I had an interesting conversation Friday, with a three year-old digital media start up, that’s been consistently growing, since their founding. Now their growth is starting to accelerate, creating staffing, capacity and velocity issues. They’re having trouble hiring experienced pros with the specific skillsets they require. They understand that some recruiters consistently succeed in hiring support, but it’s an expensive proposition, especially with ongoing multiple hires/year.
During that conversation with the founding partners, we explored new ways of working together, that meet their expense challenges and investor expectations, while still providing the skilled workers they need in a timely way. It was exciting to think about. While attending #MDMC19 last week, it was apparent that there are multiple companies competing for the same employee skillsets. Those who have a dedicated focus on recruiting research, identification and outreach, will win the “War for Talent”. We’ve heard about that War for years, well . . . it’s here Now!
There are fractional CMO, CFOs, CIOs and other senior executives, why not fractional CTOs? (Chief Talent Officers)?
The challenge is finding a recruiter who understands the Client need and has the ability to consistently and quickly identify, recruit and hire those elusive, hyper skilled employees. Beyond recruiting skills and experience, the true fractional CTO should be able to bring an experienced perspective (hopefully, first person) for organizational leadership and management.
This is the sort of relationship that should evolve into a true partnership. I like the opportunity to work with Client principals and help them develop a strategy for growth, Talent Acquisition and Retention . It’s why I named my company Bishop Partners.
I can see how this sort of “fractional CTO” strategy can work for other smaller or medium sized companies, that can’t afford a full time executive focused on Talent Acquisition and Retention. They could have all the benefits of an employee, by developing a trusted relationship with a recruiter/talent acquisition executive/partner. The solution is a fractional Talent Acquisition and Retention employee/leader. The benefits are consistent and plentiful . . . reliable strategy driven staffing solutions, while keeping the expense as low as possible.
Most HR professionals are thanklessly overworked. They have to contend with a myriad of critical issues every day, from questions about benefits and payroll, to being the arbiter in disputes or dealing with complaints of harassment. Their days are frequently and unexpectedly interrupted. They don’t have the time to adequately focus on recruiting additional talent. The former solution of job posting (and praying), is not effective today.
If your marketing or digital media company plans on hiring at least six employees this year, we should talk. There’s every reason to believe that a consultative approach to Talent Acquisition funding will reduce the cost and time to hire, while increasing employee satisfaction and retention at the same time. It’s also likely that the quality of hire metric and retention metric would be much improved, because the new employee was recruited and not a “job applicant”.
The answer to the question posed in this post’s headline is emphatically, Yes! Absolutely! There could (should) be tremendous value!
I believe that Talent Acquisition, the building of an employee culture that attracts premier talent, is the only way a company will be able to consistently grow into the future. There are simply too few skilled workers with the new media skillsets (including AI and VR) and too much demand. I look forward to the opportunity to help companies with their talent acquisition strategy.
If you have interest in learning more, please get in touch, I’d love to meet or have a conversation.
Thanks for taking the time to read this . . .