The first few months of the year present a prime opportunity to look for a new job, with thousands of employees hoping to find the grass is greener in a different role after the festive break.
Equally, this busy period offers the chance for businesses to hire desirable new candidates and build the best teams, with 69% of employers claiming they had plans to recruit nearing the end of 2022.
Hiring buzz will remain strong as we approach the end of the financial year. Leading up to this April deadline, business owners will be analysing performance, reviewing budgets and constructing hiring plans to recruit employees where they are needed most.
However, recruiting and retaining top talent is no easy feat in the current employment market. Sometimes, the better option is to hire from within by promoting or reshuffling existing employees.
So, whether you are recruiting internally or externally, now is the time to weigh up your options and review your recruitment strategy to ensure you get it right the first time.
Why you might opt for an internal hire
There are many reasons you might promote or reallocate existing employees rather than hire new ones.
Having experienced, dedicated staff in leadership positions is crucial to driving growth in the highly competitive business world — and pre-existing employees are usually well-positioned to step into these roles, as they come equipped with an understanding of how your organisation operates.
Employees are also more likely to succeed (and less likely to leave) knowing they will be rewarded for superior performance. So, by encouraging progression from within, you will benefit from improved morale, higher productivity and lower turnover — crucial considerations for tackling skills shortages in wake of the ‘The Great Resignation’ and ongoing economic disruption.
Additionally, you can make the most of your resources by simply reallocating existing employees to where their skills are most needed. This method is particularly appealing for industries struggling to keep up with the competition amidst the skills shortage; for example, as many as 82.3% of hiring managers in the finance and accounting sector claim that attracting talent will be a challenge in 2023.
Overall, internal recruitment can be highly efficient, allowing you to invest the time and money you saved on advertising jobs online into business development and employee benefits.
There is a catch, though.
With internal recruitment, employers can miss out on the fresh perspectives brought by new candidates, risking dull or stagnant culture that could limit your business from reaching its potential.
Plus, employees leave their previous role behind when they are promoted or relocated, resulting in gaps that could compromise business performance unless they are filled with new hires — meaning many businesses will need to recruit externally anyway.
Therefore, in some cases, looking outside of your organisation could be your best option.
Reasons to embrace the winds of change
External recruitment can be hugely beneficial for businesses prioritising efficiency and productivity.
Firstly, this approach allows you to search for the exact skills you need from a vast talent pool rather than scouring for potential in your current workforce. Plus, by working with a recruiter who can quickly screen applications based on your preferences, you can get the job done fast — and get to the best candidates first.
When using a recruiter to hire the right candidate from the get-go, you can also save time and money on the training that is often necessary when filling gaps with existing employees — an attractive option for those in rapidly changing industries.
Furthermore, working with a recruiter ensures objectivity in the recruitment process, which can help eliminate unconscious bias and improve workforce diversity, resulting in a more welcoming team environment, better retention and increased innovation.
Bringing in new candidates is not without complications, though…
If not handled carefully, existing employees who feel they deserve the position could raise internal disputes, which can interfere with staff retention efforts and set a negative precedent for other team members hoping to move up in the ranks.
Without specialist recruitment support, it can also be more challenging to integrate a new employee than an existing one, with delays expected as they get familiar with their role.
Still, a good recruiter can help iron out these issues with a well-thought-out recruitment strategy and provide ongoing advice throughout the recruitment process — ensuring businesses that need to hire externally can do so with confidence.
The bottom line
Whether you choose to hire internally or externally, the key to avoiding complications when making any recruitment-related decision is to develop a concise, up-to-date recruitment strategy that accounts for the demands of today’s job market.
So, with so much to consider, where do you start?
Audit your skill sets
The first step to any recruitment strategy should be assessing your company’s current capabilities.
Could a simple reshuffle within your teams be enough to fulfil your needs, or do you need to source a fresh set of skills from the outside? You should also decide whether you can upskill an existing employee or whether that resource would be better spent onboarding someone new.
Refine your job offer
In the current candidate-driven employment market, transparency is crucial.
As many people prioritise salary and the ability to work from home amidst the cost-of-living crisis, you must review your salary and benefits packages and consider whether your working model could be more flexible. Doing so will be just as crucial to retaining current employees as securing new hires.
Enlist the right support
Regardless of how you source your candidates, you must ensure your HR teams are prepared to transition new employees from their old roles with minimal disruption.
A professional recruitment agency can support onboarding from beginning to end, cutting time on candidate selection, harnessing extensive networks to secure the highest quality talent and taking care of all the admin — taking the stress out of the process for everyone involved.
We are a recruitment agency in Farnham, Surrey, with the expertise to help our clients curate the best recruitment strategies for today’s employment market. If you need our help to hire new talents, call 01252 718777 or email farnham@howett-thorpe.co.uk.