Let us start by looking at what a typical organisations does when they realise that they could be better at an area of or all areas of marketing, and feel they want that to come in the form of an in-house role.
The Board are running a successful business, one that provides a living for a few employees and has a set of happy customers, oh, and earns a profit too!
Things are good, but as they know in business many aspects can always be better.
They identify that the weakest link is currently Marketing.
So, they start by asking around their network to find someone who knows about improving marketing in an organisations like theirs. This draws a blank more often than not.
They ponder what to do next, and among raising the ability internally on marketing, and considering an external consultant, they take a deep sigh and realise they might have to place a job advert or go to a recruitment consultant.
Now upon deciding this course of action, where they will go external of their close network and “put their neck on the line” they have to become completely familiar with whom they want and what they will do for the organisation.
The Board double down on “learning marketing”, understanding from peers their experience, and perusing Job Boards or employment sites like Glassdoor and Linked In to see what other organisations are asking for and offering.
It is a daunting task. It is a risk to their business and any cash reserves. The pressure is on to get this correct.
Even an off-the-record phone call to a good recruitment consultant in their network leaves more questions than answers.
What do you want this person to do in Marketing?
Whom they will be working with in the business?
Will they be client facing or not?
Will this be a strategic or operational role, and at what mix?
What are the priorities for Marketing in your business?
What are you going to pay them?
After all this, The Board muster up the guts to progress and produce a Job Description for the new Marketing Executive, having considered calling them a Marketing Manager (that sounded too Senior), Digital Marketer (that sounded too focused), and a Marketing Analyst (that sounded like what is needed, however this appears to be too expensive).
“Marketing Executive” sounds about right, and the Board is in agreement. Moreover, a salary of £30k to £40k is palatable from a risk perspective, and it looks like a good income for a professional person (it is, by the way).
Continue on into the recruitment process, and it is fairly easy to convey to a recruiter who they are looking for, after all this must be a run of the mill type role for them. The recruiter will surely pick up any of the slack with their expertise in hiring Marketing roles.
Bring on the interviews to meet the potential Marketing Executives, all of whom are likely more junior (in business) than The Board. It should be relatively easy to question them thoroughly and tackle any “difficult” questions they through back across the desk.
After all, who knows the organisation better than The Board?!
Sound familiar so far? If not, thank you for reading to here but the rest won’t resonate with you.
The shiny new Marketing Executive, all bushy-tailed, begins working in the organisation in Marketing.
And, slowly the realisation that can all to often occur;
All Marketing decisions are coming back to The Board, we are now busier!
Are we definitely covering all the areas of Marketing that we need to?!
The Marketing budget, including salary costs, is escalating, is the return I am getting?
*among a whole host of other questions, which challenge your decision to hire this role*
OK, let’s go right back to the start and replay this another way to see if we can improve the outcome for the organisation.
How would we do that?
First, let’s consider the phrase “Cart before the horse”.
Quite often, when we realise that our organisation could be better at something e.g. Marketing the ultimate goal that we are working towards is the recruitment of our own resource who can have us excel in that area.
We might go directly to that goal or we might take the long way around, via external agencies who are experts in that area, or consultants who spealise in that field, or temporary support from the likes of a Summer Intern.
The problem is not in any of the above routes, or indeed in the ultimate goal of hiring our own person or team.
The challenge is what we have been lead to believe recruitment in business means to us. Things like this can ring true when we think about using recruitment as a tool to achieve our ultimate goal;
I need to know all about the role that I am hiring for, tasks, expectations, salary, and more.
If I don’t know all about the discipline that I am hiring for I can lean on an expert Recruitment Consultant.
Multiple candidates enables me to compare and contrast who is available in order to aid a decision process.
I need to be on my A-game at the interview because candidates come prepared and ready to “sell me the dream”.
Without having you reach for your pillow as you drift off, let’s say that much of what recruitment represents is based on a time when it became mainstream through the Industrial Revolution and popularised by “modern” consultants of the post-war 1900s.
We have negated the introduction of new and more efficient ways of engagement that today’s world offers us, and the opportunity that this represents for our growing businesses.
You have the worldwide network at your finger-tips, so why not use that to your advantage.
Back to improving the Marketing within our organisation, forget sitting behind a closed door with your Board, and even with a Recruitment Consultant, where you speculate on a requirement, the outputs, and what you must pay.
Instead, utilise the power of the Internet and speak to those who can move you towards your ultimate goal. Guaranteed, done properly these conversations and engagements will prove far more productive and informative than any one-sided learning process or deliberation around a Boardroom table.
As an example, who said you need to know what salary (bracket) you will offer?
What will this be based on….
….a candidate’s current salary?
….an online salary survey?
….the salary your pal’s company pays for the “same role”?
….what you believe the task-in-hand is?
….what your budget is for the PERCEIVED outcome?
Almost always, the salary in a recruitment model fit for a bygone era will not be based on the reality of the role, the person doing the role, or a value proposition created from this.
And, it’s situations like this that mean when you start to consider strengthening Marketing within your business, you get a shiver down your spine and a clammy forehead. It is completely understandable, someone has taken the fun and usefulness out of recruitment!
Or, more likely recruitment needs to be updated for the modern world?