So here’s a big question: do clients value recruitment?

In fact it’s a very big question, so it’s worth tackling from a few different angles.

For today, let’s ask the people at the top.

Luckily, any business leader worth their salt these days has written an autobiography where they share their beliefs. So let’s dive in and see what they say.

I’ll start with Richard Branson, not least because he’s written at least 7 books on business while running his business empire. And he gets right to the point: "There is nothing more important for a business than hiring the right team.”

Pretty conclusive. But there’s more: “At Virgin, we’re known for our culture, and our culture is solely determined by our people. Our people are our greatest asset and the lifeblood of the brand, and are therefore crucial to the success of our businesses. They are what keep us relevant and ahead of the game. To make sure we continue to deliver a standout company culture, we make hiring our number one priority.”

So Branson is a fan. But how about the big tech firms? Google founder Eric Schmidt didn’t just give us a handy quote on recruitment; he wrote a whole chapter titled: “Hiring is the most important thing you do”.

Not content with a mere chapter, my old boss Sir Alec Reed wrote a whole book on the importance of people to business - called Capitalism is Dead, Peoplism Rules. Granted, he has a certain bias towards recruiting, but his point was that these days it is easier for a company to find money (through borrowing, investment, etc) than it is to find the people to make that company a success.

Was it always the way? Lawrence Bossidy, COO of 20th century corporate giant General Electric, famously said: “Nothing we do is more important than hiring people. At the end of the day, you bet on people, not strategies.”

Big business is on board then. Let’s look to more creative industries for their view. Walt Disney gives us this magical perspective: “You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world…but it requires people to make the dream a reality.”

Finally, people used to say they’d kill to find out the secret to Steve Jobs’ success. Guess what? He already told us: “The secret to my success is that we’ve gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world.”

So it’s crystal clear that the people at the top of business - in every industry - think that finding the right people is extremely valuable.

The reason for us to consider this question is that it’s vital for us to understand the value we create for our clients, because we need to be confident that we do create value for them. It is impossible to justify your fee - at any price - if you don’t believe what you’re doing is valuable.

If you want to build your team’s confidence in their value, simply email me and we can talk about the right way to do this in your business.

Jon

P.S. To look at this from a different angle, can you imagine a top business leader standing in front of a packed conference audience and telling them that getting the right people wasn’t key to their success?

Of course, hiring managers and (especially) procurement people are keen to gloss over this point when negotiating with recruiters. So it’s up to us to keep reminding ourselves of our value, even in the face of negotiators who want us to undervalue what we do.

If you want to build your team’s confidence in their value, simply email me and we can talk about the right way to do this in your business.

Added Value from Jon Brooks

Is recruitment valuable? Part 1