All jokes and gimmicks aside, recruiters are normal people and we work bloody hard. We wake up and get out of bed each morning to help you grow your business. We spend all day every day saving your company time, actively sourcing your talent that was believed inaccessible. We help your brand remain competitive and we often work outside of working hours to suit your time-frames. We understand everything about your company and the people employed to reduce the risk of failure and any unwanted surprises. We match our candidates to our clients, not just skill-sets. And we are trained to execute this delivering the highest standard, offering the best possible service; why should I lower my fees Mr Client?
How much would it cost you to replace yourself?
Let’s say that an MD of a Property Services Consultancy (£100,000 salary) and a Senior member of staff (£60,000 salary) oversee the recruitment process. Based on a 260-day working year & 8-hour working day this works out to be a collective cost of £76.92 per hour.
But how time consuming is the recruitment of one member of staff?
- Writing Job spec – 2 Hours
- Writing Job Advertisement – 1 Hour
- Posting adverts on Job boards – 2 Hours
- Job Advert on Property Jobs - £1,682
- Job Advert on RICS Recruit - £550
- Adverts on Reed, Total Jobs - £200
So far, before seeing one CV, before even starting the recruitment process we are looking at £2,816.62
- Reviewing 25+ CV's (if your adverts were strong enough) – 5 Hours
- Speaking to relevant candidates that applied (15 candidates; 30-minute calls) – 7.5 Hours
- General administration of sending interview invites (8 candidates, 15 min per email) – 2 Hours
- Conducting first stage interviews – (1 hr per interview) 8 hours
- Giving all candidates feedback – 3 hours
- Admin to invite candidates back to second interview – 1.5 hours
- Conducting Second stage interviews – 6 hours
- Feedback to unsuccessful candidates – 1.5 hours
- Writing offer to successful candidate – 1 hour
Right, so the total so far is £5,162.68
Great, that’s almost cheaper than the usual recruitment fee! I was wrong, there is no need for us…but wait; the 40 odd hours you’re spending recruiting, you’re not doing your sole job, you’re not being charged out to clients and you are not making your business money. That’s an entire working week subject to the process going very smoothly which normally, due to 'people' being the variable, it doesn’t. Without going into charge out rates etc. let’s say this is around £3,000 of potential lost earnings to the company.
Total so far - £8,162.68
It isn’t looking so much like the cheaper option now, is it? Another point to make is that this is completely Non – Refundable; that’s right – Father time doesn’t have a rebate period.
What happens when the successful candidate accepts a counter offer? Back to square one with costs already incurred and unsalvageable.
The point I am trying to make is that an effective recruiter can not only introduce you to a fantastic new member of staff, we can save you time, money and probably your sanity. We are not ‘too expensive.’ When you take the time to factor in the cost of recruitment and the time it takes to find your next employee, we are an investment. What I believe we do, is offer fantastic value.
The next time you decline my call because I am simply too expensive, think about how much it might cost you to do it yourself!
