Why Use A Recruiting Firm?

Most managers today are hard pressed to find enough time to get their jobs done to their satisfaction. Today's market demands managers perform at peak levels. Your priorities are your core management responsibilities: planning, implementation, reporting, meeting deadlines, budgets, personnel issues and evaluations. One of the most important decisions you will ever make as a manager is your choice of staff members. When you need to replace personnel or expand staff, your focus must necessarily shift away from many of the other mission critical areas of your core work. In most cases this comes at a time when coincidentally, you are understaffed. This is not the best time to learn the "ins" and "outs" of professional recruiting.

You are smart to avoid this trap. This is not the time to take on the additional role of a recruiter. Let your S&A recruiter handle your candidate search in a professional manner. Even while working with a recruiter your role will still require a substantial effort. However we will help you focus your efforts on the most important issue at hand: selecting the best available candidate for the job.

Sourcing of Candidates

Are you missing the best candidates? "Why can't we just run some newspaper ads, post the job opening on the internet and pick the best candidate that responds?" S&A's ANSWER: You can, but you will miss the primary source of the best candidates.

Who are the best candidates? The best candidates are not likely to be looking to make a change. Since they are held in high regard by their current employer, they are reasonably satisfied where they're at. The best candidates have their heads down and are working at a break-neck pace just like you. Under these circumstances, they are usually too driven, too busy and too smart to invest their time in a job search on their own. They know the value of a good recruiter to help with their career changes. Your best candidates need to be sought out and convinced to come work for you and your company. Put briefly, they need to be sold on you, your company and the opportunity.

"Why not call our competition? I know my competitors have the talent that I'm looking to hire. Why don't I just pick up the phone and see who I can recruit over there?" S&A's SHORT ANSWER: BIG MISTAKE!

The negative impact of raiding a competitor can linger for years. The consequences can be costly for you and your company. A professional recruiter dealing in a confidential manner provides the neutral ground, the buffer, to prevent accusations of raiding. In fact, a good recruiter can often convince your competitors to offer suggestions for candidates to fill your position!

The Economics- "Let's save money and do this search in-house."

If you don't use a recruiting firm and opt to do the search yourself, you obviously pay the price in the time and effort diverted from your core responsibilities. Even if you have an internal staff that handles your recruiting, their overhead (salaries, benefits, etc.) are fixed costs regardless of internal recruiters success. However, S&A accepts economic risk because we are confident that we can perform- we are driven to perform.

Cost on a Contingency basis- S&A's compensation is 100% performance based: No hire, no cost. The entire economic risk rests with S&A, your recruiting firm.

Cost on a Contract basis- Most recruiting firms (not S&A) charge a flat fee for contract searches, i.e., the recruiting firm dedicates ample time to identify and present suitable candidates. There is usually no guarantee of a hire. Under this arrangement the entire economic risk is shifted to the client.

S&A's contracts are unique. We prefer a hybrid contract with a portion paid upfront and the rest paid after we successfully place a candidate in the opening. As your partner in the engagement, S&A will share the economic risk with you, our contract client. S&A is willing to share the economic risk because we are confident that we can perform.

Local versus relocation costs- It is amazing how frequently strong local talent is overlooked in searches. Often the successful candidate is flown in from out of town and requires a large allowance for temporary quarters, family trips and relocation. As you know this expense can go well over the five-figure mark. On occasion these "relo costs" exceed the fee of a recruiting firm. Local talent is often overlooked simply because the appropriate recruiting effort was not employed.

Advertising Costs- In major markets newspaper advertising costs for employment are very high. The results of an employment ad campaign are frequently disappointing. At times, in the most public of forums, your employment ads are announcing your strategic issues and plans to everyone including your competition. Respondents are often way off target or unemployed and grasping at the first opportunity for employment. Worse yet, the respondents' resumes can be deceptive- the creation of a good resume writer. As sometimes happens, incoming respondents' paperwork is laid aside on your desk, HR's desk, misfiled or misrouted. The responses become dated quickly if not reviewed with appropriate follow up .

S&A recruiters, on the other hand, deal with respondents and potential candidates one-on-one on a full time basis. We spend time reviewing, qualifying and profiling all new candidates before they are presented to you for consideration. We weed out the lightweights, wanabees, and criminally insane and offer qualified candidates based on your specifications.

The Warranty - "I made a mistake. This new hire just isn't going to work out."

Hard words to say about a new hire: Especially hard if you didn't use a recruiter that includes a warranty. S&A is willing to warranty all their placements for a reasonable time period. We will allow you a grace period to evaluate if a candidate is a good fit in your organization. We help reduce the risk of making the wrong choice. We offer you a graceful "out" so that you aren't tempted to make another mistake by trying to live with a hiring decision that you discover is a wrong.

