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  • Rodolphe Mortreuil
    Rodolphe Mortreuil
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    Hiring difficulties
    Do you know the saying, whereby there is always a leaking tap at a plumber's house, or a burnt bulb at an electrician's?

    It is no different for me. I help my clients recruit professionals yet am finding it very hard to recruit for myself. Here is my problem, I would really like your suggestions:

    The markets are positive. My clients and their competitors are making profits, their industry as a whole is growing, everybody wants to hire, good times!

    My company is three years old. I have taken office space only in January this year and have an employee, whom I hired off my previous employer: we used to work together, I trust her professionalism and we have a very efficient communication. As a result, I let her work from home most of the time, we see each other about once a week.

    You have all heard the nightmare stories about unprofessional recruiters. Often, I am sorry to say, they are true. This is why there is nobody else I know in my industry whom I would like to hire. If I want to grow, I will have to take a risk.

    In order to minimize that risk, I will NOT allow that new staff to tele-work, rather she will be based here with me day-in, day-out, at least until I am satisfied she will conform to my company's ethos.

    Here is my problem. I live in the far-ish suburbs of London and, not willing to go back to the bad old days of commuting, I took office space nearby my home. All my competitors (one of whom is currently unwittingly training my next member of staff) are based in the City or the West End of London (fancy neighbourhoods).

    I am now faced with two serious difficulties:
    1) finding someone competent in my field (problem we all face when recruiting)
    2) getting that someone to agree to commute to Croydon (otherwise known as "The Pits" by many people).

    Now it is easy to commute to from London, it is much cheaper to eat out, but people simply balk at the idea as commuting to the suburbs generally runs contrary to what people expect to do.

    How would you overcome this? I am not willing to take on a cowboy who will damage my firm's reputation. I am very reluctant in training a junior: we are still a small firm and the training costs would be a significant drain until that person really pulls her weight (it would probably take about 2 years and I am not even sure I would be so great at training).

    I am starting to think I should be moving to London proper, but this would mean AT LEAST doubling my operating costs (outside wages) and loosing out on the standard of living.

    I have been raking my brains to no avail. Can you see another alternative that has escaped me? How do you tackle the recruitment issues in your small business?

    Rodolphe Mortreuil
    • 25 Apr 2008, 2:48 pm
  • Dr. Marlena Corcoran
    Dr. Marlena Corcoran    Premium Member   Group moderator
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    Re: Hiring difficulties
    As usual, your post is so well written and you have analyzed the problem so well, that one can only share your sense of being in a quandary. This truly is a difficult issue. I am glad you brought it up for discussion, because I am facing similar issues in growing my business. I happen to live and work in a rather chic neighborhood (she looks out the window at the Pinakotheken), so I don't have your geographical challenges. What we have in common, though, is that our services require great tact; anyone who works with us must inspire confidence in our clients. I have just finished reading The E-Myth Revisited. While I learned a lot about replacing personalities with systems, I still feel that, in a business like yours or mine, personal presentation is everything. Still, if I don't hire people, I will remain locked at my current level; and so I have decided to take the leap. I will be interviewing people next week. Your thread comes at the right moment, and I look forward to the discussion.
    • 26 Apr 2008, 9:04 pm
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  • Rodolphe Mortreuil
    Rodolphe Mortreuil
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    Re^2: Hiring difficulties
    Thanks Bachir. The short answer is: there aren't any.

    I can find recruitment people who are used to dealing with admin-level positions, but not high-powered executive in my field. I will have to find someone who lives in the area but commutes to London.

    I guess it will be a matter of being persistent and patient.


    Thanks Marlena for all your flattery. I always get a kick out of being told how great I am!
    This post was modified on 27 Apr 2008 at 01:29 pm.
    • 27 Apr 2008, 1:28 pm
  • Jim Ziegler
    Jim Ziegler
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    Re^3: Hiring difficulties
    My company has been 'brick n' mortar' for 22 years. We have realized great success with 6000 sq.ft of upscale office space. My rent factor is more than $20,000.00 U.S. monthly. Having painted that picture, I will tell you we are going to go 100% 'Virtual' in July of 09.

    I write for a magazine in the U.S. that is incredibly successful. My publisher/editor, Michael Roscoe has been a virtual company since the offset. It really works...he has sales staff in three states, the graphics and layout are a couple out of Pittsburgh, he lives in Nashville operating the main office from his home. His promotional staff lives in New York with accounting in Tennessee AND, just guessing, I'd estimate his revenues north of$25 million annually.

    They communicate every day electronically and on the phone. He is in touch and runs the company as if they were all in the next room. The common database is online. What I'm saying is we have the technology to do this today that wasn't even available to small companies just 5 years ago. I would never have considered employees that didn't live here. NOW, with global networking and communications, that thinking is obsolete. JIM
    • 28 Apr 2008, 9:23 pm
  • Rodolphe Mortreuil
    Rodolphe Mortreuil
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    Re^4: Hiring difficulties
    Jim,

    Thanks for your input, that sounds like an ideal scenario.

    I might be mistaken - as I know nothing about editing / publication. However I think that the quality control in your business might be more tangible than in mine.

    If that is indeed correct, it means it might be somewhat easier, in your situation, to monitor quality of work from your staff, colleagues and suppliers.

    I also have a setup that enables virtual office setup and the staff I already have makes liberal use of it. This is fine, as in this particular case I have had ample opportunities to assess ethos and consistency of that particular worker.

    My business being entirely driven by its reputation, I am however more than reluctant to put this at risk with a new hire, through lack of direct supervision. I would be prepared to allow virtual office after, say, a year or two during which that person would have gained my trust and I'd have trained him/her in the ways, culture and values of my firm.

    I work in a field where the clients are few and the competition is intense. I also work in a field with an awful reputation: everyone has a horror story about about recruitment and recruiters. The reason is that, unfortunately, there ARE a number of cowboy recruiters out there. I just don't think I can take the risk to trust first and correct if proven wrong.

    Regards,
    Rodolphe
    • 29 Apr 2008, 5:02 pm