Hiring The Best Talent… In-House Or Outsource?
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One of the biggest and often most changeable decisions in a business (particularly those experiencing growth), is what functions to have in-house and what to outsource. In the case of recruitment, the overriding decision is usually based on cost versus time.
With the recent popularity surge in social media and in particular LinkedIn, an increasing number of businesses are choosing to bring their recruitment in-house in order to leverage these cost-effective talent resources, that up until recently weren't available.
Although bringing in skilled recruiters in-house has many upsides, due to the large overhead cost involved, this is often not a viable option for many SMEs, who wouldn't have the volume of hires to justify the overhead costs involved. This means they either recruit themselves through word of mouth, friends of friends, local advertising, etc – or they outsource this need to a recruitment agency.
Due to the increased competition, agency fees have dropped over the years, but still amount to ten to fifteen percent of first year salary – which is a significant cost for an SME business owner. In these situations, the hiring manager should factor in the agency placement cost to the overall budget for the role.
This article was originally written for House Magazine on 7th April 2014. To download a PDF of the full print copy, please click here.