Recruiting industry told: do more than dump your database into my in-box
posted 21.10.09 by Damon Hurst
Google and fast-growing Australian company Atlassian are regarded as the two most exciting software engineering companies to work for in this country, according to a recent article in The Australian Financial Review.
Atlassian's staff, located in Australia, USA, Holland and Poland, have grown from 30 to 195 in three years. Annual revenues, currently at $AUD 44 million, are also on the rise and they have 15,600 customers in 138 countries including IKEA, Nike and NASA. Very impressive...and now they need another 32 software engineers in the Sydney office!
Rather than taking the traditional approach of developing a preferred-supplier relationship with one recruiter for this enormous task, they have launched an on-line campaign from their website. If an existing staff member introduces a successful hire, they get a $10,000 reward, effectively a 10% kicker to the average salary at the firm. Conversely, external "bounty-hunters", a term used to describe the recruiting industry, are offered fees below industry standards. The fine print to the campaign also states: no bounty-hunters get paid unless the candidate survives three months.
"The problem with recruitment companies is that 80% of them are pathetic", says Atlassian founder, Mike Cannon-Brookes, adding they "..don't understand the business, (they) just do key word searches, and then shoot out the resume of everyone who has mentioned that word that is on their database".
It's probably this attitude, as much as Atlassain's approach, that incensed one recruitment consultant enough to blog his feelings, igniting an on-line industry blather and the AFR article. A click through Atlassian's company values suggests their attitude is on brand, and reflective of a modern company's distrust of old-fashioned norms.
Having developed local offices for a global publisher in five different territories, my own experiences with the recruiting industry have at times also been frustrating, and this is one of the reasons I started Thirdman.
It is common to meet recruitment consultants who have never grown a non-consulting business or even worked for one. As a consequence, some struggle to understand the different types of people required in, for example, a start-up versus a rapid-growth enterprise. Others are so highly specialised that they are too narrowly focused when faced with a new industry, or a new development in their specialist sector. I have found these limitations accentuated when the business can't be easily benchmarked to competition, or is located in a non-English speaking country. These are exactly the types of issues Atlassian is having.
Unlike Atlassian's young and feisty founders, however, I don't blame the recruiting industry (and to be fair, Atlassian do acknowledge that at least 10% of recruiters are really good at what they do). For my money, the problem is more about the flawed nature of the buy-before-you-try model.
The root cause is that humans are incredibly complex. Those that perform well in an interview may not end up fitting in and adding value, and visa versa. Over the years I have discussed this issue with many leaders who not only concur with my experience, and attest to the financial and emotional drain such failure presents, but agree with my conclusion: ultimately, there is no magic formula. You have to suck it and see how each person performs in a real world environment.
In context, it's easy to understand the global demise of traditional permanent employment structures and the proportionate rise in various versions of consulting.
At Thirdman Interim we primarily bridge short term human resources gaps, however we can also contribute to the successful recruitment of permanent staff.
Our interim executives are engaged to achieve specific tasks, transferring practical and lateral skills to incumbent staff and always managing towards their own exit. A common element of this process is assessment of existing organisational structures, job descriptions and staff capabilities, overlaid onto strategic plans. If gaps are identified, we may become involved in permanent recruitment.
The benefit is that we will have gathered key information first-hand, from an independent and objective perspective. So not only will we have real knowledge of the client's culture, and present and future needs, we won't have any of the political or historical baggage that may be present when a recruitment brief is entirely reliant on existing management.
This is another example of how interim consulting, a contemporary approach to human resources, can add value for a client long after the interim's job is over.
Links
The Australian Financial Review - PDF of article 'Upstarts throw out recruiters' rulebook' published 13 October 2009
www.atlassian.com