Recruiting and scaling talent is one of the most significant concerns and time-consuming processes for startups and growth-stage companies. Hiring a qualified, connected recruiter in-house can be expensive and tricky, but the theory is that they understand your company culture best.
On the other hand, outsourcing to a recruitment agency instantly provides you with the necessary connections to pull in top talent, but it can leave you with a disjointed recruitment process. So how can you get the best of both worlds?
Embedded Talent.
The Challenges With Recruitment
There are two typical ways to recruit for your business: an in-house recruiter or a recruitment agency. Both have their pros and cons.
In-House Recruiter
In-house recruiters are a part of the company culture. They know the business inside and out, so they usually have a better idea of the types of candidates that would work well with the current managers, culture, and positions in the company.
However, in-house recruiters are expensive, they have long ramp-up times, and a mis-hire can set a hiring strategy back six months. Many times leaders underestimate the war on talent, and we usually see startups hiring a new or under-experienced recruiter to save on salary costs.
These new recruiters don’t have the necessary connections and industry know-how to bring in the best talent. They don’t have the on-the-job exposure to master candidate experience or brand positioning, and can sometimes get overwhelmed by aggressive hiring goals.
The right in-house team can be a fantastic asset to any growing company, but until an organization has a clear vision on how this team is going to be built out, paired with a long term growth plan and a substantial budget, it does not make sense to hire one. Our embedded solution can bridge this gap and set your team up for future success.
Recruitment Agency
A recruitment agency is an excellent solution for growth stage companies that are quickly scaling. Startups especially will outsource recruitment to find qualified talent without the expense or delay of finding an in-house recruiter full-time.
A specialized recruitment agency usually has a strong pool of qualified and high-performing candidates to pull from, and they have the experience to ensure the right types of prospects are walking through your doors.
However, these agencies are generally far removed from your company: you give them a job description, and they bring in candidates who fit the criteria on-paper. We found that most agencies don't prioritize candidate experience, recruitment branding, diversity and inclusion, or long-term retention.
They don’t have a deep relationship with teams for which they’re assembling candidates, and generally, agencies go off of qualifications rather than fit. Also, a recruitment agency also might not be prioritizing your needs the same way you are. Remember they are an external organization that is vying for top-dollar. If you are on a contingent contract, you probably are not their #1 priority.
Hiring Process
And that’s just the sourcing side recruitment. In both cases of the in-house recruiter and a recruitment agency, they will simply provide screened candidates. The company is then responsible for the entire interview and hiring process.
This is another added expense and expenditure on your part. You either have to spend resources in-house to go through the interview process, or you have to bring in another individual or third party to manage the hiring process.
If you try to do it yourself, hiring can end up messy and disorganized. If you have something like 12 individuals involved in the interview process—or an interview process more than five steps—you’re not streamlining appropriately.
What Is Embedded Recruitment?
At Captivate Talent, we decided to create a process that would overcome these barriers. That’s where embedded recruitment comes in. We “embed” our recruitment processes directly into your organization to attract, hire, and retain the best possible candidates for your company.
Attract
Our embedded recruitment is a hybrid between an in-house, on-site hiring manager and an experienced employment agency. We have the agency benefits of speed, experience and connections, but the embedded process allows us to form a deep relationship with the organization and work on providing a service that positions our clients to be proactive with their hiring goals.
We bring our team into your office a few times a week to build deeper relationships with the managers and staff. We help fix the top end of the funnel by realigning job descriptions, salary benchmarking and aligning your brand to best entice top talent. This ensures we attract the right “fit” of candidates from the get-go.
Hire
As part of our embedded recruitment services, we consult on your interview and hiring structure. We ensure that your hiring process is streamlined and consistent to utilize your resources best. We don't just act as a screen but a first step interview as part of the hiring process to make sure the right candidates move funnel at each step.
We also work to provide a robust and differentiated candidate experience during the hiring process. The ability for us to work in-house alongside your team allows us to create unique strategies for gaining the attention of some of the top talent in the industry.
Moreover, our presence in your building allows us to assist with sourcing, interviewing, and funneling appropriate candidates. You don’t have to go through it alone, primarily as a new or growing business. “Embedded recruitment” brings us to you part-time to recruit and hire top talent based on qualifications, culture fit, and company needs.
Recommended Read: Why You Should Always Talk About Salary
Retain
Acting as an internal third party allows us to take our recruitment process one step further. You’ve recruited and hired a great candidate. How do you keep them around? Too often, top talent will leave the company, especially a startup, in the first few months.
This usually has nothing to do with the role or challenge of the job. They leave because something is overlooked in the hiring process. Proper interview training for the hiring manager is just as essential to retention as a, well, retention strategy.
Don’t neglect retention after recruitment. With our embedded recruitment process, we have the opportunity to follow up with new hires to ensure they are moving on the right path. We can provide them with ongoing tools, assist with on-boarding, and make sure the proper resources are in place to make hires successful.
We work to create and implement a program of training, coaching, and wellness programs to ensure that the top talent you’ve hired is here to stay.
The Bottom Line
The purpose of embedded recruitment is to form a deeper relationship with both the candidates and your company; to become an extension of your brand. The goal is to not just merely place someone for the sake of filling the role. We want to attract the right talent, hire the best candidates, and retain the top talent to scale.
The team here at Captivate Talent brings a diverse expertise and a blend of internal recruitment, marketing, HR and agency experience that allows us to bring the best candidates to your organization.
By being embedded in your company, an extension of your brand, we are able to create a hiring and retention process that will best attract the talent you are looking for. See the benefits of embedded recruitment firsthand.
Contact us right now for a recruiting consult for your business. Let us prove to you why our embedded talent solution is the future for not only attracting candidates, but also hiring and retaining top talent that creates long term value to your company and brand.
