True investment in people

A telephone call from a headhunter to a prospective candidate is a welcome introduction to what usually becomes a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship. But when calling a prospective client, on the other hand, often the shutters go down before the caller has reached the end of their first sentence.

It sometimes seems that the insurance industry has lost confidence in what is a necessary and strategically important service. Within the industry, payroll, claims, IT and policy administration is often out-sourced to organisations where skills, experience and specialist staff exist to manage those functions more effectively than they can be managed in-house (see p20).

Recruitment should also be added to the list, but these days it is done with rather less enthusiasm.

Rather than using such terms as 'headhunter' or 'recruiter', the correct name for this service is 'resourcing' - which adds up to much more than filling vacancies. Resourcing is a consultative, strategic process central to the future of every business.

We all support the concepts of being 'investors in people' and 'people being a firm's greatest asset', so why is the process by which these key individuals are sought and placed held in such low regard and often looked upon with such disdain?

Much revolves around core attitudes. The healthy core attitude is simply that the resourcing process must always be seen as an opportunity to add value to the business, to benchmark staff against an external market and for a strategic review of affected business areas.

As a resourcer, I would always adopt this strategic approach. For me, the reward comes from the secure placement of the right candidate in the right role - the opposite of just making a quick turn by slotting bodies into positions at the expense of clients and my candidates. That is no way to grow an outsourced service with long-term potential.

Resourcing is a consultative process, it must be incorporated into the strategic development of every organisation and requires commitment as well as budget.