A great article highlighting that an effective hiring strategy should include a blend of internal recruitment, retained executive search and contingency recruitment.

The problem, I believe, that companies face is that they make decisions on their recruitment methodology based on cost and not the value or difficulty to achieve the sought outcome.

To ensure that you choose the right solution for your opportunity/problem, I recommend that companies do their due diligence on who they want to recruit and how difficult it will be to identify, entice and secure that individual. 

You should be armed with the facts. Where can you find your sought candidate? Are there loads of them that are easily accessible or are there barriers (perhaps bad employer branding perceptions) that need to be overcome. Once you have established how hard the project might be, then you can decide on the most effective route, whether it be via your internal recruiter, contingency database recruiter or retained executive search partner.

The latter should provide so much more value to you than just filling your vacancy. They should provide market insights rich with real-time data about your industry landscape and the talent working in it. They should help you make decisions based on robust data and their expertise. They should take away all your legwork and stress and professionally manage a project full of agreed milestones. They call themselves consultants and so let them consult. It should not feel like a business transaction and the partnership should definitely not end when the successful candidate starts.

Just promise that you won't make the wrong decision based on cost, that you will regret further down the line.

What are the key differences between retained executive search and contingency recruitment agencies? Find out here.