Talent Acquisition: The Fundamental Difference between the UK/EU & Ghana/Nigeria

In response to the last DWR Newsletter (“The Quality of Candidates in Ghana”), I received numerous requests, both in the comments section and privately, to supplement it with a follow-up article focusing on the Quality of Clients in Ghana. Drawing comparisons in the quality between each side of the recruitment process is a fair and potentially valuable exercise, and I will indeed compose my thoughts on this subject in the next edition. However, this month I’d like to discuss another (but related) topic of concern.

I know many readers will agree with the following observations and I would love to hear your own thoughts, but there are unfortunately others that will disagree with me and dispute the need to engage with, and pay for, an outsourced Professional Executive Search Service. Regrettably, some will have had bad experiences with recruitment companies and forgivably, but very wrongly, classify all such providers as the same. I do agree that there are plenty of useless, amateur providers out there (not just in Ghana) and far too many who give the world of Executive Search a bad reputation. But we are NOT all the same. Many of us are motivated, consummate professionals who are dedicated to our profession, to our clients and to our candidates. I certainly know I am.

So, in addition to those that might agree with my assessment of the situation in Ghana as I refer to below, I would like very much to hear from those of you with different or opposing views.

I’ve just returned to Accra after a three-week trip to the UK. Although it was partly a vacation, I attended several meetings with past, current and prospective clients whilst in London.

More than anything else, I was struck by the chasm of difference that still exists in the approach and attitude toward talent acquisition here in Ghana & Nigeria (and anglophone West Africa in general) compared to in the UK/EU/US. It’s actually quite disturbing.

In so many ways, Ghana (and its immediate neighbour) is a progressive and dynamic country, people and environment. Businesses are optimistic and positive in their outlook and plans for growth: Opportunities abound despite ever-present economic uncertainties, and employers strive for constant improvement and competitive edge - in theory, at least. Overall, it’s not unfair to describe this country and region as ambitious, abundantly competent and eager to embrace change, technology and market-leading innovations.

It's therefore disappointing to notice the continued lack of widespread misunderstanding, under-use and, frankly, contempt that still surrounds a very basic and internationally utilised business tool that for at least two decades has made such a monumental difference to the success, growth and market positioning of businesses globally - The outsourcing of the single most essential component of a company’s strength and expansion: Talent Acquisition.

Previous articles in this DWR Newsletter series have largely focused on the variances between “contingency recruitment” and professional “Executive Search”, and I have made many references to how employers should use one option over the other depending on their needs. Yet, my recent time spent with company owners and Heads of HR in the UK have reminded me again of the serious and worrying gap that is still sadly apparent in Ghana.

Most will acknowledge that attracting people with the right skills, experience and mindset to join your workforce is so elementary and essential as to warrant no debate necessary on the subject of engaging careful and professional assistance when it comes to recruitment. But, in practice, the same stubborn barriers to effective implementation of a successful strategy are absent. On the eve of entering the second quarter of the century, there are still company owners/CEOs/GMs and even senior HR professionals that cling to the outdated, naive and self-defeating notion that recruitment is a minor consideration to their company’s success, a last-minute and straightforward exercise for their HR department to deal with, or at best a menial task that can be handled externally for a few dollars.

Such attitudes and approach are archaic, ineffective, damaging to your business and ultimately pointless over the medium and long-terms.

Poor staff retention, high employee turnover, inadequate performance levels, absenteeism, lack of loyalty and no interest in employer/employee relationships are all tell-tale signs that a company has a serious problem with its talent recruitment methods.

You need only look at companies that enjoy growth, market dominance, profitability and a positive public image to instantly recognise those others that are struggling, have a dissatisfied and demotivated workforce and who are failing to make the impact domestically, regionally or internationally that they think they are automatically untitled to by virtue perhaps of possessing a great product or service.

But what good is a great product or service if you don’t have the loyal and committed, experienced and dedicated management and senior executive leadership required to make the impact you desire?

I know for a fact that the HR community in Ghana on the whole is both extremely qualified and outward looking. Many of those I deal with here (happily, I should add) have completely the right attitude and approach to Executive Search. They acknowledge, gladly, that such skilled and professional work must be outsourced and that whilst impressively qualified in all areas of human resource mechanisms, recruitment is actually a stand-alone and external service for which HR executives understandably lack the requisite hands-on expertise. They appreciate what Executive Search (headhunting) is, how it achieves what they can’t, is far more efficient and, importantly, so much more cost effective than spending ten times the amount of time trying to do it in-house with less effect and ultimately at a higher cost than assigning it to an outside professional.

