Recruiting is one of the most important jobs you have as a company leader, full stop. Without the right people at the right time, the greatest of business plans fail.
So why would you outsource this to a recruiter?
First, hiring a recruiter doesn’t mean you are outsourcing recruiting. A good recruiter accelerates sourcing of high-potential candidates and does the initial skills/culture screen. But then it’s up to you and your team to do the deep-dive interviewing. You stay in control of who you hire.
Here’s the advice we give to impact companies like you, as to when to hire a recruiter:
1. You’ve tapped out your own networks. At some point you won’t have more friends of colleagues to hire. It’s time to expand the pool and a recruiter will do this for you.
2. You want to diversify your team. This is related to number 1: by tapping into new networks, you avoid homogeneity and group-think (note: we highly recommend focusing on diversity early on, rather than trying to diversify an established team).
3. You need to fill a specialized and/or hard-to-fill role. The cost of sourcing candidates in-house can be much greater than using a recruiter. Recruiters use active sourcing strategies to reach out to candidates who may not be actively looking for a job. Recruiters can also generally source people faster than you can.
4. You don’t have time. You’re super busy – and a recruiter can find you a slate of high quality candidates that meet your criteria quickly and cost-effectively.
But not all recruiters are created equal. Look for one that really cares about making your company successful, not just getting a body in a seat. Also, make sure that they have a track record of recruiting for purpose-driven companies and venture-backed companies; it’s a special skill to source talent that is intrinsically motivated and thrives in an entrepreneurial culture.
Our recruiting team is happy to chat with you about whether hiring a recruiter makes sense for your company right now. Be in touch!
