Is it better to hire top talent yourself, or to hire a headhunter? Cost is the most often cited reason for not engaging a recruiter, but it isn’t always cheaper to do it yourself.
Let’s explore the real costs of hiring so that you can make an educated decision about if it’s time to call a professional recruiter or to engage the do-it-yourself model.
Bad Hires Are Expensive
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the average cost of a bad hiring decision can equal 30% of the individual’s first year potential earnings (U.S. Department of Labor, 2003).
On top of the financial cost of bad hires, there is also the emotional impact to you and your team. Firing people sucks! You have to spend a lot of time managing bad performers.
The Value of Your Time
It takes time to find good people. Nowadays with LinkedIn, you can take the act of networking into your own hands and save some money, but it takes a lot of time.
If you’re interested in DIY hiring, pick up a copy of my book, Radical Hiring Success, and I will teach you headhunter secrets to hire top talent.
If you implement my secrets, you can improve your likelihood of making a great hire, but it will cost you many hours of work and will take you away from managing your team.
Don’t Let Your Talent Pool Become Inbred
One of the greatest benefits you get out of engaging a professional recruiter is a much broader look into the market. Recruiters are paid to turn over rocks and look far and wide for talent. They will introduce you to people outside of your network. If you constantly hire people you know, your talent pool will become inbred. You will not find the best people in your space, you will find the best people in your network. Expanding your talent pool will help avoid groupthink and truly yield the best of the best.
Need a Hiring Coach and Talent Advisor?
An often overlooked value of hiring a professional recruiter is the advice and coaching you will receive along the way. I have personally hired thousands of people. I have learned a thing or two along the way, and I consider the most fulfilling part of my job coaching executives on how to spot talent and hire better people. A good recruiter will help you develop as a leader.
When you really take the time to consider the costs and benefits of hiring a recruiter, you start to see that it’s really not that expensive. When you consider that a recruiter can help you to focus on managing your team, increase the probability of a good hire, expand your network, and coach you in becoming a better hiring leader it almost seems ridiculous not to consider engaging a headhunter the next time you have a critical need.
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