Get a grip, agency heads
The latest survey by the accountants WOW tells us what we already know about recruitment, but nonetheless it’s good to have it confirmed.
by Nick Band
Finding talent is the number one concern for agencies of all sizes yet 67% don’t have a conscious strategy to deliver a great experience for candidates, and 81% don’t measure team engagement often enough.
Working with agencies over the years, it has become evident to us that recruitment is not acted upon as a priority even though it is a business imperative. There are a number of reasons for this:
- To do recruitment it properly you need a full-time resource which many agencies say they can’t afford because, they argue, it is not a revenue generator. That, of course, is nonsense. People are the only revenue generators in an agency. But like any investment, it takes time of see a return.
- Recruitment is often a knee-jerk reaction to sudden demand. We’ve won an account, now we need to staff it quickly. Talent acquisition needs a long-term strategy enabling you to hire for tomorrow and not just for today.
- Interviewing people is a time-consuming business that not many would claim to enjoy. If you don’t have an HR person, then an account handler is pulled off their day-to-day work to handle the interview and follow-up.
- Hiring someone is a big decision which can go horribly wrong and cost a fortune. Many people feel uncomfortable with the risk involved and tend to delay or delegate the decision.
It’s time to get a grip, agency heads. Dedicate time and resources to recruitment. Raise its profile within the agency and reward those who do it well. Only then will the headache of finding talent subside. Read more of our blogs.
