In-house or external?
When it comes to recruiting, how do you get the balance right? In a challenging, candidate-driven marketplace, it’s critical to ensure you choose how to manage your process efficiently and ensure you avoid the hiring difficulties that can arise for many companies.
In this article, I would like to offer some of the benefits each provides to help you decide which is best for your organisation.
The Benefits of In-house Recruitment
Depending on the size of the organisation, sometimes it makes sense to recruit internally. After all, no one takes care of your finance business quite the same as you. So, what are the main benefits of using in-house recruiting? Let’s look at each in turn.
- Cost
For larger companies, sometimes it makes financial sense to recruit in-house. If you have your recruitment team, by providing them with the latest recruitment software on the market, you can build a cutting-edge process for recruiting candidates onto your finance team.
- Your Brand
Every time you advertise a position, you are drawing attention to your company, and therefore your brand. Brand awareness building means more chance of future success too. By building brand awareness, you are positioning yourself in front of the competition and showing you are a growing force in the financial marketplace.
Additionally, in-house recruitment allows you to promote your company culture to candidates. You will also have an excellent understanding of the personality types who will make a good fit into your existing finance team, thereby maximising your chances of retention.
- Keeping Control
If you allow a recruiter to handle all your recruitment campaigns, you are giving up direct control. You have to place your trust in the agency to run the campaign and keep you updated. Additionally, they get to decide who you meet for an interview. But by managing the process in-house, you are in charge and can organise procedures in a way that works best for you.
- Developing Your Talent Pool
One of the biggest arguments in favour of in-house recruitment is that it provides the opportunity for you to create your talent pipeline.
Candidates who are not quite right for a current vacancy may still have excellent credentials, and you may want to keep them ‘warm’ for future job opportunities with you. A talent pipeline allows you to do this – so when a Finance Manager post comes up unexpectedly – you have potential candidates to contact without delay.
The Benefits of Using an External Agency
 In the current economy, it is increasingly common for businesses to utilise the skills of a recruiter to help them find the ideal candidates for all level of vacancies, but particularly for executive and high-level roles.
The UK’s unemployment level is currently sitting at 4%, and while this is great news for the economy, many jobs are low-skilled. Consequently, hiring managers are finding it increasingly challenging to fill professional positions such as accountants.
So, what are the benefits of working with a recruitment agency?
- Time-saving
The hiring process can be exhausting and time-consuming. From constructing the advert to sifting through multiple applications, arranging interviews and keeping all candidates up to date with the process.
On the other hand, a recruitment agency can take all that away. What could take you weeks or even months to achieve, a recruitment agency can sometimes complete in a matter of days – they may also have someone in the pipeline that would be ideal for your vacant role.
It’s also worth remembering that candidates may well have more than one ‘iron in the fire’ so time is of the essence. A recent recruitment survey found that almost six in ten workers (57%) said that waiting to hear back from employers was the leading cause of frustration during their job search, and nearly a quarter (23%) said that they lose interest in a company if they don’t hear back within a week.
- Reduced costs
Alongside saving time, a recruiter can save you money, thanks to their industry connections and experience. The time your HR personnel or other senior staff spend sifting those applications and organising interviews can soon add up in hours that they are not spending on their work.
External agencies are also ideal for smaller companies such as SMEs or start-ups who don’t have the capital to invest in far-reaching advertising campaigns for their vacancies, or who do not have the staff numbers to make it valid to recruit in-house.
- Insider Knowledge
This is one of the most compelling reasons to use a specialist recruiter. Their insider knowledge and specific financial networks enable them to access the best candidate for your company. They will have an extensive talent pipeline – ideal for highly specialised roles – and access to industry strategies and tools to enable quick, effective recruitment.
Their connections will also allow them to access passive candidates who are not actively seeking a new role but have expressed an interest. These people could be perfect for the position, but without a specialist recruiter, they will not find out about your vacancy.
- Reliable
The success of the candidate and the retention rate for your finance team directly reflect on the recruitment agency. This means that when they act as representatives for you and your company – they will ensure that they only recommend individuals who would be a good fit for your finance team – both in terms of aptitude and attitude.
A recruitment company’s reputation is on the line for every appointment they recommend – so you are guaranteed to receive only the best applicants for interview.
- Expertise
Finally, you can be confident that a specialist financial recruiter will have the experience, extensive network and best practices to enable the hiring process to run smoothly. They can take over many aspects of the process – sourcing talent, assessing applications, and pre-screening as well as providing valuable advice along the way such as what interview questions to ask, how to deal with counteroffers and how to negotiate a deal with your candidate of choice.
By building a relationship with your recruiter, they learn your company needs and values, so you will be perfectly positioned to have a seamless hiring process in the future too.
Building a Relationship with a Recruiter
The most recently available Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) industry trends report found that in 2018, over half (56%) of all new employees in the UK were placed by a recruiter.
Building a relationship with a specialist recruiter is often the best way forward. Tapping into their expert knowledge can help you attract and retain the top finance talent.
Enlisting the help of a specialist financial recruiter will increase your chances of getting the right hire, the first time. It’s in their interest to make this happen and to ensure the whole process runs smoothly as their reputation relies on their successful placements. By being selective in their choice of candidates for your role, they maximise success rates by reducing the competition for you and promoting retention rates in your organisation.
The bottom line is if your new employee is a success, so are you – so it’s a win-win situation for everyone.
If you are looking to recruit to your finance team, then Rebus Financial Recruiters can help. Contact Rebus Financial Recruitment or call us on 01282 930930 and let’s have a conversation to explore how we can help you grow your team. With our help, you can achieve great things.
Thanks,
Rachel
About Rebus Financial Recruitment
Rebus Financial Recruitment provides a specialist and focused recruitment service to its customers, which historically range from a wide variety of organisations including SMEs to large PLCs.
We strive to offer both the client and candidate a seamless recruitment experience. Using our expertise, we get to the heart of employer and employee needs; and, in doing so, we match the two perfectly. To find out more, get in contact with one of our team today, or you can call us on 01282 930930.
