There is a popular myth that businesses don’t need external recruitment support during a downturn. The theory is that the market will be so flooded by high quality candidates that there is no need for external assistance. Yet, according to Stuart Spindler, the downturn is precisely when directors should be calling on external advice and support – or risk damaging mistakes.
“While there may be more candidates available to choose from, this doesn’t automatically make the employer’s life any easier. In fact the reverse can be true. Organisations still need to vet their candidates properly so more applications means more CV’s to read, more backgrounds to run through and more people to interview.”
“The other issue is that during a downturn executives making hiring decisions are already being pushed hard for results, often with smaller resources than they had before. This makes it pretty tough for them to accurately assess a larger candidate pool and can lead to costly errors,” said Stuart.
“It’s quite natural for people to assume that a downturn makes it easier to find people but there are a lot of long term structural issues that effect recruitment in certain industries and make external advice vital. For example the industrial construction/materials handling industries are continuing to find it difficult to recruit for senior engineering and technical management positions. In these and similar areas, businesses can still have issues finding the right people with the right skills even with unemployment rising.”
External recruiters, such as Spindler, can also offer their clients confidentiality – something that becomes increasingly important during a downturn.
“Many companies do not want their competitors to know that there have been upheavals in their boardroom and that certain directors have moved on. At these times using external recruitment consultants ensures confidentiality and helps protect the business from negative speculation. Similarly, where businesses are making redundancies at lower levels within the organisation, it may not be the smartest public relations move to start advertising publicly for new directors. Again the use of external consultants can help prevent damaged morale and nasty headlines.”
In tough business conditions it can also be very easy for businesses to lose objectivity. How many times have we seen companies damaged by inept firing and hiring?
As Matthew Gwyther, the Editor of Management Today, said recently (www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/867516): “The grim reaper tends to slash away with little discrimination, and far too often companies do it in such a ham-fisted way that they wind up losing the best individuals and retaining the dross.”
Consultants like Spindler can help provide a balanced and objective viewpoint to counter downturn thinking, ensuring that both the firing (if necessary) and hiring process are handled smartly for the long term benefit of the business.
