So, you have been working Agency recruitment and everything seems to be dragging you down; the clients reason for rejection, the candidates not coming back to you, the relentless KPI`s…. This list seems to get bigger every week.
Is it time to think about going in house? Surely the grass is much greener. Working for a corporate has got to be better, regular money, less hours, and a better environment. Thinking long term, this has got to be good for you, right?
We see the knee jerk reaction to a bad month or not getting the commission you were expecting is to go internal, as it is the answer to most recruiter’s problems, but is it?
Before you make that jump, just take a few minutes to look at the following points.
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In the House
Firstly, it’s worth considering what it is you’ve fallen out of love with in your agency role. Working with one client, who pays your salary, whose door you can knock on if you need clarification on a role seems like a dream. If, however you’ve fallen out of love with recruitment as an industry or vocation, then moving in-house isn’t going to fix this. If anything, there can be more pressure to deliver when working in-house.
Your ability to sell the client will directly impact on your success. If your company is a major organization with a good ‘name’ in the sector they’re in… great. Company sold. Deals done. If your company is a startup, you’d better make sure you can sell over the phone and in press. A startup with no employer branding, no marketing function and small web presence means your effort per hire will be much greater than a large established business.
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Take Home
It’s imperative to not only work out how much money you’ll be taking home, but how much this differs to now. And more specifically, what changes this will make to your everyday life. Some companies employing in-house recruiters will offer an attractive base salary. If they offer commission or a bonus scheme, it’s likely this won’t touch what your scheme was. The potential to earn very good money is ever present in agency recruitment. Your take home in-house may be smaller, but it’s likely to be more reliable.
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Progression
If there’s regimented career progression available, then you can see the next few years and how you’ll progress within the company. As more companies alter the way they recruit, and smaller boutique startups realize the value of an internal isolated recruitment function, it may be that you’re actually the first person in your department.
Apart from the obvious implications, this has for your day job (marketing, sales, researching, interviewing, technical assessments, project planning, campaign building etc) it’s likely that your employer might not know what your career progression will look like.
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Strategy
Everyone knows about the perceived rivalry between agency and in-house recruiters. Whilst in-house recruiters have a certain budget to spend on outsourcing to agencies, they are always trying to reduce this spend. They’re therefore seen as a barrier for agency recruiters to the final decision maker.
Just as agency recruitment varies between business; there’s no one-size fits all job description, and there are some overarching similarities.
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Day-to-day
In-house recruitment is usually a combination of traditional agency recruitment activity (sourcing, candidate management, scheduling interviews), combined with more involvement in administration, operational and employee development responsibly.
In-house recruiters are involved at a much earlier stage in the hiring process – helping to plan, budget for, and facilitate hiring within a time-scheduled hiring plan. They’ll work closely with managers to help shape pipelines and processes, trying to spend as little on agency hiring as possible. Typically, smaller companies will offer a role with more variety and wider responsibility than larger companies.
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Priorities and targets
In-house, the priorities can be different to agency and will depend on the business and how they are looking to grow. Important metrics for any in-house recruiter are cost-per-hire and quality-of-hire – looking at retention rates, how quickly candidates are promoted, how well they perform in the role. You are exposed to the aftermath of hiring much more – and are therefore acutely aware of the cost of a bad hire. I have heard a contract recruiter describe agency permanent recruitment as tossing in a grenade. The In house recruiter has the responsibility to make sure too many grenades don’t go off.
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Skills
Coming into in-house from an agency background can have a number of advantages. Agency recruiters bring with them a real focus on activity levels, an ability to go out and source as many great candidates as possible, which can be invaluable to growth-driven in-house teams. Having an extensive network can also be a big bonus as it not only means relationships with potential candidates, but gives a bigger-picture understanding of the market – what competitors are doing, how quickly candidates are becoming unavailable, and so on.
Rapport building is one of the most important skills an in-house recruiter can have. While you might no longer be managing clients from different businesses, you’ll be managing expectations across the business. Unlike agency-side, there’s no walking away when you work in-house – either from a difficult manager or a difficult brief, so having the relationship building skills to make it work is crucial.
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How Do I Get In?
Good in-house roles are highly competitive and getting your profile in front of the right in-house employers can be difficult. Often the problem is that employers want recruiters with in-house experience already. Luckily, the trend towards in-house employers looking to hire agency recruiters is on the up because of their urgency, vast network, and process-driven skillset.
Creating a resume that’s geared towards in-house work is essential. Your agency resume probably won’t be good enough. it’s time to take on board that advice you’ve been give out to your candidates.
This means that you should be highlighting the skills on your CV that are in demand. Delivery is the focus. Any projects you can stress the strategy you took with a client will help in the cross-over. And also, here in Japan, 95% of the time you are going to need business level Japanese to land an in-house role.
If you want a chat about in house or RPO roles, and if they are right for you, let us know
