When IT transformation programmes are launched by an organisation, time is usually of the essence and a quick turnaround is necessary. One of the early requirements is staff up a whole team comprising of a wide variety of skills. This usually means a requirement to run a massive recruitment drive. Most businesses will have a standard process in place to deal with these requirements, usually in the form of a shared service.
The shared service will be responsible for obtaining hiring requests from individual business units, searching for candidates, screening and hiring – usually following a strict process. This is not always the most efficient way of working, for various reasons.
Slow Process
As the shared service is providing a service for managers throughout the business and they are following a process, there is often a lack of urgency with the process. Everyone is making demands, but the shared service is following the process, and this can cause a lot of frustration for managers. These IT programmes are fast paced, and they are necessary for the business to deliver benefits as soon as possible. A lack of urgency can even cause managers to go out with the process and start looking for recruitment consultants to help, which goes against procurement rules and can cause problems further down the line.
Time Consuming
Hiring managers are often time starved and the added hassle of completing long forms and chasing people, just adds to their frustration. Managers are looking for an easy, efficient route to get the right talent to deliver the IT programmes, so they can get on with their day to day job. They don’t want to have to spend time waiting for updates and filling out extensive forms.
Inefficiencies in the Process
There can be several inefficiencies which cause problems in the process. Hiring requests may not always be picked up by the same people, so this can cause errors with information and further delays. When inefficiencies exist, it can completely slow down the process and cause disruptions which could have been avoided. A shared service is not an auto-learning system either. You probably will have convey your specific preferences over and over again, for future hires.
The Solution
Hiring managers are simply looking to have a quick conversation about their recruitment needs with a specialist recruiter and the recruiter to deliver a well-considered shortlist. They don’t want to be faced with a long, frustrating process to deal with and numerous delays along the way. It would make sense to find a happy medium. An external managed professional service would make more sense from the start of the programme. The managed professional service will oversee the process and see it through to onboarding.