More frequently, the warranty comes into effect when the new hire opts out of the new position. This can happen for a multitude of personal reasons: e.g., illness, death in the family, divorce/separation, child custody, spousal reluctance ot move, etc. In most cases these are unforeseen situations that have nothing at all to do with your decision, the new job, management or the company. Of course, S&A will honor its warranty in these situations also.

"We have internal recruiters. Why go outside?"

Our response is, "Why not go outside?" You have nothing to lose. Using the S&A contingency fee schedule there is no cost unless you hire an S&A candidate. What do you lose by enlisting S&A recruiters to work along with your internal recruiters on a contingency basis? As you evaluate your candidates objectively, having an expanded selection including S&A candidates is a major benefit. Let's face it, you were not likely to see our candidates otherwise. If our's is the best candidate for the job, rejoice and pay the fee.

On a contract or contingency basis, we frequently work with internal company recruiters to supplement their effort during their busy times or to help with the difficult-to-fill positions. We will also contract S&A staff members to reside at a client's site and work as an extension to the in-house recruiter staff. We are corporate recruiter friendly!

The Recruiter- 3rd Party Perspective

What is the benefit of having a third party, such as an S&A recruiter, involved in your searches? Five primary benefits quickly come to mind: Objectivity, Negotiations, Your Buffer, Confidentiality, Salesmanship

Objectivity- S&A recruiters have not only worked as professional recruiters but have also worked in the corporate world as internal IT consultants and employee contributors in the IT industry. S&A recruiters offer a unique vantage to help our clients. If your candidate requirements are missing the mark in this specialized area (Telecom & IT) we will know it, and we will advise you appropriately. If your specifications are too dated, rigorous or otherwise inappropriate, we will work with you to improve your search efforts to ensure mutual success.

Negotiations require give and take: identifying what's on the table and what isn't: What is possible and what is too far fetched to consider. Sometimes a simple issue is seen as a stumbling block. For example a candidate says, "I've committed to vacation plans later this year. Call me back in three months." This can be either goodbye to great candidate, or it can be easily addressed if handled correctly. An S&A recruiter knows how to skillfully handle this objection and other negotiation issues to ensure you are seeing the top available candidates.

As a third party, a candidate may freely offer hidden objections to an S&A recruiter that you, as a potential employer would never hear. We, in turn, can relate these concerns to you in an acceptable manner, address the issue, and move forward.

Your Buffer- Perhaps you've heard the sage advice of many financial counselors. Never attend the first IRS meeting yourself: this is a job for your lawyer or tax consultant. Why? Because they are trained professionals who are sensitive to IRS procedures and guidelines. They know when to speak, and when not to say a word. What they say at the IRS meeting is only what they say, and is not necessarily what you, their client, would say. This "buffer" is invaluable. It provides you additional insight into the issues at hand without the burden of going "on the record". Likewise a professional S&A recruiter can ferret out issues with a candidate that you, as an employer, cannot without impeding the search process.

Confidentiality-The stock in trade of a professional recruiter is his or her ability to maintain confidentiality during a search. For certain searches, confidentiality is your primary concern. No matter how you try, using internal recruiters can present breaches in confidentiality. The fewer employees that know about sensitive searches, the better. Determine your need for confidentiality and then make your decision accordingly.

Salesmanship- A common misunderstanding of an internal recruiting effort is attitude: "We are an excellent company. Anyone that has half a chance would be crazy not to jump at the opportunity to join our staff." This hubris can cause much pain and leads to many excellent candidates being overlooked or turned off. At S&A we take great care to develop the appropriate marketing plan to attract quality candidates. Not surprisingly our best candidates will need to be "sold" on your company, "sold" on you as their new boss, and "sold" on the opportunity. This is our forte.

Why Stocum & Associates?

S&A knows how to get in touch with the prime candidates. Besides our standard advertising and internet postings/searches, S&A has an invaluable resource. S&A has developed our own proprietary database over the years including thousands of potential candidates. These are our prior candidates, clients and other network points. These are not just names, but they are relationships that are the result of many years in the business. These are our networking points, the best source of candidates, or personal referrals for candidates, to fill your openings.

Specialization in Telecom & IT - Of course, this is a prime reason to select Stocum & Associates as your first choice recruiting firm. We are "Your Professional Recruiters for Telecom & IT ". If telecom is your industry, or if you are hiring senior level Information Technology managers, we are your best source of candidates.

On a contract basis, our processes can be successfully generalized to include recruiting in almost any area of expertise. We partner well with other recruiting firms as necessary. We can become your one-stop-solution for outsourcing.

In Summary