New research has found that senior HR professionals waste nearly three-and-a-half days (27 hours) every time they recruit a new interim team member. This is according to research released by SomeoneWho, a new digital recruitment platform for interim roles launching in the UK today.
The study of 500 small business HR decision makers found that time spent on recruitment costs businesses approximately £530 per hire - totalling £2.9bn a year if every SME hired just one interim annually*.
When hiring an interim, HR managers spend almost a day and a half (11 hours) writing a job description, advertising the position, and sifting through responses. A further half day (4.6 hours) interviewing candidates who are not right for the role, while another day and a half (11 hours) is spent negotiating rates, chasing job offers and verifying references.
Despite the time and money HR managers are investing in finding interims, the research also found that many SMEs aren’t finding the right candidates. 85% of respondents admitted to making bad hires for their business, with one in five hiring the wrong people at least once a month. A further one in four admitted to making bad hires once a year.
Commenting on the findings, Andrew Saffron, founder of SomeoneWho said: “Interim managers are supposed to be a lifeline for business - providing a quick and easy solution when teams are struggling or short on resources. However, our study shows that actually finding this talent is a time consuming problem for SMEs.
“We are launching SomeoneWho to create a quicker, more affordable option. No expensive recruitment fees, no time consuming hassle and admin. Just a clever algorithm that matches top quality interims with high quality briefs.”
The biggest challenge in hiring interim managers was found to be time-wasting candidates (43%), followed by a lack of talent (33%) and finding time for the necessary work and processes (23%). This is despite almost two-thirds (60%) indicating they’d used an interim recruitment agency to help source and filter candidates in the past.
The research was commissioned by SomeoneWho, a new digital platform that matches top quality interims with high quality briefs. Created by a team of interims for interims, SomeoneWho launches in the UK today.
How long does it take to hire an interim?
|
Interviewing candidates who aren't right for the role |
4.6 hrs |
|
Skimming through CVs |
4.1 hrs |
|
Advertising the position |
3.9 hrs |
|
Researching candidates on LinkedIn or taking up references |
3.1 hrs |
|
Checking references |
3 hrs |
|
Writing a job description |
2.9 hrs |
|
Negotiating rates with candidates or intermediaries |
2.6 hrs |
|
Following up with candidates who have been offered a position, but not yet accepted it |
2.5 hrs |
*Assuming 8 hour working day. Average respondent hourly rate (£19.82 x 27) x 5.5m SMEs in UK (FSB 2016 figures). https://www.fsb.org.uk/media-centre/small-business-statistics
