Can’t Hire Good Candidates? This is why – Part 3

Can’t Hire Good Candidates This is why Part 3

This is a continuation of Part 2. Hence, if you missed the earlier parts, you can access it through the below links. Recommend reading Part 1 & 2 before proceeding below. Let’s continue with the macro reasons why Employers don’t find good candidates

Can’t Hire Good Candidates? This is why (Part 1)

Can’t Hire Good Candidates? This is why (Part 2)

In this part, I focus on the impact of cost obsession and the crippling effect of resource constraints on hiring.

# 6. Obsessed with Cost than Quality

We all have heard of this quote as it is widely circulated in LinkedIn.

If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur – Red Adair

There is a big difference between companies who focus on cost vs the ones who focus on quality. It is like 2 different directions that produces 2 different outcomes. For me, working on cost vs quality, seems to be working on the wrong priority. What you aim is what you get. Obviously, when you work on wrong priorities, you do not get the right results. Do you?

What you set your mind upon becomes your priority and the driving force of your recruitment activities. It subjects all the involved to pressure and forces all outcomes to be based on it. It restricts you from focussing on the quality and efficiency.

By the work one knows the workmen – Jean De La Fontaine

Obsessing on cost is a fundamentally limiting factor. If a company truly believes people are its best resources and the determining factor of its success, will it focus on finding the cheapest talent? Or will it focus on finding quality talent?

The focus on cost is sometimes forced on HR, while at times the HR leadership is heavy handed on cost savings to demonstrate value to C-Suite. Either way, if the company is obsessed on cost and not on quality, it is going to impact in recruiting top talent.

Focussing on cost turns it as the focal point rather than quality. It is a good enabler to derail your focus”

a) Focussing on Quality is Liberate in Nature – It enables the team to focus on quality and its outcome. It opens up their creativity, confidence and all the positive attributes. The team focusses on excellence and delivers quality in every piece of work. You get a higher return on investment on both – your recruitment activities as well as the candidates who join your company

b) Focussing on Cost is Restrictive in Nature – It limits a lot of things. Teams operate in a cautious manner and the pressure to get things done in the cheapest possible manner dominates their actions. Their hands are tied even if some initiatives will give them great candidates. Good candidates will often sense it during the recruitment process and will stay away from your company. It limits people and their potential

c) What is Cheaper – You start to view everything in the light of what is cheaper rather than what is qualitative and efficient. You decide between candidates on who is cheaper to hire, which recruitment firm is cheaper, which 3 party provides the cheapest service, which recruitment staff will join your team for the lowest salary, which advertising means are the cheapest etc. Cost consciousness dominates your entire process and becomes the driving factor

d) You Miss Best Candidates – Companies that focus on cost and not on quality when hiring, shoot themselves in the foot. Good candidates evaluate the company as much as the company evaluates them. They easily sense whether you consider cost/quality as your most important criteria. They are the ones who can ensure that your business remains competitive and sustainable. This also undermines the belief as well as the commitment of your company towards attracting quality talent. Also, think of it from the candidate perspective. If they are great talents why they should work for you for less?

The best candidates will always find a best Employer. It is better that you find them

# 7. Recruitment Team is Not Resourced Properly

Far from the eyes of the public, one of the most common cries of Recruitment teams are they are understaffed and/or not supported with the adequate tools and budget. Cost savings are everywhere and recruitment is no exception.

I am not talking about normal cost cutting (wherever possible) measures, but about focussing on cost in an obsessive and unrealistic manner beyond a point where it has serious impact on the quality of recruitment. I hope leaders agree that in order to remain sustainable and profitable in the long term, they need to recruit and retain the best talent. But, claiming this and not supporting with the recruitment budget, is not going to help to see it to fruition.

You can have the best strategy in the world, have the best recruitment team, yet if you under staff and devalue the necessities required to undertake a world class recruitment, It is like sending your best soldiers to war with ill equipped and inadequate ammunition.

This is a serious frustration in most of the HR departments. When I talk about getting adequate support, I mean about the trainings they receive, compensation flexibility for right candidates, enough manpower in recruitment teams, budget to engage 3rd parties, training line managers on recruitment and usage of effective recruitment tools. How many recruitment leaders in companies go on conferences / training programs? How many leaders send their recruitment team to regular training programs?

Overworked, highly stressed, submerged in unrealistic deadlines, lack of training, short in headcount and a combination of all the factors we cover in this series are certainly not going to equip your recruitment team to deliver best results.

Hence as a company, if you want to attract best talent – don’t under staff and under resource your recruitment team.

Summary

To conclude part 3, the reasons why Employers are not able to hire good candidates are

  • Obsessed in cutting cost rather than focussing on Quality
  • Recruitment team is understaffed and under resourced

To read Part 4 – click here

Solomon George
Solomon George is the Founder of Globalmbacareer - The one-stop MBA recruitment company for Employers & MBA Professionals. He is both – an MBA and international HR professional. Has a keen interest on subjects such as Recruitment, Networking, Leadership, Global Workforce, Technology and Management. You can connect with him on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook.
Solomon George
Solomon George

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Solomon George

Solomon George is the Founder of Globalmbacareer - The one-stop MBA recruitment company for Employers & MBA Professionals. He is both – an MBA and international HR professional. Has a keen interest on subjects such as Recruitment, Networking, Leadership, Global Workforce, Technology and Management. You can connect with him on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook.