“Surely promoting an existing employee would be cheaper?”
“We’ve spent money training, mentoring and teaching our current staff. What benefit will someone with little to no understanding really bring?”
“We should be promoting and recruiting from within our own ranks.”
“Why would I consider a new employee with experience that isn’t our field?”
What are the benefits of recruiting from “the unknown”? Do businesses really need headhunters when they have employees already on board with the company ethics, systems and services?
1. Take a look around. Things are changing, constantly
We live in a world of overwhelming, fast-paced change. A decade ago Twitter was a pie-in-the-sky idea, Google hadn’t launched its email system, and mobile phones could be described lovingly as bricks at best.
Twenty Recruitment Group made a valid point in a recent blog, noting that “as a result of this ongoing [digital] revolution, businesses have to react quicker to market changes than ever before and must have a finger on their customers’ collective pulses to find strategies that can satisfy their needs.”
Whatever your industry, there is no denying that you require leaders and junior staff who can accurately assess the state of the market and react accordingly. Recruiting from unknown talent pools opens up opportunities for innovation, ideas and strategies that may just save your business from becoming archaic and thus irrelevant to the digitally advanced customer. Think about it.
2. New world, new roles
Do you “do data”? If not, it’s time to take a long hard look at your business model and your current employees. Whether you’re a butcher, baker or candlestick-maker, data is becoming more and more valuable to the retail and general business experience.
Forbes reinforced the importance of having data-driven employees:
“Businesses are compiling data in droves and hiring experts to make sense of it. From different datasets including structured (transaction), semi-structured (user behaviour) and unstructured (text) information, data analysts and scientists look for behavioural patterns to help retailers and businesses predict future trends, or to build recommendation engines or personalised advertising.”
In short, recruiting new employees from sectors you may not have considered, such as researchers, engineers or applied scientists, could open up a completely new skill set and help your business become more successful.
3. Manager or friend?
It is not right to say that managers cannot also be friends to employees. In fact, many managers, CEOs and directors are often invited into the sacred “Friday beers” fold.
That said, when looking to recruit someone of manager level or above, for maximum innovation and positive change you should consider avoiding promoting from within.
Why?
Individuals employed from elsewhere are less likely to hold back from ruffling feathers of those they have existing relationships with. They’re prone to being more honest and direct, and doing whatever is necessary to get the job done, than those who worry about existing friendships.
Yes, I hear you cry, that is all well and good, but is it not true these “strangers” will know very little about specific company characters and will come across stumbling blocks that a current employee may already be aware of?
Increasingly, companies who are looking for “X, Y and Z” in a new employee may well benefit from considering someone with transferable “A, B and C” experience and skills.
For innovation purposes at least, businesses should consider looking externally for their future leaders.
Looking to headhunt an outsider for your next leadership hire? Byron Thomas Recruitment has 20+ years of experience placing C-suite and senior finance leaders across Sydney and Australia.