During an economic crisis, recruitment is often the last thing businesses think about. With so much uncertainty over the future of the company and its immediate cash flow issues, recruiting can seem like an unnecessary expense.
However, did you know that recruiting during an economic crisis can deliver a lot of benefits? Provided it is done correctly, recruiting in unstable times can help the business recover quickly. Here, we’ll look at whether you should recruit directly during an economic crisis and what alternatives are available.
The pros and cons of hiring direct
When you’re looking to recruit directly such as in-house, it’s important to understand the pros and cons. The main advantages of hiring directly include:
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You have full control over who you hire
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You can utilise existing talent
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Outside investors tend to favour in-house teams
Being able to control who you hire is a major plus point. However, it can also be time-consuming. You have to sift through many CVs, interview each candidate, and consider what qualities to look for when hiring an employee since you need an excellent recruit and not a lazy worker that will get fired in a week.
Another disadvantage is that hiring direct can cost a lot of money. While it may sound like the cheapest option, hiring via alternative methods in the long term can prove cheaper. Let’s take a look at the costs a little more below.
Will hiring direct save you money?
During an economic crisis, it may seem like hiring direct would save you money. However, it can actually cost more than hiring via a recruitment agency.
While you do have agency costs to cover, compared to sifting through applicants and carrying out interviews and training, a recruitment agency can save you a lot of money in the long-term. This is especially true when you’re hiring interim staff. You’ll also find candidates who apply for interim jobs in HR tend to have the experience needed, reducing training costs.
The benefits of hiring through a recruitment agency
If you are looking to hire during times of an economic crisis, you’ll find there are a lot of benefits of using a recruitment agency. In tough economic times, more people find themselves unemployed. For this reason, they’ll often sign up with recruitment agencies to get work quickly. So, you can be sure you’ll access to a wider talent pool.
You won’t have to worry about interviewing candidates or training them up. Instead, they will already have the skills for the job.
By taking on additional staff during an economic crisis, it can help to future-proof your business. Using an agency can offer a lot of benefits over hiring directly. However, if you do have in-house staff who deserve a promotion, it would be worth considering them first before bringing in someone new.