By Margaret Graziano

President/CEO Alliance HR Network, Inc.

 

I have first hand experienced several times when I have built a relationship from the ground up made 1 or 2 placements and before I knew it I had made 20 or 30, or even 200 over a period of time. I am sure we have all had the experience of a very large account that over time uses us less or even stops using us entirely. In some cases it is the hiring manager, our relationship that leaves the organization and with their departure goes our relationship, in other cases the company grows so significantly with our unique contribution that we work ourselves out of a job because the company grew to a point where they added a significant amount of staff to do the recruiting and simply could not justify our fees any longer.

 

Either way, no matter how good you are or what great service you personally provide, companies change, people change, jobs changes, responsibilities change and often our key contact is out of the picture before we can blink an eye, and very shortly after that,

so are we. We all know relationships are critical in our line of business yet that alone is not sufficient enough to guarantee our prosperity and long term success as talent management professionals. It is the systems, process and operating practices that we utilize to deliver our services that sustain the test of time, personnel changes and cost saving measures.

 

There is NOTHING that differentiates and solidifies like standardized systems, processes and service offerings. How many of us would be willing to promise or guarantee our service is consistently operating with and making the best choices in service of their customers. For our industry to grow collaboratively in volume, VALUE must be continually be present.

 

For a moment use your imagination, the science fiction part of your brain and go 20 years to the future, how will the recruitment in 2027 be the same? How will it be different? Given the exponential growth taking place in the frontal lobe of the human brain over the past 300 years and the human minds’ capacity to expand and innovate, my theory is that some things will stay the same while everything will change.

 

Companies can and will find what they need through a myriad of alternative resources, other than a traditional 32% search and placement firm and we as an industry must band together and innovate or we will see our fees, our margins and our market share disintegrate.

 

I just read today in a leading staffing industry report that Adecco purchased a recruitment outsource processing provider which was no surprise to me after visiting the SHIRM conference this summer and seeing 15 brand new (RPO) recruitment outsourcing processing providers exhibiting. Furthermore, I was recently advised to Google ‘bakers dozen RPO’ and came to find that again the industry leaders are jumping on the RPO band wagon. These companies charge flat fees and conduct massive nation wide hiring programs; they systematize the process such that they can take advantage of the economies of scale. They charge much less than a standard placement fee and sign contracts with key members of the management team affording them exclusivity within multiple departments and hiring managers within these companies. While other recruiters poo poo these concepts, and companies, frankly their existence rocks me.

Recruitment outsourcing is here and like Monster.com it is another means to commoditize what many of us have been doing to earn a living for a very long time.

Am I fearful of our industries demise? Certainly not, what I am concerned for is the future of how the people in our industry are perceived and that we continue to be respected as the founders, leaders and experts in the recruitment field.

 

There are obvious advantages of incorporating functional and repeatable systems and processes within your company. It begins with using these types of processes to differentiate & separate yourself and your service from the sea of competition. It sustains through systematic management of those operating systems and processes that serve to augment the delivery of your service efforts while enhancing your ability to deliver on the promises of our sales representatives. Additionally, another caveat to solid systems and processes is that you will see a dramatic decrease in the time it takes for a new recruiter to make their mark and generate a financial return on your hiring investment. Finally, you can reengineer your internal staffing plan to include a person or two who thrives on managing and working within defined parameters, and it leverages your overhead substantially because the rain makers make it rain and get paid for that.

The task masters plans and prepares for the rain, catches the rain in buckets and utilizes the rain water for a myriad of purposes, and they get paid in accordance with that contribution. This also leaves the rain maker to focus on the profound privilege of making it rain.

 

Some of the systems that I have built within my recruiting firm are search processes, applicant screening check lists, a front office intake system, interviewing systems and guides. I have also harnessed some of the leading assessment tools and talent evaluation programs as well as developed some of my own to aid my staff in recommending very best talent for our clients needs. Additionally, I have implemented a ‘Sandler selling, a.k.a. Alliance selling system as well as a marketing protocol structure and a proven order fulfillment method. Actually, all in all I have developed a comprehensive 26 ‘A-Z’ recruitment and sales system that systematize every step of the day to day operation, creates maximum efficiency and eliminates many of pitfalls encountered in the staffing and recruiting process.

 

Whether we are competing against corproate HR with lucrative hiring and referral bonuses, or with Monster, Career builder and the like, or virtual recruiting networks, off shore recruiters or RPOs, things certainly are NOT getting any easier, they are becoming more challenging everyday. My call to action is to arm yourself with what the big guys are arming themselves with – systems, structures and processes that afford you the ease to leverage your time, money and resources.

 

Best in success

 

Margaret

 

Achieve What's Possible !

 

Margaret Graziano

President/CEO

Alliance HR Network, Inc

85 West Algonquin, Suite 170

Arlington Hts, Il 60005

847-690-1312