considering that headhunters recruit those in a pay band of £70,000 upwards, this fee can be enormous.
Sykes justifies this expenditure, These firms are using researchers and experienced and knowledgeable consultants. Moreso, you are paying for the access to potential candidates.
However, in support of the Michael Page executive search arm, Sykes counters the cost against advertising. Headhunting is not dramatically more expensive than advertising, but a lot more work goes into it and it is probably comparatively cheaper on an hourly basis.
You may be thinking that there is no cost-effective way around promotion, but there is and it’s on your doorstep. Internal promotion offers significant benefits: the individual will already be familiar with the culture of the organisation, they will understand its product/service proposition and the wider market in which it operates. The effectiveness of this method has not been lost on B2B companies and its popularity was proven in the B2B Marketing Insight report.
Xerox is one company where this approach has been adopted. Head of communications David Millican explains, At Xerox, senior-level marketers are not brought in from the outside, but are promoted from within. Employees’ career succession is planned and people are identified for senior executive roles. They then join the executive department and undertake inhouse training.
Candidates can also be referred by friends or former colleagues who are already working within the organisation. Deloitte runs an internal referral programme for employees, offering a bonus if the candidate in question is asked back for a second interview. Deloitte’s Unwin says, With referrals you know the firm and the individual, so you have already made a good assessment about how the person will fit the role. Employees know the candidates through university or coming across them in their previous life.
While direct costs for this route are minimal, indirect costs in the form of training may be accrued as new marketers are brought up-to-speed with the issues involved.
Internal promotion is not always possible though. At some point, companies must expect to dig deep to find the right person but it is common knowledge that a successful campaign requires more than pots of cash. The project must be well planned and co-ordinated. In this sense, it’s advisable to use more than one medium and it’s crucial that the message is integrated across every platform.
Ultimately, recruitment is a very personal experience, so try not to get too wrapped up in the process and analyse your ‘gut’ reaction to the candidate as much as you analyse their CV.
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