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The other day I was talking to a HR person and friend. We had built up a really good relationship from working together on a critical scarce skills role. He was working for one of SA’s Top Manufacturers. Because our relationship is so good, we were openly sharing recruitment practices.
He mentioned to me that they normally look at the CVs of the first 10 candidates that apply for a role. And then send them to business.
I must admit I was quite surprised.
I told him that we look at every application. Even if we get 500 applicants. We then filter them using our proprietary process and shortlist to the top 2% of people. So about 2 CVs in every 100.
He was so intrigued that he gave us more work to do.
Well that was a surprise too.
I found this whole question intriguing.
You see, I also had the opportunity to interview the former sales manager from one of the top career portals in the country. I said to him, that we are a bit concerned about how we should compete with companies doing their own in-house recruitment.
I said to him we just can’t compete with “free”, no matter how good we are at finding those movers and shakers.
He told me I really don’t have to worry. There will always be a need for external recruiters. Which means there will always be a need for Talent Search Consultants too.
In fact, their biggest challenge is getting people to renew their career portal subscriptions.
I asked him why.
His answer was simple. Companies want to save the money that they pay recruiters, but they don’t have the time or the energy to do the job themselves.
In other words, they take shortcuts.
Company’s think that all they have to do is place a couple of job ads on their career portal and the perfect candidate will come knocking on their door.
In a sense this is true. The perfect candidate will come knocking, and so will 500 other people who are not perfect. Which means you have to wade through 501 CVs to find the perfect person.
In fact, one of our other customers who has a massive internal recruitment department, complains about the fact that they get…. Wait for it… 2000 applications for a role.
Oh, and let’s not forget that the best candidates often have the worst CVs. And the worst candidates often have the best CVs. You can’t really rely on a CV, can you? So how do you really filter these 500, or 2000 people?
Companies clearly have no problem finding people. But they do have a big problem finding the best people, as they really do not have the time or the systems to filter that many applications.
All this was very fascinating to me.
And I must frankly admit, a relief.
I realised that there definitely is a need in the market for a service which delivers high-impact performers to companies.
Companies need high-impact performers, but they don’t have the capacity to find them themselves.
And as long as wise people work for companies, who realise that great people, make great companies, there will always be a need for Xenitho’s services.
Are you looking to hire a high impact performer. Get in touch with us today.