Human resources management is key to success

Davis: Skilled recruitment takes true expertise.

As one of the youngest chairmen of a publicly listed company, I am amazed at the approach of some key managers when times get tough. I have watched many succeed when the going is soft but the present credit crunch may sort the sheep from the goats.

We all know that when sales are thin on the ground or you are looking to grow your market share you turn to your salespeople.

So why would you use a generalist recruiter or even worse, rely solely on the human resources department?

On one recruitment page recently I saw four testimonials from staff claiming that working for that company is great, only to find out that all four have left!

One company we worked for had staff attrition at an unacceptable 60 per cent level, and we were meant to reduce it. That was quite a challenge!

After 12 months, we still had not achieved the hiring as required. Nevertheless, I was pleased to report that attrition fell to 16 per cent and many newer top-performing staff were staff we had sourced.

Then another agency came in for half our price, and years later, I have heard that staff attrition is back at around 50 per cent as well.

Recruitment is all about finding out what clients want and then sourcing the right candidates. If I were going to apply directly, I would ensure my curriculum vitae promoted the qualities I believed the company sought, giving me (hopefully) an advantage.

As a third-party recruiter, I can question the candidate and since they do not know which company I am representing they cannot sell me the client’s wish list of characteristics and skills.

In one job, a three-month recruiting campaign experienced a conversion rate of 90 per cent. Of candidates that were offered a position, all accepted.

I take recruitment seriously, almost as seriously as an IT manager takes procurement. An IT manager is responsible for ensuring that the hardware, software and services fit his company’s needs.

Yet I am told time after time that I need to be on a Preferred Supplier list before I can offer my services. Except in the public sector, I know few IT procurement managers who run such a list.

Anyway, such a list is no guarantee of success, I believe. It can be an example of an HR department getting ahead of itself and preventing good new suppliers offering their services.

If this were true of IT procurement, we would all still live and die by the statement that nobody ever gets fired for buying from IBM.

I am well aware that there is no such thing as a job for life. However, I believe experienced salespeople can be more profitable for their employer in the long run.

It is costly getting new hires up to speed. Many hiring managers insist that new hires bring spending customers with them.

Yet I am at a loss. This looks like short-term thinking.

Most management teams are looking to acquire and keep clients by offering annuity based services. But they expect new staff to bring transient customers with them? This reinforces my belief that finding out more about the candidate in advance is essential.

If their goals mirror those of the customer, your hit rate is far better and those hires are likely to stay longer.

I cannot believe that businesses wanting loyal staff will be happy to ask that they bring disloyal customers with them. I believe this approach merely prolongs or puts off many HR problems.

Why are recruiters rewarded for failure? This question could have been asked by the banking sector in recent months.

If a hiring manager is building a sales team and using the HR department to vet the incoming hopefuls, beside a their HR qualifications what experience do they offer?

It seems to me that, when faced with a tough time, businesspeople are putting the cart before the horse. No wonder some are merely flirting with profitability.

Paul Davis is director at MerlinCorp IT