Busting Hiring Myths: When DIY Doesn't Cut It

A client of ours recently asked if we could offer an hourly rate to “go through resumes and bubble up the good ones?”

It came from a place of love. Which is why I know she won’t mind if I make an example out of her! ?? She was trying to get creative about bringing Nadexa Group in. She knew her company didn’t have the bandwidth internally to manage the hiring process, but there were precious little funds to allocate to the effort.

It’s Never That Simple

Bubbling up good resumes sounds like it should be easy. Hell, maybe with the right guidance, an inexpensive virtual assistant could do it. But anyone that has been hands-on with hiring knows that it’s never that simple. For example,

• Where do the resumes come from, and what if they aren’t plentiful or good?
• Do you want to rely on inbound resumes alone (versus proactively looking for amazing candidates?)
• How do you manage internal referrals?
• Should the hiring team spend time meeting candidates that aren’t really qualified or interested?
• Who collects interview feedback and communicates with decisionmakers?
• How will you keep candidates from dropping off before you reach a decision?
• Who does reference checks?
• Is the candidate’s boss the best person to do the salary negotiation, or could that sour the relationship?
• What if the candidate doesn’t accept our offer and we need to start all over again?
• What if we hire the wrong person and we need to hire all over again?

Suddenly, you’re far beyond what a VA or office manager is equipped to handle, so you need to jump in. And before you know it, you’ve spent several hours troubleshooting.

How Many Hours?

Well, recruiters spend an average of 13 hours/week on a single role. According to a 2023 SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management) report, it takes around 48 days (10 work weeks) to fill the typical professional position. So already you’re at 130 hours. Maybe a little more if you’re not superfluid on recruiting. Don’t worry I’m not going to challenge you to a race, but think about it: What’s your time worth? What’s your peace of mind worth? Once you do that calculation, it starts to make sense to hire an expert.

Btw, so far we’ve talked about the best case scenario and not what happens when you hire a Tasmanian devil. What if you need to oust someone and start all over again? Double the above calculation and consider the impact on your business and team. Another reason you might work with a recruiter is that they guarantee their candidates, usually through the first critical 90 days.

That Little Bugger Compliance

Now I don’t like to talk about the C word, but compliance has ramped up extraordinarily in the last few years. There are an obscene amount of guidelines around how you advertise jobs and compensation due to EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) laws and salary minimums, so it’s become a lot riskier to post jobs if you don’t have an HR background or understand current legislation. An innocent oversight or misstep can lead to hefty fines.

There’s a wonderful excerpt from the novel Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin where the main character recalls that there was a brief window of time, during the Donkey Kong days, when a talented developer could easily bring a video game to market. But that window closed when gaming became mainstream and more robust technology was introduced.

In the same vein, there used to be a wild west of HR and Talent Acquisition, where anyone could plan a team-building scavenger hunt, post a job, or “bubble up” resumes, but that time has passed. Our world is more complex than a decade ago. Now that dispersed teams, diversity goals and resources, salary transparency, pay equity and EEOC guidelines are table stakes, it pays to work with someone that knows what they’re doing.

Maybe You Don’t DIY

Are you getting the picture? Hiring is a complex and risky job. There are reasons you want to pay for an expert versus DIY’ing it. Gary Vaynerchuk, our venerable truth bomb thrower, knows this. And if you’ve swung and struck out with a recent hire, you know it too.

We’re here to take everything off your plate and make sure you’re thrilled with the process and results. Ask me how we do it.