Yet even many of these educated HR leaders who want to outsource their executive recruitment requirements are themselves restricted from doing so because their boss, their CEO or GM, insists that engaging an external professional Executive Search Consultant is nothing more than a rudimentary process that involves merely the presentation of CVs and as such should be cheap! And contingency recruitment is indeed cheap. But Executive Search is not. And nor is it expensive! It’s just more complex and comprehensive, more efficient, more time-consuming and therefore proportionately more costly.

It is this old fashioned and inefficient style of contingency recruitment (that has all but been abandoned in the “West” as businesses have embraced proper and professional Executive Search with the vast improvements their businesses have experienced as a result) that there continues in this country the nonsense belief that recruitment is a second-class service for which clients expect to pay peanuts.

Professional services (of all types) attract professional fees. For a reason! And Executive Search is no less specialised and dependent upon experience and skill than any other professional service. Why then does a company owner with their grand plans for expansion, growth, market presence, competitive advantage and increased profitability think that they can execute those plans with a mediocre and disinterested workforce? Can they seriously expect to engage new talent with top-notch, highly qualified, loyal and ultra-competent executives for an Executive Search fee equivalent to a month’s salary and a Professional Executive Search Consultant who will invest 150+ hours of experience, resources and time into finding the ideal candidate? AND expecting to impose on that Consultant various conditions and demands for “guarantees”!

My trip to London has served to remind me that despite much progress and the best intentions of many, Ghana’s business climate is still being hampered and held back by an archaic approach to a very normal and globally successful method of superior talent acquisition.

It seems that the main reason for this destructive reticence to join the rest of the world in developing their executive level management with the indispensable assistance of Professional Executive Search providers is simply one of money. I’ve tried analysing it and sought alternative explanations, but after several years of wasted meetings and pointless attempts to explain to CEOs and HR Heads (the majority of which, by the way, are long-term foreign nationals NOT Ghanaians) why a professional service warrants a professional fee, I am sadly convinced that money is indeed the only reason. But it’s a very poor reason.

Nothing, NOTHING is more essential to a company and its activity than its workforce. Ever.

And likewise, NOTHING is more important when setting a company’s budget than the funds required to attract and then RETAIN the right people.

Sourcing and providing the right people is a difficult, skilled, dedicated process that requires experience, resources, a huge market reach and time. Between 150 and 250 hours of time. Per placement.

Until company owners, CEOs, GMs and “old-school” Heads of HR wake up to the differences between basic contingency recruitment and professional Executive Search, and until they understand the value and profound impact that engaging such services will have to their business, and until they appreciate the fundamental justifications for a professional fee in exchange for a professional service, I fear that many businesses in Ghana will continue to do little else but tick along, stagnate and get left behind as more and more progressive, astute, forward-looking, and mature, world-educated and focused companies led by serious and internationally-aware management develop Ghana and lead by example.

It is especially to those that disagree with me that I kindly draw attention to the other articles in this series: They outline my broad interpretation of the recruitment climate in this region, the strengths and weaknesses, the ways in which things can be improved (in my opinion, with 33+ years of experience in the recruitment sector and West Africa), and how/why Professional Executive Search costs more than contingency recruitment, but yields better results and substantial cost efficiencies to my clients in Ghana, Nigeria and elsewhere internationally.

Contact DWR to arrange a meeting to discuss your company’s talent acquisition requirements and how to tackle them properly, cost effectively and professionally.

Email: [email protected]

Ghana Tel: +233 (0) 202 800 466

WhatsApp: +44 (0) 7835 396 349

For details on me, DWR, my services, the way I approach my work, and an explanation on the fee structure (heavily discounted for new clients during 2024!), please refer to the various articles in the DWR Newsletter, the DWR Executive Group page or my LinkedIn profile.

DWR Executive and Expatriate Search - Ghana, Nigeria & West Africa offers a bespoke, confidential and personalised service aimed at companies who take their recruitment needs seriously and understand the value of an outsourced provider of professional services.

DWR Executive Search - Ghana, Nigeria & West Africa.

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