How do you decide when to seek outside help recruiting talent for key roles at your company?  I may not be the most objective source for advice, but here are some guidelines to consider:

When to try on your own:

• You have a robust personal network that is relevant for the position
• You have time to sort through and prioritize responses to a job posting
• You have a large LinkedIn network and time to reach out to candidates who are not actively looking
• You have a strong employer brand and leverage social media to promote career opportunities
• You expect to generate viable employee referrals
• You don’t have the resources to pay for outside help

When to engage an outsider recruiter:

• It’s a confidential search and discretion is important
• It’s a regional or national search and you want to reach beyond your natural networks
• It’s a C-level role and you want to ensure that you see the best talent in the market
• You have strong internal candidates who you want to compare to the best available talent
• You’re interested in seeing talent from outside of your industry
• Speed is important and the opportunity cost of not filling the role is great
• You’re busy and want to review a fully vetted, diverse slate of qualified candidates

Every recruiting need is different and calls for a unique search strategy. In some cases, our clients reach out to us once they’ve tried on their own and are not satisfied with the results.  As a result, we tend to work on the tough searches!