I received a good article from Peter Weddle today...
The conventional wisdom-or at least the "wisdom" of the
Finance Department-is that recruitment advertising should stop when hiring
stops. The organization doesn't need candidates, they will argue, so why bother
to recruit them. It's a waste of money when money is tight.
This view has that inimitable bean counter logic, but as always, it's
terribly shortsighted. In fact, I think an economic downturn is the most
appropriate time to advertise for new talent. Why? Because the logic of our
friends in finance is framed incorrectly. You don't need candidates right now,
but you will in the future. And, since that's indisputably true-and because you
want to be ready for the upturn when it comes (not after it)-this is the very
best time to invest in talent acquisition. Here's what I mean.
In tough times (as well as good ones), it's absolutely critical that an
organization spend its money wisely. From the Finance Department's perspective,
that means doing more with less. From a rational economic perspective, it means
getting the best return possible on any expenditure of scarce financial
resources. And, there are at least two reasons why you can generate a better
than normal return on an investment in recruitment advertising when you aren't
hiring than at any other time.
Reason #1: It Takes Time to Build a Pipeline
The best talent are almost always employed, in bad times as well as good
ones. They are the last workers an employer will let go and the first workers to
receive whatever raises, bonuses and plum assignments there are to be doled out.
For that reason they don't jump at the first employment opportunity that comes
along, even if it involves a potentially more lucrative and interesting job.
They need to be convinced that it's the right career move for them.
And there's the rub. Not everyone (or every organization) can convince the
best talent to move. They want to be familiar with and trust those who will
provide the information and arguments for making such an important career
decision. What does that mean for us recruiters? Although it's a cliche, it's
also absolutely true: the best talent can't and won't be sold via as
transaction; they demand a relationship.
As anyone who's ever been in a relationship knows-and that includes the
CFO-it takes time and effort to achieve a meaningful level of familiarity and a
genuine sense of trust. And it's that necessary lead time that requires
advertising now for the talent you will need later. Moreover, unlike in a
stronger business environment, you actually have the time to invest in
relationship building during a downturn. Instead of answering to clamoring
hiring managers, you can reach out to top performers and pay attention to them
so they are ready and willing to move six or twelve months from now, when you
need them.
Reason #2: Your Competitors Aren't Advertising
In normal times, you're not the only one trying to connect with and lure away
the best talent. Your efforts are complicated by competitors in your own
industry as well as those that operate in countless others. Recruiting-at least
recruiting those with hard-to-find skills and those who are top performers-isn't
a contact sport. You can't just connect with them and expect that they will
come. No, recruiting dream candidates is a nightmare.
It's a cut throat business ... except when it isn't. And, this is one of
those times when it isn't. Today, you have a rare moment of collective myopia, a
window of opportunity when the Finance Departments among your competitors will
win out and force the cessation of recruitment advertising in their
organizations. So, now is actually the very best time to strike. Because now,
you have the marketplace for top talent almost all to yourself.
How does that help you? First, your message is likely to cost less, maybe
even much less. (Job boards, like retail companies, are ready to deal.) Second,
your message is much more likely to be noticed. There's less competition from
other employers' job postings. And third, your message is also much more likely
to work. It will be taken more seriously by more people as they worry about
their job security.
All of that adds up to an extraordinary return on a present day investment in
recruitment advertising. How can you calculate that return? The cost of a vacant
position is typically estimated to be somewhere between one and three times the
salary of the position's incumbent. During a recovery, when having talent on
hand and ready to go is critical to success, an unfilled position has the
potential to cost far more. The key, therefore, is to monetize that vacancy so
that even the CFO can understand.
For example, a Java programmer position that pays $100,000 per year and
remains open for just sixty days is likely to cost your organization somewhere
between $16,700 and $50,000; a senior sales technician job that pays $60,000 per
year and remains open for 90 days could cost your organization between $15,000
and $45,000. And that doesn't include the real cost of diminished productivity
and lost growth opportunities that would accompany those talent shortages.
So, here's the bottom line (as our friends in finance are fond of saying):
investing in recruitment advertising in the present is the single best way to
spend money wisely in the present and for the future. It's as close to a two-fer
as you'll ever get in talent acquisition.
