Should Your Recruiting Firm Embrace a Virtual Workspace? It Depends…
There are a number of recruiting firms that are considering a transition back to the office in a hybrid capacity or even a full-time remote model. However, concerns over less oversight are a perceived difficulty in managing a remote team. The lack of eyes and ears on recruiters hold back many firms from embracing a remote environment.
Whether your recruiting firm should embrace work from home or not depends on several variables. It boils down to how each firm wants to build their teams. Many firms are looking to hire proven producers who have a track record of success and credibility and therefore are perceived as less risky in a remote setting.to hire people with little to no recruiting experience and train them up from scratch. As a general rule, first time or junior level recruiters are not set up for success if they are hired in a fully remote setting compared to being in the office.
For a recruiting firm that is trying to grow its practice by hiring entry level people, it is extremely challenging to train and develop remotely. Many believe osmosis learning is the most efficient way to become a proficient recruiter. By observing seasoned pros and being observed by leaders and mentors, the learnings happen in real time and much faster. This is a phone business and monitoring every call virtually is a huge time and energy commitment for leadership. It is not impossible by any means, but it is much more difficult. Being in the office is not meant to be a punishment to a new recruiter, but to provide a much better and efficient onboarding and learning experience.
Traditional thinking is that three to five years of experience is a benchmark for recruiters to have a likelihood of success working from home. Adjustments should be allowed for those individuals that have achieved a consistent track record of performance at a high level. It’s less likely that top performers will need a lot of handholding or a long ramp time, though this can vary by individual.
Another consideration for firms is the impact to culture. A firm that has been founded on an `in office culture’ must embrace a new way of maintaining the old culture. Otherwise, it’s time to allow a change and evolve a new culture. That’s a particularly tricky thing for a lot of leadership teams to handle. Firms with a strong internal culture and relatively experienced recruiter teams may be good candidates of hybrid or remote work.
Whether your firm decides to stay remote, go hybrid, or transition back to the office, depends on the following aspects. Are they set up to successfully manage a virtual workforce? There are retention considerations by transitioning seasoned staff back into the office. If the plan is to hire rookie or junior recruiters, then it makes more sense to go with a full-time in office or hybrid model. Alternatively, if hiring recruiters with a proven track record, then a viable option would be a virtual workspace.
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R2R Search is the Recruitment firm for Recruiting Firms and Recruitment Professionals. We cater to boutique firms throughout the US across all vertical and industry specialties. Representing candidates and clients across all business models to include Retained Search, Engaged or Container, Contingency Perm, and Interim or Staffing. To learn more about how R2R Search can help you, contact us.