At times, I find that hiring managers delay initiating a search to hire an experienced professional, even though the hire is critical to the company’s future growth. The following is an e-mail reply to a hiring manager who procrastinated on an important staff addition:
“Yes, Roger, that is the way life rolls when you have a lot on your plate personally and professionally. While you continue to drink from a fire hose (just like we do), the days, weeks, months clip by like a fast train, and you feel that you just can’t afford to invest time to hire that experienced professional….too many other priorities to address. So you rationalize, “There is no way I can pause to secure top-shelf talent to grow my firm strategically over the long haul. That takes a lot of energy, resources, work, and time!” Then you look in the mirror, see your hair on fire while thinking about your firm’s growth and diversification aspirations, and come to the realization that these things are not happening! There is always another project to tackle, new business to secure, day-to-day operations to run, existing clients to serve…..got to keep those plates spinning…I’ll think about hiring key people in a few months when I have more time…….
Roger, my point is, it’s very easy to postpone the decision to begin the hiring process because the timing is never convenient. An alternative question to ponder might be, “How much value am I destroying each day by not having our key vacancies filled?”, or “What is the opportunity cost to my firm by not building out a very promising new line of business?”
Here is how I concluded our exchange:
“So Roger….we at OneSource Professional Search certainly have a large appetite to become your strategic search partner with the capability of hitting the ground running when you are ready to engage. Of course, we’ll allow you a few more weeks and even longer if that is best for you/your firm. I would advise you to keep in mind that the summer months, with all of the nice distractions we enjoy, make it more challenging to engage and secure the “A” level talent you need to grow your firm. We view our work and client relationships as a marathon, not a sprint – although it’s my observation that a lot of your competitors have already pushed off from the starting blocks to secure new talent required to grow and diversify.”
