As organizations begin to re-open in the coming weeks, businesses will look to scale up their operations quickly.  In many cases, employers will bring back former workers who were furloughed or laid-off.   However, some may find that their business’s priorities have changed, resulting in the need for new or different skills. Others may also find that their greatest furloughed employees have seized other available work opportunities. 

For example, consider the following: Jane Doe, head of recruitment, was not having a good day. Three hours ago, her CEO announced the rapid launch of a new product that had been delayed in the first quarter of the year due to the pandemic. The company needs 20 sales representatives to be onboarded and trained by the end of the summer. The company currently has 15 sales staff on furlough, but frankly, only a handful of those were strong producers. Jane, knowing her small team might mutiny if asked to work any harder, carefully considered her options in dealing with this unanticipated hiring spike. She ruled out RPO since most outsourcing vendors prefer long-term contracts and specific volume commitments. Contingent search is also off the table due to its high cost, as Jane has to make at least 5 new hires while finding an accountable partner that has some “skin in the game.”

Jane needs a solution that:

  • Can be activated immediately
  • Is cost-effective
  • Provides dedicated resource(s) with the right skills, experience, and accountability
  • Brings added value through sourcing tools and technology that are otherwise an added expense
  • Requires minimal supervision and one point of contact for Jane to ensure results are achieved

If you were in Jane’s shoes, what would you do?

Hiring a team of contract recruiters could make sense, assuming Jane’s got a proven, reliable network of contractors on speed dial who are ready to work ASAP. Most, however, do not come with a technology toolkit of their own; instead, Jane will need to provide access to tools, which can involve additional costs. Moreover, it will take Jane time to train, onboard, and manage the productivity of an independent contractor(s), resulting in a longer ramp-up and additional demands to further strain her limited timeframe.    

Weighing these considerations, a smarter option may be an “On-Demand” recruitment solution. Through an On-Demand service, Jane partners with a firm accountable for all hiring deliverables within a specific time frame, one that acts as an extension of the in-house recruiting team to exclusively promote her organization and employment brand.

On-Demand Recruiting is part of TalentRise’s FlexSearch solutions and is designed to assist clients like Jane in filling multiple professional and administrative positions below the executive level. By leveraging our team of executive recruiters to implement robust processes, we can help to deliver tremendous value to organizations in their quest for top talent.

There are several additional reasons that an On-Demand solution may be the best way forward for Jane:

  • Access to a scalable, readily available pool of proven recruiters with specific industry or specialized recruiting and sourcing expertise.
  • Access to sourcing tools, proprietary talent networks, and candidate database technology that the company might otherwise need to subscribe to and incur additional costs.
  • Reduced fixed overhead recruitment team costs.
  • Save time spent hiring, training, and supervising independent contractors.
  • Performance goals and project management ensures accountability for results

On-Demand recruiting services typically require a small up-front retainer plus a success fee for each hire. But, as the name “FlexSearch” implies, we are flexible in our pricing and will design a program that is right for each client’s needs. When done right, an On-Demand recruiting solution is almost always more cost-effective than using contingency search vendors. We ensure that you pay for proven results, not for the number of hours worked as you would with an independent contractor. An On-Demand solution generally ends up costing 10-18% of salaries recruited. When stacked up against a comparable contingency search expense typically fixed at a fee per hire based upon 20-25% of salaries recruited, this is a much more affordable solution. 

Every situation is different. At TalentRise, we don’t advocate a one-size-fits-all answer to any single recruitment challenge. No matter the size or scope of your recruiting project, we’re here to help you find the talent you need when you need it most – that’s the TalentRise promise.

To learn more about how your organization can benefit from TalentRise’s On-Demand or other FlexSearch recruiting solutions, connect with Allicia Hahn on LinkedIn, or email her at hahna@talentrise.com.